~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter Eleven: My Faded Time

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He was trying to control his gag reflex throughout their steady pace inside the mako reactor. The noisome smell of the mako was soaking into his skin and invading his already faltering constitution. After being exposed to the substance for four continuous years, and then suffering through yet another bout of poisoning later on, it was more like a mental reaction to the memory of having one too many tequila shots on a night out.

A night out that ended in Cloud infamously drunk-dialing Tifa. He couldn't really remember much after he stumbled home with Barret slung around his shoulder, but in the morning with the way Tifa had grinned at him with those sparkling eyes, he could only assume it was something very personal he had disclosed with her. Or maybe it was the incoherent slurring, hiccupping and arguing with himself that just made her grin with amusement. He normally held in his liquor quite impressively, but that night Barret was to blame as two shots soon turned to six, and then… well, he forgot how to count past six by that point.

And as he and Reno walked through the dormant reactor, this memory helped subdue the gagging that threatened Cloud, as he cracked a tiny smile in the darkness. It really was an interesting night...well, the parts he could remember, at least.

"So what's up with you and sweet cheeks, yo?" It was as if Reno knew he had been thinking about Tifa.

Cloud blinked and looked over at the Turk he was walking with. The other two had split off and made their way through the upper level of the reactor. They had poked into the maintenance room where Yuffie had said Hait had been, but he wasn't there. Maybe they had the wrong reactor after all. So now he and Reno were heading towards the lower level of the reactor's core.

"Sweet...cheeks?" Cloud shot Reno a dubious look, but it was unseen in the darkness. The only light was from the flood lights along the walls and ceiling of the reactor, and the eerie, subtle glow of Cloud's eyes. "I don't think I want to know."

Reno was twirling his nightstick around in his hands like a baton. The aura he was projecting in the darkness was that of a calm, collected one. It made Cloud nervous. "Ya know, that girl. Yer girl, yo."

"My...girl?" Cloud said.

"Are ya just gonna repeat everythin' I say, or are ya gonna hold an actual conversation with me, yo?"

Cloud replied with annoyed silence.

"Alright, fine. Yer so borin', yo. I dunno what she sees in ya." A very disturbing and taunting grin broke out on the Turk's face, and he should have been thankful that the darkness shielded Cloud from it, as the perturbed blond probably would have knocked it right off of him. "I'll take her if ya don't want her, yo."

Cloud stopped walking, as Reno suspected he would. Reno, however, continued walking to try and get some distance between them as he felt Cloud bristling behind. As long as he was out of his sword's reach, he'd be okay.

"Why..." he began, and Reno could tell he was forming the words in his head carefully. "...In the hell would you care about my personal life?"

"We're friends, ain't we?"

"Hardly."

Reno stopped under a flood light and looked back, pouting at him in an almost mocking way. "Aw c'mon now buddy, it's just us. Ya can get mushy with me, yo. Yer secret's safe with me; I won't tell."

Now it was rather apparent he was mocking him, and this Cloud was extremely aware of and extremely angered by. He scoffed and continued walking, brushing past him on the narrow scaffolding. His wounded shoulder grazed the Turk's as he passed, and he winced with a short hiss, stopping.

"She took good care of ya while ya were out cold, yo. Ya should treat her better. Dun know any women myself that would do that for me, yo."

"Turk, just shut up." Cloud's hand was at his shoulder, squeezing it in reaction to the pain, but this only made it worse. He kept his back to the man as he spoke, his voice giving a clear warning to the redhead. "I'll keep my business to myself, and you keep yours...the hell away from mine after this is all over. Understand?"

Reno stifled a laugh with his hand. "Whatever man. Just tryin' ta help, yo."

"I don't need your help."

"Well apparently ya can't help yerself, yo. Ya got that girl all crazy over ya, and ya do nothin' for her in return."

The sound of Cloud's exhaling breath caused Reno to take a rightfully nervous step back on the scaffold. "Since when in the hell do you care?" He turned his head, giving the Turk a look from over his shoulder. "What motive or personal gain could someone like you possibly have over my business?"

A simple shrug. "Nothing really, yo."

Cloud turned his head forward once more. Reno's eyes trailed the gentle heaves of his shoulders as he attempted to calm the irritation that was brewing inside.

"Do ya love her, yo?"

"Is this why you insisted with teaming up with me instead of Rude? To put your nose where it doesn't belong?"

Reno laughed, resuming the nonchalant spinning of his nightstick in his hand. "I think I got my answer, yo."

"You don't know a damn thing and it's going to stay that way." Cloud quickly replied as he began to walk off without him, shrouded in an aura of miffed anger.

Reno suddenly laughed a bit louder than he probably should have, given the circumstances and the fact that they were supposed to be searching for their target quietly before ultimately killing him in the swiftest way possible, if the target was even in that reactor to begin with. "She said the same damn thing, yo!"

And the blond stopped dead in his path and became frighteningly inanimate.

"Cloud?" Reno took a step forward once his laughter subsided, unsure of Cloud's sudden bout of stillness. When he didn't get a response, he approached him cautiously, having remembered what Tifa had told him about his unstable behavior as of late.

Cloud turned his head however, looking directly into Reno's wary eyes once the Turk neared him. "She...said what?"

A quick sigh of relief and Reno relaxed. "Sweet cheeks said the same thing ya just did."

"To what question?"

"Same, yo."

Cloud looked forward once more and continued on, carrying a small smile.

~*~*~

Elena had cleared a room, nodding to Tseng who sighted the muzzle of his 9mm handgun through a room across the platform. "Clear," she said lowly, her eyes glancing towards Rufus who was merely strolling along the scaffolding behind, confident that his Turks were handling the situation quite nicely.

"It is possible that we have the wrong reactor," Rufus said as he glanced down at his watch. "Only a few minutes before ten. One of us is bound to find Hait."

"Do you really think that once we kill Hait, the test subject will be normal again?" Elena said, shutting the heavy metal door of a maintenance room. The hinges complained rather loudly, and this made the female Turk cringe as a reply.

Tseng cleared his throat, forcing down the bout of scolding at her poor choice of words. He scolded her enough already as it was for the reckless things she did and said. She was worse than Reno at times. However, she was unaware that Tseng considered this person as a friend, rather than a mere 'test subject'. "Reeve has sent a small team from the Investigative Department from the WRO to watch over the lodge." He spoke with a bit more malice intertwined in his voice, but mentally shrugged at it, as it didn't seem to bother her. She was used to his callous demeanor by now. "They're going to observe his behavior and try to detain him if he poses no threat."

"What's going to happen to him afterward? Are we going to ki-"

"What part of 'detain' do you not understand, Elena?" Tseng cut her off, his voice low and filled with warning.

"And if he resists?"

Tseng paused, his gloved hands tightening around the butt of his gun. "I hope for the WRO's sake that he doesn't."

"But Tsen-"

Rufus was the one to cut Elena off now, but his voice was more calm and understanding as he spoke to her. "We don't know what's going to happen, Elena. Let Reeve handle things back at the lodge."

The three grew silent as they headed toward the upper level of the reactor. They had started with the lower level first, combing through each room and large piece of machinery that a man could possibly hide behind. Their trained eyes scantly blinked through the darkness, their muscles taut and rigid with an aura of nervous excitement.

Elena began to feel regretful over the words she had blurted out to her boss, as even in the darkness she could tell he was affected by them. She could always tell when he was upset due to the usual stiffness in his shoulders disappearing into a very nerve-wracking slump. It was as if all the pent up frustration and annoyance he used to keep those shoulders up suddenly left his body and allowed him to appear relaxed. Which was quite the opposite as it usually meant very distinct and methodical lectures from the Turk. Then, after his businesslike rants, those shoulders would rise back up to their rightful place; square and stiff once more.

And she could see in the darkness before her that his shoulders were quite low on his body now as he strode swiftly towards the upper core. The sound of his dress shoes clicking on the metal scaffolding filled the still air as it echoed around them. Elena glanced down into the black abyss below the scaffolding, and her stomach turned at the dizzying sight. She shook her head, pressing over behind Tseng who didn't seem bothered by it in the least.

It was haunting knowing that through that abyss was the Lifestream itself.

"Wait," Rufus whispered, his eyes narrowing. "Move."

His two Turks obeyed his blunt order and stepped aside from the main door to the core of the reactor. He pressed his ear up against the cold metal, straining his hearing through the silence around. His ears picked up a faint shuffling of clothing behind the door. Rufus gave a silent gesture to his two employees.

They fiddled with their handguns momentarily before giving the President an affirmative nod that they were prepared for entry. Tseng motioned for Rufus to step back before he threw open the door with a rusty cry.

There was a figure in the dull light of a lantern.

Rufus stopped in the middle of the doorway, his mouth twitching as if resisting forming into a scowl. He never liked for this person to see that he was able to get under his skin. "You..."

"Ah, Rufus," the figure said. "And to what do I owe the pleasure?"

~*~*~

The night was cool; it was still. It seemed as if the entire city of Edge was slumbering in the minutes that passed by slowly for the female ninja. Where there should have been sounds of the occasional late night car passing by, there was nothing but the gentle whistle of the wind that flowed through the city.

The phone gave one last beep before it was ultimately silenced. She had learned her lesson from the last incident; needless to say, she'd refrained from eating her phone that night.

Two minutes to ten.

Yuffie released a very steady sigh through her nose, pushing out any bit of anxiety that etched away at her confidence. She walked to the edge of the rooftop in which she stood, peering over the side before slipping over onto the fire escape silently.

Pressing herself against the cold bricks of the building, she sidestepped over to the large window that looked into his lavish apartment. Her eyes glanced around briefly, taking in the situation before she pulled her head back.

It was deserted and dark. Only a small table lamp was dimly lit by the entrance of the space. The television was off; the couch looked cold and lonely. She had been watching on top of the building for his car to pull around to the entrance to the under ground garage, but had not seen him appear. Another quick glance at the face of her phone.

The numbers changed; one minute to go.

There was a possibility that he had been wandering around on foot, as he often did while heading to the convenience store for a late snack of beer and chips. Of course, she had a better chance of successfully carrying out her hit if she were to be able to surprise attack him inside his home before he entered. She wiggled a window open and slid her lithe frame inside.

The air in the apartment was thick and muggy. It made her frown as she crouched down on the wooden floors, moving silently towards Mahler's bedroom. She paused by the open door and listened for any signs of breathing or movement.

A light was cast onto the floor from somewhere inside his room. The sound of a running shower trickled over her ears, and her heart jumped into her throat.

Shit. He's been home this entire time? How could I have missed this?

Yuffie reached behind her back, removing the impatient Conformer from its holster. She moved into the master bedroom, once surveying that it was empty through the crack in the door, and she followed the sound of the running shower.

She made not a single sound as she entered, her footing inaudible on the hardwood floor. Her muscles were moving so harmoniously with the gentle air current around. Each impulse her brain sent down to her nerves were being controlled so meticulously by her keen senses as she reached the connected bathroom inside the master bedroom. She crouched down once more, peering through the ajar door, watching as the shower curtain swayed slightly in the movement of the water.

Her hand reached out and pushed the door open. Her lip curled back in between her teeth in a nervous hope that the hinges weren't as squeaky as they appeared.

In one fluid, thoughtless motion, the Conformer left Yuffie's hand.

The hinges on the door didn't have time to react in the squeak that would have came from them, for the whirling whistle of the shuriken cutting through the air muted out any noise around. It was sharp; it was chilling.

The shower curtain collapsed to the ground in a heap of fabric as the Conformer embedded itself into the wall, sending a crack through the tiled surface.

"Shit!" Yuffie stared into the running shower.

The patter of the water hitting the porcelain tub below drowned out the subtle beep of a very extravagant looking bomb taped to the tile on the wall.

The numbers on Yuffie's phone changed over to ten.

~*~*~

The sound of a squeaky fan being moved by the wind outside pierced through the air, digging into the taut nerves of the men who moved through the darkness.

They had come across several more rooms, most of which were just electronic rooms full to the brim with computer panels and terminals that controlled individual siphoning chambers that were embedded into the earth. These rooms held little air in them as they were so full of electronic crap, which didn't leave much room to hide a grown man in, however.

"So...she give ya anythin'?" Reno poked his head inside the room and immediately regretted having done so as several years of neglect and the catastrophe of Meteor Fall filled his nose in the form of a plume of dust.

"What?"

Reno rubbed the back of his neck after quickly closing the door. His mouth twitched to the side of his face momentarily in thought, avoiding Cloud's inquisitive and yet irked look on his face. "Eh, never mind, yo."

Cloud lifted an eyebrow in the dark at the Turk.

"Maybe it ain't my place to tell ya," Reno said.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Reno went to walk past the blond, but was stopped quite easily as the angle of Cloud's sword resting against his back claimed any possible space Reno could have used to dart around him. Cloud didn't have to inquire any further with words, as the vibe he was emitting to the Turk was enough to persuade him to talk.

"Boss had sumthin' for him."

He could hear Cloud swallowing, so Reno continued.

"I dug it outta Boss' desk and gave it ta yer woman." Reno paused, and was surprised that Cloud didn't correct him when he referred to Tifa as 'his woman'. "Didn't seem right for one of us ta give it ta him."

"...What is it?" Cloud's voice finally came out nervously.

The redhead turned away and Cloud could almost make out a saddened expression on the Turk's face, but he wasn't entirely sure. He waited for him to continue, his heart beginning to thump in his chest with anticipation and anxiety.

"Just," he hesitated, as he for once carefully worded his thoughts in his head, "...some memories, yo."

"Memories?"

Reno nodded, the dull light reflecting off the goggles resting against his forehead. "Eighty-eight memories of that flower girl, yo."

Cloud opened his mouth to speak then, but stopped when he heard the vibration of Reno's phone.

He answered swiftly. "Hey partner, ya guys as bored as we..." He trailed off, and then quickly snapped his phone closed. "Party's downstairs, yo."

Cloud nodded, and before Reno could say anything, the blond was already jumping the scaffolding down to the one below. After a few silent moments, he could hear the walkway letting out a metallic cry as Cloud landed on it as lightly as a grown man wielding an impressive sword could, and after falling a rather startling distance.

Reno followed but on a ladder that was nearby. He finally found Cloud in the dark after several moments, who was waiting impatiently for the lazy Turk. "There's ladders, ya know!"

This was ignored by the fidgeting man. "Have they confirmed it's Hait?" Cloud said as the two began to move swiftly towards the heart of the reactor, their footsteps rattling through the scaffolding.

"Nuh-uh," Reno said. "Just some noises comin' from the core."

The two slowed their pace, coming up to the darkened forms of Rude and Cid standing by the metal door to the core of the reactor.

"Shit," Cid whispered, smoothing a hand over his mouth, "I need a goddamned cigarette. Can't smoke with this jackass Hait lurkin' 'round."

"We were in the adjacent room," Rude began, ignoring his new partner's foul attitude as Cid continued to mutter to himself about his lack of nicotine, "when we heard what sounded like a glass tube shattering."

"I'm going in," Cloud said as his hand reached for the handle on the door.

"Ya suicidal? Why don'tcha just lure the guy out? Who knows what crazy crap he's got in there, yo!"

Cloud's hand twitched at the door handle as Reno spoke this. His mind went to the SOLDIER of his past. Thinking of the man didn't last very long, however, as his muscles just moved on their own. He threw open the door with a metallic groan and stepped inside the reactor's core.

~*~*~

Vincent had been refraining from collapsing to one of his knees, which his body so desperately argued with him about. It urged him, taunting him with the concept of the release his muscles would feel if he were to just let himself rest.

Of course, doing this would inevitably allow the mysterious man, who was relentlessly attacking him with unfathomable strength, to over-power the ex Turk. Each strike of that massive sword sent a metallic clanging through the air. As the sword swung, it flashed sharp beams of light from the moon above, allowing for Vincent's eyes to follow along in the frenzied movements.

They were erratic, yet horrifyingly strong.

Vincent soared up to the remains of a parking garage from the upper plate of one of the old sectors. He had been desperately trying to hold the man back from making his way towards the direction of Midgar. Strike after strike, fighting this man was quickly depleting Vincent of his energy. His muscles were screaming at him in his legs, and in his shoulders as the recoil of his weapon when fired. It was something that he was accustomed to, but tonight each fire of the trigger dug deeper into his stamina.

The man landed with a small grunt on top of the other side of the parking garage. He let out a quick cry before he lunged forward through the cold air, dragging his sword along the cement as he moved. A trail of pluming dust flew up into the air as the cement was released from its prison. It plummeted into the lower levels of itself.

Vincent fired two rounds in such quick succession that it blended into the sound of a single gunshot. He watched with guarded eyes as the man just simply brought his sword up and knocked the two bullets away as if they were flies buzzing about.

The sharp ping of the bullets hitting the steel blade reached Vincent's ears through the crumbling of the structure they stood on. He watched as the bullets were launched to the skies in an entirely different trajectory than what was originally intended by the gunman. He cursed to himself as the dust from the old building loomed about the area, shielding the man suddenly.

Amber eyes darted about wildly through the muddled scene before him.

Where did he go?

Through the dissipating echo of the rumbling, he could make out faint footsteps.

Below! Vincent scolded himself in his head as he leaped into the air, the sound of his cape flapping as he moved. Two shots were fired into the cement below him as it suddenly burst from the girders they were encased around, and the grim expression of the man broke free from the lingering dust that billowed in the air.

Vincent shifted in the air as the man swung his sword at him. He could feel the wind from the force blow past him. He landed on a balcony of the remnant of an apartment building as he quickly reloaded his gun with programmed ease. Jumping up several balconies above, he was able to put some distance between him and the man, as he could see him glancing up wildly, following the blurring movements of red fabric.

He leaned over, aiming the barrel of the gun down at the man who was now soaring up towards him. The gun trailed the man with a hesitant quiver. Vincent's finger squeezed the trigger as he neared, and the bullet left the barrel of the gun and grazed through the flesh of the man's arm as he jumped up from the lower balcony.

The man uttered no cry of pain, or shock as the blood from the wound exited his skin and fluttered out into the air around. However, the ex-Turk allowed no time for the man to react as another bullet was fired at the man's hand holding that massive sword.

The bullet hit the hilt of the sword and sent a violent tremor through the man's fingers, causing the weight of the sword to fumble in his grip, and fall towards the ground below. The man recoiled with a surprisingly animated wince, despite his prior lack of emotions, which suggested that perhaps his inner soul was fighting with the foreign entity taking residence in his psyche.

Vincent watched as the man dropped down below, out of his view. He went to lean over the railing of the decaying balcony, but was stopped by a thunderous explosion striking through the air from the direction of the city. His head shot up to see the sight of the tallest building in Edge being wrapped in flames at the top. Orange and yellow filled the surrounding skies, staining the black night.

Yuffie! Vincent's hand squeezed the butt of his gun tightly, enough to cause the knuckles in his hand to turn white and cold. What the hell happened?

The sound of clothes rustling below snapped the ex-Turk back to where his distracted mind should have been. He immediately raised his gun up, the muscles in his arm rigid and angry with him and his wandering movements.

The man had jumped up from below and he landed on the iron railing in an effortless squat. Vincent had little time to react as the man outstretched his arm, his palm swarming an amorphous blur of fire.

All Vincent was able to see through the fire wrapping around his body was the psychotic sneer across the face of the man before him.

~*~*~

There was a droning noise emanating around him as cautious legs carried him into the core of the reactor. Beside him were the once inanimate pieces of machinery that now teemed with a newfound life.

Computer terminals blinked lazily, as if recovering from a deep and elaborate slumber. Old fluorescent bulbs buzzed above with displeasure as the vapors inside them were excited from the electricity that once again flowed through. The smell of fresh mako was hovering around, acrid; pungent. It seeped through the space, filling each dusty corner of the core with its unmistakable stench.

Cloud walked through slowly, almost casually as his trained eyes glanced around for any sign of movement in the flickering light from above. His ears picked out the faint breath of a man as he cursed, and then the sound of a glass tube being tapped with a fingernail. He glanced back at the other men who followed behind, guarded. They looked to the blond, their eyes reflecting a look of wonder at Cloud's seemingly calm demeanor.

Although, that was when he was scared the most.

The owner of that cursing breath was before him now as Cloud stepped around a siphon motor.

"I suppose there is no logical sense in an attempt to conceal your presence," Hait said, turning as he removed the cap on a needle of green substance. "You knew that I was aware you were here, before you even entered, correct?"

Cloud stayed silent, watching as the man plunged the needle slightly, allowing for the remainder of the air bubbles in the tube to be released from the tip.

"You have mako eyes. Were you SOLDIER?"

Cloud replied with silence.

"I'm assuming you and the others are Rufus' little rag team, correct? I thought he'd send an entire militia after me." Arrogant shoulders shrugged beneath a white lab coat. "No matter. You will be disposed of shortly."

"Where is he?" Cloud finally said, his voice low.

"And who might you be referring to?"

Cloud fell silent once more. He couldn't speak his name.

"Perhaps you mean 'Z'?" The needle was jabbed into the crook of his own arm. Hait's eyes squeezed shut momentarily as the liquid crawled into his veins.

Watching the sight made Cloud's own arm twitch in rebuttal. His eyes darted away, distant memories being conjured up in his jumbled brain.

This, the man noticed. "You must be the one he is connected to."

"The hell ya talkin' 'bout, old man?" Cid stepped beside Cloud, finally lighting up that cigarette he had been craving since they had entered the reactor.

A short grunt came from Hait as he removed the needle. "My little puppet has been distracted lately, with a puppet of his own."

Cloud winced, a sharp screech tearing through his mind.

Shit, not now.

Cid blew cigarette smoke into Cloud's face. "Stay with us, kid." This caused Cloud to shake his head from the toxic intrusion.

"It seems as if he has been trying to find you, Cloud."

Cloud's eyes were wild then, flicking to the older man who stood before them. "How did you--"

Hait cut him off. "You are the reason why I'm having such a hard time controlling my puppet."

"Stop calling him a puppet." Cloud's voice was beginning to rise.

"I have nothing else to refer to him with."

Reno and Rude shifted behind, the sounds of their nightsticks sliding into position, and locking with a click.

"He muttered of you often, as I experimented on him. It became rather cumbersome, actually. The insipid muttering made concentrating quite difficult."

Cloud's grip on the hilt of his sword began to tighten immensely. His knuckles began to wash of their color.

"All life forms who carry Jenova within them are connected by her will. Her voice resonates within you."

"Great, he sounds just like those crazy Remnants, yo," Reno said behind.

"No," Cloud said. "I'm not like that."

"He has contacted you, yes?" Hait said.

Cloud's head lowered, the high-pitched noise steadily growing from within his subconscious.

Hait watched as the fingers around Cloud's sword began to loosen. "I've read the Nibelheim reports. It seems that he risked his life to save you. A rather meaningless effort on his part. Stupid, really."

"Shut...the hell up." Cloud's voice came out ragged. His eyes were having a hard time focusing, and they darted about as if trying to grab hold of something, anything they could fixate on.

"And even after death he proves to have some sort of duty to continue protecting you. Although I've been able to intervene on several occasions, he's managed to come into contact with some of your subordinates despite my efforts."

Cid scoffed. "Yeah, it was a freakin' blast."

"It was quite interesting fighting for control with Z over you the last time, Cloud. He just didn't want to let you go. Although, I really can't say how you would be of any assistance to him now. He's degrading, rapidly."

A small line of blood ran from Cloud's nose, and trickled onto his lips. His arm holding his sword began to rise.

"That's it, very good." Hait glanced down to his watch. "I suppose it's about time."

"The hell are ya doin'!?" Cid slipped his Venus Gospel off from around his shoulder and aimed the tip at the man.

"Just...a little experiment, is all," Hait said, watching as Cloud's head began to bob mindlessly against his neck.

"Shit, kid!" Cid glanced over to Cloud, whose blood was dripping onto the metal platform below his feet. "'Ey! Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum!" Cid looked over his shoulder at the two Turks who just turned their heads at him quizzically. "Can ya handle this guy?"

"What the hell is a 'Tweedle Dee?'" Reno said, looking over to Rude for answers. He only stood there with a slightly amused face, awaiting for Cid to continue.

"Never mind that, dumbass! Get' goin'! I'll take care o' Cloud, 'ere!"

"Right, yo!" Reno scrambled forward, raising his nightstick across his left shoulder. He lunged at Hait, bringing his weapon down across him.

There was a bright flash of light, and Reno's weapon slipped into two separate pieces. One half fell onto the floor, the other, still clutched in his wavering hand.

"The...hell?" Reno blinked his blue eyes, as he watched his weapon fall. His eyes traced it as it rolled forward, into the boots of the blond who stood before him.

Cloud's eyes were lost.

~*~*~

Several heavy moments passed as Rufus tried to control the muscles in his face, and tried to suppress the needy urge to pull the trigger on his shotgun. He could sense Tseng and Elena behind him standing alert; stiff. They awaited any slight and diminutive signal from their President to attack.

"Have you seen the stocks this past week?" The figure spoke, after taking a sip from a glass of wine he was awkwardly drinking from, sitting atop a piece of machinery. He looked rather out of place, although Rufus was too perturbed at the man to find this amusing.

"Yes, they're down about ten percent," was Rufus' casual reply, repressing the venom from his voice.

A gun was cocked behind him.

"It's a shame, really. After all the years I've spent loyal to Shin-Ra." The figure slid off of the piece of equipment he was seated upon, and the sound of his expensive wingtip shoes clicked on the metal platform gracefully when he landed. "I hold a good portion of the company stock, as you know."

"I should hope so, considering you are the Vice-President."

"The Advisory Board has concluded that there needs to be a change within Shin-Ra, to help rebuild it back to its once proud stature."

"Oh? The Presidential Advisory Board is holding meetings without its President, now?"

Ravel Mahler scoffed a laugh as he took a step towards Rufus. "You forget that I am the head of the Board. We don't need you to conduct affairs."

"Yes, it seems you hold your own quite well without me."

Elena shuffled behind, widening her aiming stance.

"It seems that you have no interest in rebuilding Shin-Ra in the way that would benefit the rest of the company executives."

"I have no interest in benefiting anyone but myself. Surely you of all people can understand this." Rufus' face twitched into a rather pompous grin.

Mahler just grinned back as he tugged on the silk tie around his neck. Rufus took this as a sign that he was becoming anxious, or perhaps he had drank too much wine.

"Exactly. Which is why I launched Project Z."

"Awaiting orders, sir," Tseng whispered behind, but Rufus just threw his hand out to his side to halt any action from the two.

"What are your intentions?" Rufus said.

"To kill you, obviously."

"Why are you here?"

"To kill you, obviously!"

Tseng spoke from behind. "How did you know we were going to be here?"

Mahler laughed, sliding his hand through the slicked brown hair on his head. A few pieces fell back into his eyes as they sparkled with a twisted sense of arrogance. "That little girl you had following me was quite good, actually. She hardly left any evidence that she had been watching me for a week. But of course, being followed was my intention the entire time. Admittedly, I was expecting a Turk to be following me, but someone from the WRO was a nice change from the usual suits I see running around under your command."

Rufus was repressing the growl that was digging at his vocal chords. He was going to give the man one more minute before he started to unload a few rounds into him.

"I would commend the girl of her skills, myself, if she wasn't dead, now."

"What have you done?" Elena said, her voice curt. She ignored the glance Tseng gave her.

Mahler looked down at the expensive watch he wore on his wrist. "Just a little parting gift for my secret admirer. She should have received it by now."

"I've had enough," Rufus said as he was about to give his Turks the signal to open fire.

Another short laugh from the man as he pushed his cuff back down over his wrist. "No, my dear President, I've had enough. I've put in more years with this company than you've been alive. Your father should have chosen me to be his successor, after you attempted to kill him."

"Blood is thicker than water, Mahler."

"Well, I suppose we'll see how thick your blood is then, Shinra."

The sound of the polymer frames of the 9mms rattled as they were clutched tightly, aimed at Ravel Mahler.

The bottle of wine Mahler was enjoying was tossed into the air, as the first shot was fired from Tseng. The combustion inside the chamber sent a reverberating chill through the entire reactor as the bullet exited the short barrel and collided with the glass bottle.

It exploded into glimmering pieces of distraction, the beads of the liquid fluttering amongst the shattered glass in the air.

Mahler dove behind a large terminal; the sound of Tseng unloading several more rounds at him was heard as it hit the metal of the equipment.

Tseng motioned for Elena to stand guard over Rufus, who looked as if he didn't need any protection, however, as a grin was etching away at the corners of his mouth. It truly had been a while for him, but until he ordered Tseng to back down, he was going to spearhead this attack for him.

"Mahler, come quietly," Tseng said, his voice echoing in the silencing area. "We will ensure your safety if you comply."

"Are you sure it's my safety you should be worried about?" was the reply, his voice muffled from behind the large terminal. The sound of a revolver chamber spinning could be heard, and then snapping closed.

"You're outnumbered." Tseng's eyes went up to a pipe that was leading from a siphoning pump, which most likely was used for extracting the vapors emitted from the processing of the mako. He hoped that it was still pressurized. It was worth a shot.

And a shot was what Tseng took, aiming up at the pipe and firing a single bullet into it. Nothing but a rather disappointing hiss came from it after the bullet entered with a ping. Tseng bristled as Rufus let out a small, mocking laugh behind him.

"And what was that?"
"That...was supposed to be a distraction," Tseng muttered.

Rufus' hand slipped into the inside of his suit pocket, pulling out something in his palm. "Distraction? I can take care of that." The object was brought to his mouth as his teeth plucked out something thin. He casually chucked the object over the large terminal and it hit the platform with a metallic thud.

"Wait...w-was that...?" Elena glanced over to Rufus who was beginning to back out of the reactor's core.

"I suggest you both move back."

They exited the core, crouching low as the seconds passed by before the explosion wracked the entire core of the reactor. It sent a rumbling shudder through their bodies as they shielded themselves from the dust and debris that surged out from the doorway.

A secondary explosion was heard from above, then.

"And what was that!?" Elena now said, coughing into the crook of her elbow through the airborne dust.

Tseng's dark eyes narrowed, his vision frantically trying to adjust through the movement of the debris particles in the air. He could hear something land on the metal platform inside the core.

"Elena," Tseng said, his voice threatening to crack as a figure began to walk towards him. The dull glow of the floodlights reflected the thirsty edge on that familiar blade. "Get Rufus out of here."

"But--"

"Now!"

Tseng could hear his own heartbeat begin to resonate within him. Each muscle in his body tightened, and each nerve within those muscles were screaming. He fought back the urge to allow his eyebrows to meet on his emotionless face. But he lost that battle, as the man exited the core of the reactor and stopped before him.

"Oh...my gods," Elena whispered.

Tseng's fist curled into itself as he swallowed hard.

The man just stared at him, his face void of any sort of expression or sign of recognition of his former colleague; his former friend.

"What the hell have they done to you?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

...To be continued in Chapter Twelve: Puppet

Ending Author's Note: Weeeellll, I hope that this chapter was worth the two week wait, yes? ^_^ The shit is starting to hit the fan (not quite the same shit as in my other story, but still shit, nonetheless.) as you can see.

And of course, the oh-so-wonderful Nekotsuki beta-ed this chapter for me. I am forever thankful to her. She hacks it up quite nicely, I must say. Much love to her, and all the readers! *hands Rufus another grenade* Here, have some fun.

So, things are...a bit strange over here on my end still. I just found out today that I need spinal surgery. Hurray? *frown* So...that means no work (which is a plus) and that leaves me more time to write (until the surgery of course) so hopefully I'll get out several chapters quickly. But that also depends on how drugged up I'm going to be in the next few weeks due to immense pain and a left leg that's slowly ceasing to work. *laughs* I tried writing a few nights ago but ended up falling asleep with my head on the desk. *grins* So funny. XD I wonder if hospitals have Wifi? -yeah right...plus I'd need a laptop- So I'm shooting for the next chapter (which I haven't even started) to be out on October 16th...but I have no idea when my surgery is going to be, or how long I'll be in the hospital. Could be a day or two, so hopefully that won't land on the days I release either of my stories...*gasp* So...yeah. If it's not released on that day, please forgive me. I have a bad feeling that things won't go so smoothly for me pretty soon here. (If I die on the operating table, let it be known to the world that I want my tombstone to read: "Can someone throw me a Phoenix Down?" No joke. It better read that or I'll come back and haunt my family. *grin*) Aw I'm just kidding. I won't die. Hait will just bring me back as Project Z².

Zombie Ziggy. Effin' sweet, yo.