FB - ShinRa part 6

Title: FB – Shinra part 6

Author: Enide Dear

Pairing: Valenwind, Lozoo, Renaj, Sephirothx?

Rating: rather dark

Warning: Character death, violence, rape, dungeons, evil!Sephiroth, death of small fluffy animals

Summary: Shoot first, shoot later, shoot some more, and then, if anyone's still alive, try to ask some questions…

  

  

The big limo drove into the Valenwind yard with a screech, sending kittens fleeing for their lives. Cid looked up and swore, handing over the shoot-piston he'd been repairing to Loz.

  

"What are those bastards doin' here? It ain't time fer yer samples yet." He frowned as he saw Rufus, Elena, Tseng and Rude get out of the car and walk towards the house, their fury visible even from this distance. "Somethin's wrong. Reeve was supposed ta supervise."

  

"They almost hit my cats!" Loz glared at the limo. "I ought to…."

  

"Ya ought ta stay here. See if ya can finish the engine. Stay out of sight. If shit goes down, ya'll get them from behind, alright?"

  

Loz nodded. He might not be bright, but he could see obvious tactical advantages when they stared him in the eye.

  

Cid grabbed an oilcloth and wiped his hands quickly, hurrying after ShinRa.

  

Somewhere in the distance, Loz could hear a kitten wailing, obviously hurt. Frowning, he threw a worried glance after the captain.

  

The kitten wailed again.

  

  

"Where the Hell is my Turk?!" Rufus roared at Vincent, who stood his ground with a batter of cake mix in one hand and razor sharp claws on the other. The Turks were pushed far too close to the edge – it was obvious in their poised stances, ready to attack at the very slightest provocation. And angry Turks were very, very dangerous Turks.

  

But that went both ways.

  

Vincent flexed his claw and took one step to the side, getting himself between the enraged assailants and his boys.

  

"How should I know? Last time we saw him was at ShinRa." He frowned and glanced at Rude's face, sporting a number of bruises and shallow cuts. "What happened to him?"

  

"Sephiroth is loose. He attacked Rude, kidnapped Reno ." Rufus ire was a thing of steel and ice, he didn't' loose his head but rather became even more focused, like a wetted blade. Vincent felt himself slightly frightened by the man. "Where are the Remnants?"

  

"There are here. Loz has been with me all day." Cid stepped into the room, keeping on the other side of the Turks to force them to divide their attentions. The pilot held a heavy wrench in his hand, menacing. "What ya mean, Sephiroth attacked Rude? He's still alive, ain't he?"

  

"Turks are hard to kill." Tseng held his hand near his gun, but hadn't drawn it. Yet. "It wouldn't be the first time he failed at that."

  

"I was knocked down at the slums." Rude growled. " Reno had some stupid-ass plan he wouldn't tell me about. I was insane enough to come along. We were attacked at Wall Market. All went black and when I woke up I was beaten, Reno was gone and these were lying on me." He held up three long strands of silver hair.

  

Yazoo and Kadaj exchanged a look.

  

"All went black for us as well." Kadaj was on his toes, ready to attack, but his eyes narrowed with thought. "And we don't loose strands of hair, just like that. Neither did Sephiroth."

  

"Maybe *you* turned into Sephiroth, Rude." Yazoo said with deadly sweetness at the scowling Turk. "It seems contagious."

  

"Enough of this!" Rufus slammed his fist to the table, shocking the room. "We will search the house, and if we find Reno …"

  

"We have permissions for a search." Tseng waved a house warrant.

  

"Well, ya have *my* permission ta fuck off!" Cid roared, loosing his patience. " Reno ain't  here, Sephiroth ain't here, and all this mess belongs ta Midgard, ya hear? Now piss off before I kick yer asses!"

  

It wasn't possible, of course. The Turks split up so quickly even the cats would have been impressed, and before the Valenwinds could usher them out, most of the small house – including basement and attic – was searched.

  

Cid snarled as he pushed Elena into the limo and slammed the door shut on her angry face.

  

"Go away, ya miserable snoops!" He growled as the limo drove slowly towards Midgard, their mission failed. "Don't worry," he said, putting an arm protectively around Kadaj. "I'm sure Reno is ok."

  

"I don't know." Kadaj chewed his lip. "If I like Reno , does that mean Sephiroth likes him to? What if…what if he's doing something to him?"

  

"Look, this whole thing is fishy as Hell, and I ain't even sure…" Cid was interrupted as Yazoo came dashing back from the tool shed, Vincent just behind him. Seeing their faces, pale with dread, made both Cid and Kadaj's spines grow cold with fear, but it was Yazoo who said the words they dreaded:

  

"Where is Loz?!"

  

A quick, thorough search of the farm revealed nothing, and Kadaj's and Yazoo 's emotional bond revealed…nothing. Just as it had the other times one of them turned. Cid swore, raged, and kicked at the shed hard enough almost to break it, Yazoo cried, sobbing helplessly and Kadaj stood seething with frustrated helplessness.

  

Vincent took a look at his shattered family and turned around, stalking into the house. When he came back he had lost the apron but holstered Cerberus and in his arms he held other, familiar weapons. Venus Gospel.  Velvet nightmare. Souba. Cerberus. Duel Hound.

  

The boys took them, solemn death promising in their eyes, Yazoo putting the far too big for his slim arm electro weapon in his holster. Cid nodded to them, and then after the limo.

  

"Boys, ya know how we always tell ya there are times when ya should mellow out and rein yerselves in?"

  

"Yes?" Kadaj glared.

  

Cid hefted his spear and nodded.

  

"This ain't one of those times."

  

  

"Tseng I found something." Reeve sounded a bit embarrassed over the phone. "It might be nothing, but I thought you might want to know."

  

"Anything you have is more than what we do, Reeve." Tseng nodded and put the phone on speaker so that Rufus, Elena and Rude also could hear it. "What is it?"

  

"I found high traces of a strange substance in Yazoo 's blood that wasn't present in the other Sephlings'. It's not Jenova cells, or mako. I didn't' know what it was, so I didn't think it was important. Then I compared it with Hojo's files on Sephiroth's…medical record and found a match." The engineer shuddered a bit. "I haven't yet figured it out, but I will come back once I know more."

  

"Good. Thank you."

  

"Oh, and on a lighter note I got that new cat suit we ordered, you know the tight one with the removable…."

  

Tseng blushed and quickly turned off the speaker, but no one was in the mood for anything more than a few teasing smiles that qu8ickly vanished. Reno 's disappearance was bad enough to drag them all down.

  

"I'm still sure Sephiroth is behind this somehow." Rufus glared out in the dark surrounding the limo. "I'm…what the hell was that?!"

  

A large thud shook the car as if something heavy had landed on the roof; seconds later a high, screeching noise like brass claws on metal could be heard, backed up by a demon roar that could have chilled to the bone.

  

"That's Chaos! Sir, get down!" Tseng threw himself to the floor of the car, protecting Rufus even as a huge fist slammed into the car roof, making it crack and buckle. Elena screamed as the bullet-proof glass on the side window cracked but held as a huge gun spewed out bullets at it and got up her own gun.

  

A new thud and Rude swirled the car wildly, but too late; Cid had landed on the hood of the car and slammed Venus Gospel straight through the hood and into the engine, hanging on to the spear shaft for dear life, his face red with fury.

  

Another screech and a slim, double edged sword slammed against the side window. Rufus tried to get up, but Tseng held him down, his own gun up.

  

"Stay down sir!" They've finally lost it, all of them!"

  

"Get of me, Tseng!" Rufus drew his own gun, a heavy, white, special made target gun. "There's five of them and only four of us. You need me if we are to survive." He glanced up as a claw gouged through the roof, revealing a pissed of demon face above. "If we are even to have a chance of survival."

  

The limo was nothing so much as an armoured truck, but it was taking a sever beating from mako and demon enhanced beings that it would not withstand for long.

  

"Actually, sir, there's only four of them." Elena held her gun ready, waiting for the window to finally give in under Yazoo 's frantic shooting. "I can't see Loz anywhere."

  

"Where is he? Where is he?!" Cid snarled, slamming his spear over and over into the engine, forcing the car to a skidding halt. Then he started pounding on the windshield, just in front of Rude. The reinforced glass cracked but held.

  

"Where is he, who?" Rufus mused, cold as always. "What are they talking about? Jenova? Sephiroth?"

  

"And where is Loz?" Tseng peered out a still-whole window, trying to see where the final attack would come from.

  

"Loz! They think we have Loz!" Rufus eyes narrowed as several things snapped into place in his shrewd mind all at once. "Oh, this is *really* making me angry!"

  

Not really listening to his boss, Tseng turned around, situation assessed and analyzed.

  

"Rude, get the pilot once he breaks through." He ordered quietly. "He's the only one of them who's human – he's the weakest link. We'll use him as a human shield and…"

  

"No, for Gaia's sake!" Rufus snarled before Rude could make a grab for the spear that was almost through the windshield. "The last thing we want to do is piss them off *more*!"

  

"But sir!" Elena screamed almost frantically as Kadaj's cold, furious face came into view even as the youngster effortlessly sliced open the trunk of the car, Souba cutting through the steel like butter. "This is war! They attacked us! We can't end this!"  

  

"There's always a way to end a war," Rufus said grimly. "If you're ready to pay the price…"

  

  

The Valenwinds –demon and pilot alike - hesitated as something white was pushed out the car window and waved around rather desperately. The make-shift flag, however, had no effect on the Sephlings.

  

Exchanging wary looks, Cid and Chaos ceased their destruction. Cid held up a gloved hand, spear still ready in case this was some kind of trap.

  

"Hold it boys!" He had to roar to be heard over the banging gun and the screaming of tortured metal, but he was used to roaring over the Hingwind's engines. "Seems they want peace."

  

"Well, we want Loz!" Kadaj's bike came to a screeching halt, sword still in hand and eyes shining with fury. "We're not leaving without him!"

  

"I ain't sayin' we're backing off. I'm saying we gotta listen to what they say - *then* we can continue to grind them to pieces if we don't like what we hear."

  

"And if we don't want to back off?" Yazoo 's eyes were glowing frantically; in the gathering dusk they almost shone.

  

Cid didn't look away from the eerie sight.

  

"Yer gonna make me regret lettin' ya near yer weapons and bikes again, are ya?" He asked, almost quietly.

  

Yazoo hesitated, then looked away. Kadaj shouldered Souba.

  

"No. Of course not."

  

"Good." Cid jumped down from the hood, landing in the dirt to catch Chaos who really didn't need any help but enjoyed a bit of chivalry. "Alright, ya can come out in there!" He shouted to the car.

  

The door opened slowly, Tseng stepping out first to throw his gun on the ground and raise his hand, but still standing between Rufus and the assailants. The wutai man did not look happy, and his eyes kept darting everywhere, looking for more threats. Elena and Rude was equally skittish, but threw their weapons down as well.

  

Rufus picked up his white robe and dusted it off from its use as a flag, then nodded. The car behind him looked like a tin can after you startled Vincent with it in his claw; it was just sad shreds of bleeding metal.

  

"So, you made your point." He said with a dry voice that only quavered a little. "You want something. What is it?"

  

Yazoo almost lounged for his throat, but Chaos caught him and held him back.

  

"You know what we want!" He screamed. "We want Loz back! You took him, you bastards!"

  

The perplexed, stunned look on all four ShinRa's faces made Cid frown. Something was off here.

  

"Loz? We don't have him." Rufus waved at the car. "Feel free to look through whatever is left of my car if you don't believe me."

  

"No need." Chaos growled unexpected. "The Jenova spawn isn't there. There's no smell of either mako nor cats coming from the vehicle."

  

The tension made them all jump as Tseng's cell suddenly rang, a shrill tone in the wasteland. It was still on speaker; they could all hear Reeve's exited voice.

  

"I found it, Tsengy! The substance in Yazoo 's bloodstream. It was engineered by Hojo to work as a powerful sedative, to render him harmless and relaxed. Unconscious, if need be."

  

"Thank you, Reeve." Tseng's voice was impressively calm. "I will come back to you soon."

  

The phone clicked off and confused glances were shared all around.

  

"What the hell does that mean?" Cid growled, not at all happy with the situation.

  

"Wait, quiet." Kadaj held up a hand, thinking furiously. Rufus ShinRa did the same. "First Reno is gone, now Loz."

  

"And they're nowhere to be found, neither with you nor us." Rufus continued, but gave the Valenwind's a suspicious glance. "At least, we have to assume so for now."

  

"Which means, someone else took them." Kadaj filled in, ignoring the barb.

  

Valenwinds and Turks alike looked from one to another as the two brightest in the party started to unravel the threads.

  

"Someone is trying to push us against one another." Rufus supplemented, eyes suddenly aglow with anger.

  

"There never was a Sephiroth. No one ever saw him. We were drugged and out and they made it look like we'd done horrible things. We just assumed…"

  

"That you were turning into him! As *they* wanted us to! And blamed one another."

  

Kadaj and Rufus looked at one another.

  

"We've been played for fools." Kadaj said slowly, the words dripping with fury.

  

"They wanted us at one another's throats, and they succeeded - almost." Rufus glanced at the car.

  

"What the Hell are ya talking about?" Cid scratched his head.

  

"A third party – as yet unknown – has staged the whole thing, captain. And I do *not* appreciate being taken advantage of." Rufus seethed. "I will see them dead before dawn!"

  

"Who?" Cid tried to catch up. "Who the hell are we talkin' about here?"

  

"And where is Loz?" Yazoo was almost sobbing in Chaos grip.

  

"And Reno ?" Rude added darkly.

  

Chaos head suddenly snapped up, fangs showing in something that was almost a smile.

  

"Someone just died." He pointed over the wastes. "Over there."

  

"A…a…someone?" Elena whispered as cold fear spread over the group.

  

"Everyone is a someone." Chaos sneered at her. "To themselves. I can feel the deaths that have meaning to me. This individual was part of my…family."

  

"Shit!" Cid grabbed his spear and shook Yazoo from Chaos grip, flinging the Sephling towards his bike. "Can't be a coincident. Go! Go! Go!"

  

Chaos swung up in the air, huge wings beating as it lifted the captain with him and rushed away over the empty plains; Kadaj and Yazoo leapt on their bikes, roaring after.

  

"We have to follow! Rude, does the car still work?" Rufus hurried for the mangled vehicle even as his Turks picked up their guns. The engine clicked, then grumbled alive.

  

"Yes sir!" Rude shouted as they scrambled in, closing the doors as well as they could and the car roared after the demons and the motorcycles, tearing up grass and old bushes. "Thank all Cat Gods for Reeve's engineering's."

  

"I will, now hurry!"

  

TBC