THE INFILTRATION
"Half the slums have been blacked out. Shinra says there's a severe power shortage, and they're doing all they can to alleviate the situation."
"I'll bet," Riley said sarcastically.
Marcus nodded.
"None of our operatives have noticed a drop in power production," he continued. "According to our calculations, Shinra should be producing more than enough power to provide electricity to everyone in Midgar. Either they've decided to sell more to other cities, or they're cutting off the slums for some other reason."
"Other reason? Like what?" Merlot asked.
"I'm not sure," Marcus answered. "Perhaps as some kind of punishment, or perhaps it's to draw us out. They know we've been stealing electricity. The last two missions have failed. We've almost walked into a Shinra trap both times. Perhaps they're trying to get us to try again. They know that spring is coming. Soon the need for heat won't be so critical. Perhaps they think they've spooked us and that we'll go underground. Go into hiding until next winter. So they're trying to force our hand now, knowing that we won't sit back and just let people freeze to death."
Merlot nodded.
"And when we do try to do something, they'll be waiting."
Marcus' face was grim.
"Exactly. The last time out we almost lost Riley."
If it hadn't been for Aeris, Mouse thought, but knew better than to mention that. She sat on a file cabinet in the small dimly lit room, ignored by the others there. Her feet hung down in the air, not reaching the ground, and had been swinging back and forth tapping on the file cabinet until Marcus had told her to stop.
"If this continues it's only a matter of time until we're caught, or worse," Marcus finished.
He looked expectantly at the other two people in the room. Merlot stood by the doorway, leaning against the wall. Riley sat in the only chair in the room, a gesture toward his injury, which, though no longer life threatening, would still take a few days to heal completely. Neither one of them spoke.
"I need some ideas, gentlemen, and I need them now," Marcus continued when he realized that neither man had taken the hint.
"We've been doing this too long," Riley said finally. "Too long doing the same thing in the same area. We've become predictable."
"Probably true," Marcus conceded. "I guess if you keep hitting the same places over and over even Shinra will catch on after a while. So how do we solve that? The power is needed here. We can't travel far away, or how would we get the power back here? We can't string lines down the middle of the streets and expect no one to notice. "
"There are other areas of the slums that need power too," Riley said.
"True, but this is where we live," Merlot replied. "The people here are depending on us. What are we going to do, just abandon them?"
"We may not have a choice," Riley said. "If we continue to work here there's a good chance we'll get caught and that won't help them much either, now will it?"
"I already suggested a possible solution," Merlot stated. "But neither of you seemed too keen on it."
"Yes, yes, we've heard it a dozen times already," Riley said impatiently. "But we still don't know if we can trust this Soldier guy."
"He hasn't given us away," Merlot pointed out. "He helped us during the first ambush, and he killed some Shinra guards at the bar. That's pretty convincing evidence in my book."
"Perhaps," Marcus cut in. "But we agreed he should go through the normal recruiting process, and we've never trusted anyone this quickly."
"Normal processes are for normal times, of which these are not," Merlot countered. "What else can we do? If we don't use him, I don't see much of an alternative to shutting down, and you know how many people will suffer if we do that."
"You talk about this guy like he's the answer to all our problems," Riley stated. "He's just one man. Yes he was in Shinra but they didn't teach him everything. What do you expect him to do?"
"He knows more about Shinra security than we do," Merlot replied. "He knows how there security is set up. He can probably get us into the buildings a lot more easily and less likely to be detected than we can on our own, and if we do run into a trap, I don't think I have to tell you how beneficial it would be having a mako enhanced fighter on our side."
"That's if he is on our side," Riley corrected.
"We have no reason to believe he's not!" Merlot insisted.
"Nor do we have any reason to believe he is, at least, not yet," Marcus spoke up.
"He's already helped us," Merlot pointed out. "He may be our only chance here."
"We don't even know what his motives are," Marcus stated, still obviously not thrilled with the idea, but not sounding dead set against it either. "You say he has a grudge against Shinra. Well, that's fine, but why? What exactly do we know about him? What are his plans, and what is his motivation?"
"I don't know," Merlot admitted. "He's been pretty closed mouthed about that."
"And that in itself makes me suspicious," Riley stated.
"That doesn't mean anything," Merlot answered. "We're all closed mouthed. The first lesson we teach new recruits is the need to keep things to yourself. We wouldn't survive otherwise. I'm sure the military is the same way."
Marcus drummed his fingers against the top of the wooden desk he was sitting on.
"Still, it would help if we had some idea of his motives. I suggest you make that a top priority, Merlot."
"Fine," Merlot agreed.
"In the meantime..." Marcus continued. He paused for a moment to mull things over. It was clear that his two lieutenants were divided on this issue. Which meant it was up to him to make the final decision. Oh well, that was what he was paid the big bucks for.
"I agree that it's dangerous to tell this guy too much when we still don't know a lot about him," he continued. "And ordinarily I'd say we should follow our regular procedures. But as Merlot pointed out, things are far from ordinary. It's obvious that Shinra is cracking down, and that if we don't do something to counter that we're either going to have to shut down or face a greatly increased risk of getting caught. I'm willing to give this guy a chance and see what he can do. So, he goes on the next mission."
Riley made a face, but a look from Marcus silenced him before he could speak.
"Merlot, you'll be in charge, but let him plan it out. Let's see if he can do any better than we have. I want you and Mouse to both keep a close eye on him and note any unusual behavior."
"Merlot and Mouse?" Riley cut in irritably. "What about me? You don't want my opinion because you think I'm biased against him?"
Marcus turned to look at him.
"I don't want your opinion because you won't be going," he said tartly. "That girl may have healed you, but not completely. We need everyone to be at full strength, and you're not. You're sitting this one out."
"Sitting it out?" Riley repeated, obviously not at all pleased with the idea. "But..."
"There won't be any buts," Marcus cut him off. "You're hurt. You're not at full strength and because of that you wouldn't be effective in a fight. It's only just this once. You can go the next time."
Riley sat there for a moment with his mouth open. It didn't take a genius to see he wasn't at all pleased with the idea, but a look at the expression on Marcus' face convinced him that arguing would be useless.
"Fine," he muttered, his shoulders slumping in the chair. "When the whole force gets wiped out, don't come crying to me."
"No one would come crying to you in any case," Mouse spoke up for the first time.
Riley turned and stared at the young girl.
"Nobody asked you for your opinion," he said harshly. "Why don't you go play in traffic? Or better yet, run off and play with that healer girl who you seem to be so friendly with all of a sudden. You're not helping us here anyway."
Mouse stuck her tongue out at him.
"Screw you Riley," she said.
"Ooh, is that the best comeback you've got?"
"Cut it out you two," Merlot interjected. He directed the next statement at Riley. "Do I have to remind you that that healer girl saved your life?"
Riley gave Merlot a sullen look.
"Maybe," he said grudgingly.
"Enough of this petty squabbling," Marcus cut in. "You have your orders. Unless anyone has anything else to add, I'd say this meeting is over.
Riley and Mouse fell silent, content to just glare at one another. Marcus looked them all over, but no one seemed to have anything more to add.
"All right, beat it," he said gruffly.
The other quickly filed out of the room. Marcus stood up and paced back and forth slowly after they were gone, not sure he had made the right decision. But then again, he never was sure if he made the right decision, not until afterwards anyway. Was it the nature of the business he was in, or did he just lack confidence? He had been at this a long time now, and he was still alive. That in itself proved that his decisions must have turned out pretty well to this point, but was that because of an astute understanding of human nature of just dumb luck? He didn't know and probably never would. He had always been cautious, he had to be, but he knew they couldn't just go on the way they had. When they first started this Shinra hadn't paid much attention to them, but with each success they drew more and more attention to themselves. Now it was obvious Shinra was quite serious about stopping them, and when the largest company in the world starts thinking seriously about stopping you, well, you know it's time to sit up and take notice. Perhaps going underground, suspending operations for a while, would be the best thing to do.
He shook his head slowly as he walked.
The trouble was, Shinra had him in a bind with this blackout thing. Spring might be coming but it wasn't here yet. He knew many people would suffer without power or heat. A lot of people had come to depend on the Nighthawks to provide it when Shinra didn't. How could he turn away from them, how could he face them if he was too cowardly to continue?
The sad part was, that was exactly what Shinra counting on. By continuing, he was playing right into their hands.
No, it was just as they had discussed, they either had to shut down or take a chance. He wasn't keen on taking chances but sometimes it had to be done. There was no sense in fretting over it, though he knew he would continue to do so. They could either trust this Soldier guy or they couldn't, and if they couldn't, then they were likely all already dead.
"We need your help."
Dinner was finished. Merlot's wife had just cleaned away the plates and absconded with them into the kitchen. The children had retired to the living room to watch television. Merlot and Cloud were alone.
"How so?"
"You already know we've been breaking into Shinra company buildings," Merlot continued. "We've been doing it for quite some time, but it looks as if Shinra is beginning to catch on to us. The last two times we've made an attempt, they've been waiting. We nearly lost one of our own the last time we tried."
Cloud leaned back in his chair, stretching his feet out under the table.
"So you want me to play bodyguard? To fight them off if you run into them again?"
"Well, yes if it comes to that," Merlot replied. "But you know a lot about Shinra, about their security procedures. There aren't many of us, we can't really afford to lose anyone. It would be better if we could avoid a fight all together. I was hoping you might be able to get us past security without being detected."
Cloud kept his face expressionless, though secretly he was quite pleased. It looked like they were finally starting to trust him. Still, he didn't want to appear too anxious.
"I suppose I could probably do that," he said slowly, as if mulling it over. "The security in the substations are usually pretty lax. Even if they're prepared for you, I know a few tricks they won't expect, but what's in it for me?"
Merlot frowned.
"Hmm?"
"What's in it for me?" Cloud repeated.
"What's in it for you," Merlot said slowly. Cloud just stared at him. It wasn't a difficult question to understand.
"Well, you want to hurt Shinra don't you? Helping us will do just that."
Cloud did not seem particularly impressed by that response.
"You call what you're doing hurting Shinra? Just how much damage do you think you're doing? Infiltrating the substations down here in the slums, even if you knocked out the entire building, that would still just be a pinprick. Shinra could make up for that kind of damage in a day by increasing production in the other sectors. You're just wasting your time."
Cloud glared at Merlot, who for a moment, didn't seem to know how to respond.
"You don't...that's not even the reason we...," he stumbled, but then stopped as he saw the look on Cloud's face.
"Did you have something else in mind?" he said finally.
Cloud sat up and folded his arms on the table in front of him.
"As a matter of fact, I do."
Now it was Merlot's turn to look interested.
"I'm all ears."
"Shinra is a big company," Cloud stated. "They didn't get that way by thinking small. If you're really going to hurt them, you've got to think the same way. What you're doing is okay, but like I said, you can knock out substations til your hearts content and you're not really going to hurt Shinra very much. If you really want to do damage you've got to go to the source, and we all know what the source of Midgar's power is."
Merlot's chin tilted forward, a frown forming on his face mixed with surprise.
"You're talking about the mako reactors," he said softly.
"Exactly," Cloud said, nodding.
Merlot stared at him for a moment, obviously taken by surprise. He leaned back in his chair and whistled softly.
"Boy, when you say go to the source, you don't kid around," he said. "I don't think even...our leader has thought of that, but do you really think it's possible? We've been having trouble getting into the substations without being detected. The mako reactors have ten times as much security. We never even thought about them because we were sure we wouldn't be able to get in."
"Yeah, but you never had me with you before, now did you?" Cloud pointed out.
Merlot looked down at the table, rubbing his chin with his hand. He had to admit Cloud had confidence, maybe too much of it. It bordered on the arrogant, but he supposed someone from Soldier would naturally feel that way. Still, penetrating a mako reactor, it sounded absurd to even try. Those things were Shinra's baby. They had to be crawling with security, but Cloud was right, they had never had someone from Soldier to lead them before. If anyone would know how to get in it would be him, and drawing the power right from the mako reactor they could provide more power to the slums than they had in all their other attempts combined, hell, they could power the entire sector!
"I have to admit it sounds tempting," he said finally. "But that's not the kind of decision I can make on my own, though I'll certainly put the idea in front of the others. Still, even if we do decide to go after the big one, it might be a good idea to start out with something small. Right now you don't know us and we don't know you. If we're going to go after a mako reactor it's going to be imperative we work as a team. I don't think even you can do it alone. You're going to need us as much as we need you. We need to work together and to do that we need training. Perhaps you can look at our breaking into another substation as just that, a training mission."
This time it was Cloud's turn to hesitate. He had to admit what Merlot was saying made sense, beyond the unspoken thought that they didn't really trust him yet. Which was all fine. He hadn't meant for them to jump at this idea. He was merely dangling it in front of them to see what would result. He knew it would be tempting, and he knew an attempt on the mako reactor would be considered a vital mission, so vital that their leader, because of a wish to make sure it went well, or to claim credit or just out of curiosity, would be tempted to go along with them.
"That sounds like a plan I can live with," Cloud stated.
"Good," Merlot said immediately. "So you agree to go along?"
Cloud hesitated just a moment, again, not wanting to sound too eager.
"When?"
"That's up to you to decide," Merlot replied. "I've been told to let you have complete control, if that's what you want. We just don't want to wait too long. The people in the slums are suffering without power."
Cloud paused for a moment. This was obviously a test. He knew it and he was pretty sure they knew he knew it. The people of the slums are suffering without power? What did he mean by that?
"But there is one other thing," Merlot continued before Cloud could speak.
"Yes?"
"I know it's probably none of my business, but some of the others still don't trust you. They naturally question your motives. It would go a long way toward dismissing their fears if you could tell me just why you hate Shinra so much."
Again Cloud hesitated, a bit taken aback by this sudden turn in the conversation. He had had a cover story from day one, or course, but he hadn't been anxious to tell it unless pressed. After all, it was all a lie, and he still felt uncomfortable telling lies to Merlot, even though he knew it was necessary and that the man wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he found out the truth. Still, Cloud did not relish telling a fabrication, and was actually afraid that his lies would somehow give him away, that Merlot would look in his eyes and be able to tell somehow he wasn't telling the truth. So he had held off as much as he could, saying as little as possible so that he wouldn't have to lie so much, but he could see that he wouldn't be able to put the man off this time, not if he wanted them to trust him. It was time for him to put his acting abilities to the test whether he liked it or not.
"They killed my parents," he said.
Merlot looked at him expectantly.
"My parents were scientists," Cloud continued. "They had studied mako for years and were working on harnessing it as a power source for a company named ZalCo."
"ZalCo, never heard of it," Merlot said.
"Not many people have," Cloud replied. "It was a small company based in Junon. Anyway, as you can probably guess, Shinra was working on the same thing. They were a big company then, much bigger than ZalCo, but not as big as they are now, not as big as they became after they made their big breakthrough with mako power. A design they stole from ZalCo."
"ZalCo was ahead. My parents had almost completed their calculations on how to get power out of raw mako. Shinra knew it. One day the laboratory was broken into by people who stole all the plans and murdered my parents. A few weeks later Shinra announced it's big breakthrough in mako power production, and the rest, as they say, is history."
"With their big discovery stolen from them, ZalCo soon went out of business. Not too many people remember it."
"But didn't they fight it?" Merlot questioned. "If Shinra stole their plans, didn't they tell the police and try to get them back, or at least prosecute Shinra?"
"Of course," Cloud replied. "But they didn't have any proof. Shinra denied any knowledge of the break in, and the thieves could never be linked directly to them. When asked about the coincidence that they made their breakthrough only a few weeks after the plans were stolen they said it wasn't really a surprise since they had been working on the idea for almost as long as ZalCo had. I don't know if the police were in Shinra's pocket by then, but the defense worked. Shinra got off scott free and the thieves were never caught."
Merlot nodded slowly.
"Soo, if the thieves were never caught, then it was never proven that Shinra was the one who really killed your parents. How can you be sure it wasn't someone else?"
"I don't need the police to tell me the truth!" Cloud said, somewhat irritably. "I know it was Shinra, no matter what was proven or not, and I swore that somehow, someday, I would get them back. They didn't go after me. I didn't know anything and they probably thought I was too young to do anything, or to remember. I'm going to prove them wrong."
"Just how old were you exactly," Merlot asked. "When they did this?"
"I was six."
Merlot looked at him in surprise.
"Six? I'm surprised you still remember it."
"The murder of your parents isn't something you forget easily," Cloud replied grimly.
Merlot looked down.
"No, I suppose not," he agreed. "But, I don't understand how you got in Soldier then. If they really did it, wouldn't they have noticed you're the son of someone they killed when you applied? I would think they would be a bit reluctant to accept someone like that into their program."
"They didn't know who I was," Cloud answered. "After my parents were killed, I was put in an orphanage. I ran away and lived on the street. I changed my name, just so Shinra couldn't track me. I spent a long time thinking of just how I could get them back. I grew up quick and learned fast on the street, and I knew I had a chance to get in the Soldier program. I thought that would be the perfect revenge, joining the program created by the mako power they stole from my parents and using it against them. I applied and I was lucky enough to get accepted."
Cloud fell silent, looking at Merlot for his reaction, and hoping he didn't look as nervous as he felt. He had done it. He had gotten it out, and thought he'd sounded surprising sincere. Perhaps he wasn't as bad an actor as he had thought, but maybe he had missed something. He would have given a million gil to know what Merlot was thinking about his performance.
"Well," Merlot finally said, looking at Cloud carefully. The young warrior tried to keep his face expressionless when Merlot paused again, even though he was dying for the man to continue.
"I guess that would be a good reason to want to get back at Shinra," he finished. "Good. Well, not good what happened to your parents, but good that you told me that, that I know. Some of the others were worried about your motivation. I think this might go a long way to putting their worries to rest."
Merlot stood up.
"Well, that settles that then. I'll put your proposal about the mako reactor in front of the others and see what they think. In the meantime get to work on plans for infiltrating another substation. We'll move as soon as you give the word."
Cloud nodded.
"All right. I'll get started on it."
Merlot nodded and then left the room. Cloud got up and walked back to his own room, quickly shutting the door behind him.
It has worked. Or at least, he thought it had. Merlot seemed to have bought everything he had told him. Still, he could never be sure. If Merlot had seen something, if Cloud had slipped up somehow, the man would probably still have acted just as he did, only the next thing he would do would be to gather the others and come back, come back to kill him. He had been hoping he would notice something in Merlot's behavior that would give away the fact that the man hadn't believed him, but he hadn't seen anything to indicate that. Was that because the man believed him or was just as much an actor as Cloud? That was the problem with working undercover, you could never be sure, you could never be sure of what the other person knew. Was he well on his way to completing his mission or had he just doomed it?
Either way, there was no sense in worrying about it. He had done what he could and had to trust to luck and his skill that his lies had not been detected. Merlot had seemed to believe him, and if the man checked up on the story he would find that the records backed Cloud up. Records carefully planted by Shinra, but Merlot would never know that. He should be happy, he should be proud of himself for giving such a masterful performance. He should be pleased that Merlot had bought into it, had believed his lies.
So why then did he have such an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach?
"This way!"
Cloud led the shadowy figures through the darkness cast by the wall of the substation looming beside them. Four figures could be dimly made out behind him. Merlot just a step behind him, the young girl, Mouse was her name, Cloud thought, bringing up the rear, with two more people he had never met between them. Their names were Branell and Kowaski or perhaps Kowalski. He really should try harder to remember these people's names. They were both younger men, older than Cloud but not at old as Merlot, who looked pretty average in just about every aspect. Most people would have walked right by them in the street without noticing anything remarkable.
"We already passed the entrance," Merlot pointed out, his voice barely above a whisper. "How do you expect to get in? Or are you going to take us clear around the building to the front."
"No, I'm not taking you to the front," Cloud replied, a bit peevishly. "Using the doors was your first mistake. I'm surprised you didn't get caught sooner being so obvious."
Merlot fell silent, a bit annoyed at Cloud's cavalier attitude. The young spy led them forward, slowing down now, staring up at the building beside them as if looking for something. Finally he stopped.
"This should do," he said.
Merlot looked up the side of the building but saw nothing in front of them but bricks and mortar.
"What will do?" he questioned. "What are you looking at?"
Cloud paused for a moment before he turned to look at his companion.
"A staircase," he replied.
With that he stepped forward, and, grabbing hold of handholds Merlot couldn't even see, began pulling himself up the wall.
The others gathered round. Merlot walked over and ran his hand along the wall. There were handholds there all right, but they felt like no more than nubs to him, barely enough to get a fingerhold, much less pull himself up. He wouldn't have believed anyone could climb it if Cloud hadn't already been suspended above his head.
Cloud paused and looked down at them.
"C'mon," he said. "What are you waiting for?"
Merlot looked at the others. Even in the dark he could read their expressions. He lifted his head.
"I don't think we can climb this," he said.
Cloud just stared at him for a moment, then shook his head.
"Fine, throw me up the rope."
He waited patiently as Bernell fumbled to pull the rope they had brought with them off his shoulder. The man tossed it up, and Cloud reached out and snatched it. Slipping it on his own shoulder he continued on his way up the wall. The others watched him, wondering what they would do if the man slipped and fell down on top of them.
That didn't happen, and a few moments later Cloud pulled himself up onto the roof. He tossed down one end of the rope, and the others made their way up as best they could.
Cloud wound the rope back up after they were all safely on the roof. Merlot looked slowly around. The lights from the streets below cast enough light to let him see dimly. He could see antenna's and vents, but no sign of a door. He supposed there had to be one, but it was sure to be locked.
"So where do we go from here?"
Cloud nodded for them to follow and walked over to one of the vents that stuck out of the roof. It was capped by a silver metal plate.
"We had a number of classes about security during my training," he said. "One of them was about security weaknesses in Shinra buildings. A lot of these old buildings have vents like these, capped by a thin piece of metal. In the newer buidlings its reinforced."
Cloud lifted his foot and suddenly kicked under the bottom of the cap. It popped off and fell the roof with a clang. They all just stood there looking at him.
"Well, that sure was easy," Mouse remarked.
Cloud nodded, then walked over and peered down into the vent.
"C'mon," he said.
He lifted himself up and swung his legs into the vent, but before he could drop down Merlot stopped him.
"Hold on a second," he said. "If Shinra knows about this, then why haven't they done something about it."
"They have," Cloud replied. "They've replaced the vent caps with reinforced one's in critical building, but it was considered too expensive to do with all of them. I guess they didn't consider this building all that critical, now did they?"
Before Merlot could respond, Cloud slid down out of sight.
Mouse ran up beside Merlot and looked down into the vent. All she could see was inky blackness.
"How far down do you think this goes?" she questioned slowly. "It would be pretty stupid if he jumped down there to his death, wouldn't it?"
Merlot didn't answer. She lifted her head and looked at him.
"He knew about the vent caps, he must know what he's doing," Merlot said finally, though not sounding completely convinced.
"Hurry up," came hissing up to them out of the darkness, startling them.
"All right, we're coming!" Merlot replied.
He looked at Mouse and nodded with his head toward the vent.
Mouse gave him a 'who me?' look.
Merlot nodded.
Reluctantly Mouse lifted herself up and into the vent. For a moment she clung to the edge, the with one last look at Merlot let go and slid down into the dark.
As it turned out she didn't slid down very far. The vent made a slow curve from vertical to horizontal not far down. After just a few moments of holding her breath, she slid to a halt.
A small pinpoint of light fell on her as she untangled her arms and legs. She lifted her head and saw what she assumed was the dark figure of Cloud crouched in the vent in front of her, his small flashlight trained on her.
"Move out of the way before the others come down," Cloud said, motioning for her to come toward him.
She scrambled toward Cloud. Even as she did so she heard the thumping of someone sliding down the vent behind her.
When they were all gathered together again, Cloud led them forward once more. The vent was too small to stand in, although Mouse could walk in it at a crouch. The others, however, had to go on hands and knees. They went on for quite some time, Cloud leading the way, and none of the others having any idea where they were or where they were headed. Eventually they saw a light ahead, and Cloud stopped in front of a grating that looked out into what appeared to be some kind of storage room.
He peered into the room for a moment. Satisfied, he lifted up his legs and slammed them against the grating. It bent but did not give way completely. However, a second strike was too much for it, and it fell into the room, hitting the floor with a clanging sound that seemed much to loud to Merlot.
"Isn't someone going to hear that?" he questioned.
"There shouldn't be anyone in this section of the substation this time of the night," Cloud replied as he hauled himself through the opening.
The others followed, Merlot not all that pleased with the word shouldn't.
They found themselves in what was indeed a storage room. Quite empty to everyone's relief.
"This way," Cloud said.
He opened a door, and peered out into the corridor beyond, then waved them forward when he saw it was deserted. He had put away the flashlight and had his sword out. He looked back to see the others had their weapons ready too. He almost smiled at that, but kept his face expressionless. He had already contacted Zack and told him of their plans. All the Shinra guards had been pulled out of the substation. In fact, almost all the employees had been as well. They had just left enough people to keep the place running, and Cloud knew exactly where those people were stationed. They could have walked in the front door and not been accosted. The climbing up the building and through the vents was just for show.
So it was that Cloud was shocked into inaction when he came around a turn and nearly walked directly into a Shinra guard.
Fortunately for him, the guard seemed just as surprised as he had been.
By the time the man had recovered and fumbled for his gun, Cloud had gotten over his surprise as well, and the man was flung backwards by a kick to the stomach before he could bring his weapon to bear.
The man fell to the ground, his weapon skittering away. He tried to pull himself to his feet, but Cloud was much too fast for him, and another kick, this time to his head, sent him to the ground again, this time for good.
The others had recovered their senses as well. Kowalski came up beside Cloud and leveled his gun at the man.
"Wait," Cloud said.
He glanced at the others, looking at them closely, but no one seemed to have noticed his sudden surprise at finding someone here.
"I've waited a long time to get some revenge for what happened," he said. "You all go on, the main control room is just ahead. I'll take care of this one myself."
Merlot just looked at him for a moment. Cloud gave him a cold stare in return. He knew he was taking a chance. If Merlot or one of the others decided to remain...
"Very well," Merlot stated after a moment.
Merlot led the others away. Cloud saw the man take one last look at him before they disappeared down the corridor.
Cloud immediately walked over to the fallen guard. What the hell was this? Zack had assured him there would be no guards here. The objective of this mission was to get the Nighthawks trust, and it had been decided the best way to do that would be for this mission to go off without a hitch. Had this been some kind of fluke, someone who somehow hadn't gotten the message? That didn't seem likely but what other alternative was there? Had they deliberately left someone here? To what purpose?
He couldn't think of any good reason. He kept coming back to it being some kind of mistake, no matter how unlikely that might seem. In any case, he didn't have time to sit here and think about it. It wouldn't take him long to kill the man, not when a single thrust from his blade would do the trick. He couldn't delay for very long.
He didn't want to kill the man, but he wasn't sure if he had much in the way of alternatives. As far as Cloud knew no one expect Zack and General Sephiroth was aware of his mission. Perhaps the guard had been informed, but he didn't know that and he couldn't take that chance. If the guard was unaware and woke up, he'd be sure to sound the alarm and that would ruin any chance of this being a successful mission.
He looked around quickly, his eyes eventually falling on what looked to be some kind of storage cabinet to his left.
Quickly making up his mind, he cut a piece off his rope with his sword and bound the man's hands and feet. Then he hauled him over to the storage cabinet and dumped him inside. It wasn't the greatest solution in the world, and he knew he was taking a chance. He had been told by Sephiroth in no uncertain terms that anyone who compromised the mission was expendable. Perhaps the best thing to do was the kill the man, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. Finally finished, he closed the door to the room and hurried after the others.
A door at the end of the corridor opened up into a huge room that was the central core of the building. Just like in the other substation, the room was filled with rows of steel shelving lined with cables and wires.
Cloud made his way through the confusing profusion until he saw the others up ahead.
Merlot looked up when Cloud came up beside him.
"Good, you're back," the man said. "We're almost done."
"That didn't take long..."
Cloud stopped as he looked down and saw that they had been working on one set of cables. They had brought their own equipment in with them in large black cases. Cloud had assumed they've have some kind of explosives in those, or other instruments of sabotage, but now that they were open he saw that most of them just held coiled cables similar to the ones that ran throughout the room. He saw that one of the cables had been spliced into one of the lines that ran through the room. This didn't look like any kind of sabotage he had ever seen before.
"Do you think we can find another way out?" Merlot said, not seeming to notice his questioning look. "I don't think we can run the wires through those vents."
Cloud just looked at him for a moment.
"Umm, sure," he replied. Who knows, maybe they were setting up some kind of remote control thing. "We can go out one of the back doors. I suppose it won't matter if we trip an alarm on the way out."
"That will have to do," Merlot replied.
Cloud led them off once again. They went more slowly this time, for first Branel, then Kowalski was paying out the cable behind them, the other one pushing it to the side with the other cables that ran through the room so it wasn't all that noticeable. Cloud watched them, becoming more and more curious as to exactly what they were doing. Finally, as they neared the exit he could contain himself no longer. He stopped and stared at them.
"What is it that you're doing?" he asked.
Merlot just looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"That cable," Cloud said, pointing. "What are you doing with it? This doesn't look like any kind of sabotage I've ever seen."
Merlot frowned.
"Sabotage? Who said anything about sabotage?"
This just confused Cloud even more.
"Well..." he fumbled for words. "You always talking about fighting Shinra. I assumed that's what your intent was by breaking in here. What other reason is there?"
Merlot glanced at the others, who looked quite surprised themselves.
"It appears you have misinterpreted our actions," he said when he turned back to Cloud. "We're not saboteurs, we're thieves."
"Thieves?" Cloud responded. "Then what exactly is it that you're stealing. I didn't see you take anything. In fact, it looks like you're leaving something." He pointed to the cable.
"That's what we're using to steal with," Merlot replied. "You see, we're stealing electricity."
Cloud just gave him a blank look.
"We use the cable to illegally tap into Shinra's power supply," Merlot explained patiently. "Then we take the energy and feed it into homes in the slums. Homes of people too poor to pay Shinra's ridiculously expensive rates, or homes blacked out because Shinra sends the power to other cities for a greater profit instead of using it here."
Cloud just stared at him. Never during any mission briefing had he heard anything like this. He had been told the Nighthawks were sabotaging the substations. Sabotaging, not stealing electricity. He was sure he wasn't mistaken about that.
"It appears you were expecting some fireworks," Merlot continued. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. That would be a logical conclusion, now that I think about it, but just because we're not doing it quite the way you expected, we're still hurting Shinra. Maybe not by blowing up their building or equipment, but by stealing their electricity, which cuts into their profits just as much, and in addition to that, we're helping the people in the slums as well."
Merlot stopped, waiting for Cloud to respond, but the young warrior just stood there.
"What?" Merlot questioned.
Cloud shook his head, realizing that he had been just standing there with an uncomprehending look on his face.
"Nothing," he said finally. "It's just a surprise, that's all."
Merlot nodded.
"I suppose it would be if you thought we were here to blow things up, but I don't think we really have time to discuss this right now, do you?"
"No, I suppose not," Cloud replied.
He turned and started off again, leading them down the corridor toward the exit. He didn't like this at all. Didn't like what was going on. They seemed sincere, why else would they be dragging that cable along behind them, and they certain hadn't blown anything up. Yet the Shinra reports definitely stated they were saboteurs. Had they blown other places up and seen the error of their ways, or come up with a better way to do things? That didn't seem very likely, and it wasn't the first time tonight he had thought that. And what about that Shinra guard? He had been assured no guards would be here. He had started this mission with a clear sense of purpose, but the deeper he got into this the more unsure of himself he became. Just who was telling the truth here and who was telling lies?
He pondered this as they slipped through the exit and disappeared into the night, but no answers came to him.