Paper Tiger Burning

I respectfully credit all Original Creators, namely Squaresoft, which became SquareEnix,for these characters. In this way, I pay homage to my Fandom's Original Creator, and illustrate my Community's belief that Fan Fiction is "fair use". I do not claim to own these characters. I do not make money or gil from using these protected characters, nor do I wish to make money or gil from them. In other words, I am borrowing these characters to entertain the adult fanfiction community, but I am doing so with the highest degree of respect to the engineers, game designers, music makers, and voice actors.



I awoke slowly, blinking back the grogginess that came with extended sleep. Just beside me, Hojo began climbing to wakefulness as well. We looked at each other, realizing at the same time Sephiroth no longer occupied the bed with us. Nearly simultaneously, we sat up.

“Where’d he go, I wonder,” I said, yawning.

Hojo’s eyes wandered the room a moment. “He’s not in your apartment or upstairs in his own,” he said. He got out of the bed and disappeared into the next room. “His coat is gone,” he shouted back. “I have a bad feeling, Cetra.”

I got up, padding into the living room. “Maybe he just went out for something,” I ventured.

“Sephiroth?” Hojo gave a short bark of a laugh. “Do me a favor. Call the dark-haired pugilist the clone lives with. See if your friends are all accounted for.”

I dialed while Hojo watched.

“Hello?”

“Tifa?”

“Aerith?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Hey, is Cloud with you?”

“No, he was gone when I got up, and so was Vincent,” Tifa answered, sounding angry. “So don’t tell me, Sephiroth is gone as well?”

“Yes.” I squeezed the phone tighter. “So, where do you think they went?”

“I have no idea.” Tifa huffed. “If you see them, tell Cloud it ticks me off to wake up alone. I’ve had it with that sort of behavior.”

“Okay.” I winced. “Let’s look on the bright side; maybe they just went out for kicks.”

“Riiiggghhht,” Tifa replied. “Cloud and Vincent went out with Sephiroth for a guy’s day.”

Instantly I realized how stupid my statement had been. “Well, I’ll call you when I know something,’ I said.

“Okay, same here.”

Click.

“So, Valentine, Sephiroth and Strife are all unaccounted for,” Hojo said, reaching into the bag all of his files had been stored in. He drew out a small, oddly shaped pistol and pressed a small button on the side of it. A little light began to flash green. “What do you want to bet Sephiroth’s secretary, Garchae is missing as well?”

“What do you think’s happened?” I asked, sitting on the couch to watch Hojo fiddle with the gun.

“I think they’ve gone after Lucas Havars.” Hojo slid a cylinder forward into a chamber and locked it into place. “After that they would go to Havars’ compound.” He handed me the gun.

“I don’t use this sort of weapon,” I said, trying to pass it back. I had no interest in firearms.

“This is an electrical disruptor,” Hojo explained, pushing the weapon back at me once again. “Not even Sephiroth could stand up to it. It’s non-fatal but completely scrambles a person, like a taser.”

“Well, what do you want me to do with it?” I asked.

“You’re carrying it for a weapon. You and I are going to meet up with our prodigals at Havars’ compound.” Hojo stooped to put on his shoes. “Not for one moment will I risk leaving this entirely to them.”

“I have materia,” I murmured. “I don’t need this. Besides, what are you going to use for a weapon?”

Hojo laughed shortly. “Cetra, don’t you remember what happens to me when I get truly pissed off?”

I thought about that a moment. I remembered battling Hojo…

“You turn into a beast,” I said, grasping onto that memory. “A pretty tough one, at that.”

“Jenova cells are tough,” Hojo replied, standing. “I haven’t had the form forced within me since my own reunion, but I know I can still transform, just like Sephiroth will always have his special abilities.” He pointed to the gun. “Need it or not, take it. We’re going up against unknown foes.”

I blinked. Hojo, unlike my friends and even Sephiroth, now, had confidence in me. He fully intended for us to be partners in this excursion. I raised my head, feeling a little proud. “How will we get to the compound?”

“We get a helicopter from Tseng,” Hojo answered, opening the apartment door. “Are you ready to go out and face the world that hunts you, Cetra?” He held out his hand to me. “If all goes well you’ll be free.”

Free.

Free to walk in sunlight and flowers and fresh breezes.

I took his hand.

**************************************************************************************

I carried Eldon while Cloud carried Valentine. The distance seemed tolerable as long as we could fly. Soon we touched down on a summit overlooking the massive compound.

“He spoke truly,” Valentine said, pointing to the large groups of men wandering the perimeter. “Where are the ones not on duty, I wonder?”

“Must be there,” Eldon said, pointing to a barrack. He lowered his binoculars. “I saw a man come out. There were rows of bunks behind him.”

“We’ll have to kill them,” Valentine said quietly. “None are innocent and they will add to the numbers if we ignore them.” He paused. “I see no wolves.”

“I agree we’ll have to kill the sleeping guards,” Eldon murmured. “But we should keep at least one alive for testimony against Havars.” He stowed his equipment except for the camera. “And we should do it quietly else we run the risk of having all fifty guards coming down on us at once.” Standing fully, he cast his gaze around again. “I don’t see wolves either. We’ll have to be wary.”

“Send General Mayhem to the barrack,” Cloud snorted. “If anyone is suited to slitting throats, it’s him.”

They all looked at me. I realized that though they were dedicated to releasing the children, none had the stomach for stealthy murder. They would fight to the last man in a battle, but they wouldn’t ruthlessly slay sleeping men.

I said nothing, but walked over the hill.

Once in range of easy sight, I phased to the far end of the barrack, just outside. I heard snoring within the building. Being just past six o’clock in the morning, most of the men would have only come off their shift six hours ago. This meant they would all be heavily asleep, in their deepest REM. I drew my boot knife and melted through the wall.

Slitting throats is messy work. No matter how you slice or how you stand, you always get sprayed. I made sure to suffocate them while I cut, dampening the noise of surprise, pain, shock, and the gurgling of the blood in the wind pipe. Down the row I went, taking no particular pleasure in my work but not averse to it either. This wasn’t a battle, just a strategic weakening of numbers, and as Valentine had said, none could claim innocence. Each man here held responsibility for the kidnapping, mutilation, torture and death of children.

I killed but I never drew out the suffering…

Except for Cloud, and I couldn’t play with him anymore; Aerith said so.

I finished one row. Turning, I began the next. This duty felt like pest extermination, the only real difference being the amount of blood. I had to step carefully now to avoid slipping in the growing pool on the floor. The reek of copper, animal fat and spilled adrenalin hit me psychologically, making me think I walked in a battle instead of a slaughter house. The old darkness in me stirred…

Then, I came upon the one I would not kill. This one had pictures up of his family, taped in a neat formation on the wall above his head. I stared down at his face, seeing the lines of guilt and pain etched deeply on his brow. He didn’t enjoy what he did, most likely. Perhaps Havars had control over him, forced him? I gagged him with one of his dirty shirts, meeting his eyes as he thrashed in surprise.

Lie still and be silent and I will spare you, I told him mentally. I’ll keep you alive to give testimony against your employer, but if you even twitch I’ll kill you.

He lay quite still as I bound him, his brown eyes wide with fear. He knew my face. Silently, I moved on down the row.

In twenty minutes I stood at the place I’d started. I left the one man alive, tied to his bed. Part of his penance began now, lying in the blood of his companions, smelling their death.

I put my knife away and began the walk back to my partners.

I let my eyes go from man to man as I approached the summit. Eldon just stared at my bloody form, his eyes seemingly glued to my hair. Valentine didn’t bat an eyelash. Cloud shuddered, turning away, all his bravado and hostility toward me gone.

“I left one,” I told them. “He’s bound and gagged in the barrack.”

“Good,” Valentine rumbled. “Now we may focus on the mobile guards.” A breeze kicked up his tattered cloak, making him look as if he was moving for just a moment. “I expect Havars to have traps set up. We do not have the luxury of tripping them at out leisure. Someone will stumble upon the carnage in the barrack before long, I imagine.” He scanned the compound, his crimson eyes intent and cold. “We need a trap of our own.”

Only because we suspected a kill switch for the prisoners did we not just rush in and start slaying. All but Eldon could kill twenty five men while sleeping. I found it frustrating to have so much power but so little use for it.

“Havars said the children were turned out for exercise at noon,” Cloud added, his voice almost as rough as Valentine’s. “But the dead men will be discovered long beforehand. I wish we’d brought him with us; he might have voice override on his security equipment.”

“I can take care of that,” Eldon said, holding up a little yellow box the size of a matchbook. “I programmed Havars’ voice patterns into this while you all…questioned him. If we need his voice, we have it.”

I had the sudden and appropriate thought that we worked together well enough to make a decent black operations team, an unusual thing considering we all either hated or distrusted one another. Except for Eldon, we shared a history of mutual enmity.

I scanned the grounds, spying a large fuel tank at one corner. It sat well enough away from the main building to make an explosion mostly safe for the young occupants, and far enough that any race to contain a blaze would draw men a good distance away. I looked at Valentine, seeing he’d made note of the tank too.

“It operates the emergency generator,” the ex-Turk said. “I think it will be enough of a diversion. Additionally, it will keep a good portion of guards busy.”

I nodded. Drawing upon Jenova and mako energy, I formed and hurled an energy ball toward the tank.

The explosion made the earth underneath us tremble. Chaos erupted on the grounds. More than half of the twenty five remaining guards rushed toward the conflagration, shouting orders for containment equipment and extinguishers.

“Now,” Cloud said, fully standing. “Let’s go down and save some kids.”