Final Fantasy VII: Black Gold

Aveline's grip on her knife slackened slightly, but she stiffened her jaw, turning her head to look over at the table the man had indicated. Her eyebrows narrowed as she looked him up and down, her thoughts quick: wait a minute... he said he "was" a legend among the Turks... does that mean he isn't one now? And if that's the case, then what's his motivation?

"Why should I believe you?" she began quietly, renewing her hold on her weapon. "You just want my blade out of your side; besides, he's under no obligation to tell me anything even if he knew it. You're lying."

 

At that, Legas smiled. "With that logic, should you believe anythin' I say at all, beautiful? Even if I did have any information on that war hero. Think about it, darlin', I'm a former Turk. Sephiroth's a current SOLDIER. Reno ova' there is not just a current Turk and third in command of the Turks, last I heard, he was the one in charge of supervisin' Sephiroth while that bald partner of his? Word was he kept an eye on Genesis."

 

Caleigh spared a look at Reno. So that was one of the guys Shears had been talking about. Barret had mentioned him to Caleigh before while talking about the plan with Chelsea and that other Turk, Rude. She looked away again, her eyes settling on Legas now. He was more than a "former Turk," he was the Legendary Turk, the Death God of the Battlefield. He must know all kinds of stuff that AVALANCHE could use. If only Reno would ditch Shinra too.

 

Aveline lowered her eyes, trying to hide the blush on her cheeks when she realized the obvious logic to his words. If this man is right, this really is your only chance to get what you want. But if this other Turk reports right to Shinra and word gets out of what I'm doing, I'll be quite a bit of trouble; first class SOLDIER information is classified for a reason, and poking around in there, despite my ranking, isn't good... but it's worth it. No matter what.

She cleared her throat a moment later, finally making her decision; with the way the two of them were positioned in their seats right now they were attracting attention from other patrons anyway. Flipping the dagger over in her hand and dropping it smoothly down into her shorts pocket, Aveline flashed a smile at the former Turk. She stood from her bar stool, straightening her legs slowly in a small stretch from sitting too long.

"Well," she began, her voice at a normal volume now. "Thanks anyway. Caleigh," she added, looking briefly over her shoulder at the other woman. "I'll let you get back to whatever you were talking about. Sorry for intruding on your conversation."

Aveline gave the former Turk a small kiss on the cheek before turning to the red-headed man's table. Her smile was gone now; the man seemed very intimidating to her, and she didn't know why: her hands were shaking and her palms were sweating, but she tried her best to focus. If he really knew all that the other man said he did, her search might finally come to an end tonight... if she could make him talk.

She slowly walked over to the Turk's table, fingering her dagger in her pocket. "Hey," she started, hoping her voice wasn't shaking as much as her hands. "Your... friend over there said you might be able to help me with something. Can I buy you a drink?"

 

Legas sighed, but he also blushed after receiving the kiss. He felt his fingers loosen around the object in his sleeve, but he quickly retightened them. "No problem, beautiful," he said, though not in the same flirty voice as before. After she walked away towards Reno, Legas quickly looked back to Caliegh. "I apologize both for that and for what's about to happen, but SOLDIER and the third rankin'Turk ain't good for us, 'specially when the SOLDIER heard us. Can ya fight, pretty girl?" As he said it, he stood up and wrapped his foot around one of the legs of his stool. Gotta do this quick, 'fore Reno blows my cover.

Reno looked at Legas. His pants were zipped. Could he have zipped them back up that quickly, or did something else happen. "Yes, you can, Aveline," Reno said, dropping the fact that he knew her name, "In fact, I'll inform you if you inform me. Otherwise, I'll simply take that drink and leave." Reno flashed Legas a look, but was now on edge. Legas looked like he was about to do something...radical. "What exactly did my...friend say?"

 

Aveline's heart skipped a beat; if he knew her name she was in way over her head... but she held her ground. After motioning to the bartender over her shoulder briefly (who seemed very perplexed at all the drink orders and odd customers he was having this evening) she took a seat on top of the Turk's table, one leg up on the chair opposite him, her hand farthest from the bar ready at her side just in case.

"Fine... I'll go first... Reno," she started, glad the former Turk had told her this man's name, her voice a little more even now; she didn't want to give away anything important Legas had mentioned (especially any big details, since he had helped her out), so she chose her words carefully: "He didn't say much, other than that the fact that he wasn't... in his previous occupation any longer, which hindered him from giving me any updated information worth while. You, on the other hand, he was inclined to suggest would be more inviting... on any whereabouts or information you may have... on Sephiroth."

 

Caleigh smirked at Legas. "I'm a member of AVALANCHE for a reason." She didn't really know what he was planning, but he knew what he was doing. For now, she'd trust him to have a plan that would get the two of them out of the Green Dragon without being followed by Reno and Aveline.

 

"And to think, all I wanted was to live by the beach," Legas sighed as he kicked the stool up into the air and caught it in one hand, "and meet pretty girls, like yourself," he told Caleigh as took a step forward, spun around, and sent the stool flying towards where Aveline was sitting. His other hand pulled a black, metal ball with little protrusions from his sleeve.

Reno flashed Legas another look. "Well, it's true that he isn't a Turk anymore. But that doesn't mean-wait, Sephiroth?" He asked Aveline, intrigued. "What do you want to know about hi-WATCH OUT!" Without warning, he jumped forward, tackling Aveline as a bar stool flew over them. He let go of Aveline as he hit the floor, but he quickly bounced up just as something hard and metal hit his chest and bounced off. Bomb?! As it bounced off his chest, he stumbled back, stuck his hand into his suit, pulled out a rod, and quickly batted the bomb away. Not a full second after he hit it, it blew up. "Waaah!" The Turk yelled as the small explosion threw him into a backflip and towards the door.

Legas did a quick dance and stuck his fists in the air. "Here we go~" He said, his eyes on Aveline.

 

Aveline gasped as all the breath was knocked out of her, bouncing painfully on the dirty, sticky barroom floor. She put a protective arm over her head as the bomb exploded, scattering fragments of wood, glass, and plastic into the air. What the hell is he thinking?! she thought angrily, her heartbeat starting to go back to normal as she reached down to find the mate for the knife that was sheathed in her pocket... and then thought better of it, reaching down a set inside her boots to pull out two larger blades, better for sparring than throwing. I was so close, damn it.

Aveline got to her feet shakily, and almost fell over again when several terrified, drunk patrons shoved past to her run to the exit. Catching her footing once again, she glared over at Legas.

"You're kidding me!" she snapped, twisting the handle of her right blade, ready to toss it at the former Turk if she had to. "What the hell is your problem?!"

Lightning swallowed several impolite remarks as she followed Zack into the elevator. "'Hit it off,' my ass," she muttered under her breath, unable to keep that particular retort from escaping her lips, but it wasn't exactly how she felt; the young blonde infantryman did intrigue her, and what better way to get to know someone than over a drink?

Suddenly Lightning blinked, realizing a hitch in their plan; it wasn't a big deal and certainly wouldn't stop their plans for the evening, but she wanted to tease Zack by saying it nonetheless: "So this Cloud... he's gotta be, what? Fifteen? I didn't know you were such a supporter of underage drinking."

 

Caleigh moved to block Reno from getting back to Aveline. Having only her bare hands to fight against and armed man made her a little uncomfortable, but she could probably hold her own. What exactly was Legas' plan anyway? She widened her stance in front of Reno and held her fists up, ready for whatever he'd do.

OOC: Two short posts in a row!? WTF??

 

Legas shrugged and snapped his arms. A round ball rolled out of each sleeve and into his hands: impact bombs. SOLDIER girl should easily live through these, he thought as he arched both arms back. "Sorry, they say I gotta problem throwin' my balls at pretty girls like yaself," he said as he threw both bombs towards the SOLDIER.

"Now we got a problem!"Reno's voice rang through the bar as he stood up. His right hand was gripping his taser-rod tight. His left hand was on his right shoulder, which he was rotating. "You good-fer-nothin'-wait, who are you?" He said, looking at the girl who raised her fists at him. Reno was confused. Legas Storm, former Turk and current freelancer for Shinra, attacking a Turk and SOLDIER? Now this woman was challenging him. "Somebody's got some 'splaining to do, Ricky," Reno said as readied himself for Caleigh's attack.

 

Aveline thought fast; she rotated both her daggers to a throwing position in her hands and aimed as well as she could. She shut her eyes as she let the blades go, hoping they'd make contact with the bombs before they met any part of her body. One explosion later she opened one eye, cringing. One of her blades had made contact with a bomb, making it detonate in midair. The other, however, was still headed straight toward her. She made to duck, but her foot slipped in a puddle of spilled beer and the next second she was on the floor, her bottom stinging from the impact. Almost too slow, she chastised herself. Are you SOLDIER or not? That was embarrassing... Aveline jumped half a second later, turning her head just in time to see the second bomb make impact with an upturned bar stool and explode it into a million splinters of wood.

Aveline shook her head, both to clear it and shake the debris out of her hair. She jumped up to her feet as quickly as she could, drawing two small knives from the holster underneath her shirt. Thinking quickly, she dived at Legas, connecting with his midsection and sending them both flying under the bar, hitting the back of it hard. He can't throw those damn things if I keep down his arms down... She twisted quickly, stabbing down both of Legas' sleeves with her knives as far into the barroom floor as she could.

"So," Aveline panted, swinging her leg over the former Turk and straddling his chest. "Is close combat your forte... because I'm pretty damn good in a position like this."

Lightning caught Zack's shoulder before he walked away. "That's him... right?" she asked, pointing across the lobby to a boy with extremely pointy blonde hair. "Cloud!" she shouted across the room, turning many heads and making several guards jump. "Over here!"

 

Caleigh stared at Reno, unfazed by his quip. All she really needed to do was disarm him so she could get closer to him. "I'm your opponent here, Turk. Don't get distracted." She rushed at Reno, left fist hooking toward his face while her right attempted to grab Reno's weapon from him.

 

Legas grinned and leaned up so his face was as close to the SOLDIER as possible, "I like this position. Very much, indeed," he said as flexed his right foot. "I can do plenty of things this close, ya know? Especially blow you away," he winked beneath his shades. He kicked his right foot and a small bomb rolled out of his pants' sleeve onto his foot, "In more ways than one, beautiful." The bomb started to beep. "I'm not just the Death God of the Battlefield, ya know? Whaddaya say make our last few seconds count?" And with that, he kicked his foot again, sending the bomb high into the air. It reached its peak and started dropping where Aveline and Legas was. "Kiss me in the afterlife?"

Reno's reflexes kicked him as he spun around, his arm outstretched with his weapon ready. "Let's see what makes contact first! Your first or my rod!"

"Huh?" Cloud was halfway out of the lobby when he heard his name called. "Who is-Zack?" He turned around to see Zack and Lightning heading his way. Uh oh, not her, he thought, suddenly worried that Lightning herself was calling him. He felt a strange sense of fear.

 

Aveline barely had time to look. No way... I'm in way over my head, as usual; what was I thinking, taking on someone like this? You're an idiot, Ave. And now you're going to die... No! she interrupted her own thought, analyzing this split second that felt like a full minute.

That thing's gonna explode either on me and absorb the impact, or, if I move, mostly hit me and only some of him. Why is he willing to risk damage to himself as well in such a small area? Some Death God... Then another thought occured to her: If I roll and somehow manage to get out of the way in time, that leaves Legas pinned to the floor, exposed...

Aveline knew what to do next, even though she was certain it would hurt: tensing her muscles, she sprang up, catching the edge of the bomb with her right shoulder, butting it off course in the same direction as herself, launching away from the floor underneath the bar. Mid-flight, the bomb exploded, most of the fiery impact on her left shoulder and arm. Aveline landed a moment later on top of a large wooden table, which quickly split and crumbled beneath her speed. Her head hit hard, bouncing first off part of the table, then the unforgiving floor itself.

She groaned, tried to move, and failed: barely able to look at her arm, Aveline could just see charred-away shirt, blistered skin, and bloody holes. She blinked, and a line of blood rolled down into her eyes, fresh from her landing, blinding her temporarily. Her head was swimming, and she could dully hear Caleigh and Reno speaking behind her.

Get up and get out, Ave... before it's too late. Take what you've got and run... But she couldn't even stand, let alone escape. She lay on the floor in the rubble, trying to even her breath and clear her head without passing out.

Lightning waited impatiently as Cloud walked over. Once he reached her and Zack, she grabbed the boy's uniformed shoulder and spun him toward the exit, motioning with her head for Zack to follow as well. "This way," she muttered. "It's already getting late, so hurry up."

 

"Can't believe that worked," Legas said as he raised his free arm. Part of the explosion had hit him and, while the damage was minimal, the force of it had pulled one of the knives out...along with several boards of the floor. "You ain't had to go through all that trouble, though," he told Aveline as he reached over and pulled out her other knife, "the explosion wouldn't kill anybody, just send ya to the infirmary for a few days." He hopped onto his feet and tossed both knives to where she lay. "These are yours. I'm many things, beautiful, but not a thief." He ran forward and lunged at her body, though he landed next to her. He knelt down, and whispered, "Tell Shinra they got their mole in AVALANCHE," and dove towards Reno and Aveline.



"I'm under-uh.." Cloud was mostly speechless. Just when he told himself that he didn't have to fear Lightning, this happened. "Sure," was all he could muster.

 

Caleigh took a deep breath and swung at Reno with her left hand, catching the side of his coat jacket in his grip. She twisted it quickly, keeping her right arm up to block any blows, and spun the Turk around. Before he could recover, she swept her left leg wide in a low kick, knocking his legs out from underneath him.
She turned to Legas as he came toward her, jerking her head toward the door. “Want to get out of here before these two get back up or what?!â€

 

Aveline made a grab at Leags' jacket sleeve and failed. She opened her mouth to reply, but thought better of it; there was nothing she could say or do at this point to stop him. I don't believe for a second that that bomb couldn't have done much damage... Who's side is he on? she thought, thoroughly confused. AVALANCHE... Shinra... the Turks? Either way, I've got to focus on my own goals... and, if that means betraying this extremely charming (and handsome) man's information to someone to help myself... so be it.

She tried again to move, and managed to sit up on her right forearm and hip. Glancing at her wound again, she found that it wasn't as bad as she originally thought... but she needed medical attention and to stop losing blood quickly. Aveline coughed, and stared at a piece of wood on the floor as her focal point, her sweaty, short hair in her face.

Lightning walked swiftly, taking point in the group as she usually did. Since they were in a nicer area of Midgar, she picked the closest bar she could think of that wasn't too shabby and not too far from Shinra Headquarters. She noticed the awkward silence from Zack and the uncomfortable silence from Cloud and sighed.

"So..." she began, not usually the one to start conversation... but for Zack's sake, she thought she'd give it a try. "It's Cloud, right? What made someone like you get into the military life?"

President Shinra dialed the phone number that had been given to him by his assistant. The ringing went on for almost thirty seconds, and he was expecting to here a voicemail recording start any moment, but then the person on the other end finally picked up.

"Second class SOLDIER Lent," he began monotonously, having made phone calls like this often enough. "This is President Shinra. Due to recent events and your promising skill within our program, you have been selected to be given a mentor: first class SOLDIER Lightning. You will report to her either this evening or tomorrow morning. Our intelligence shows that..." He paused for a moment, though he hoped the SOLDIER on the other end of the phone knew it was not a cue to respond or speak at all. "... she is currently located half a mile south of Shinra headquarters near a tavern called 'Hotel Raven.' She is not informed of the change in assignment yet; you will take care of those details. Goodbye." Without waiting for a response, he hung up the phone on his desk.