The Forgotten Hero

Chapter 9

A man shifted through some papers. His eyes scanned each one with scrutiny. He glanced over the nameplate on a cubicle that read Verna Alm. He was at the right place. Narrowing his eyes, he continued his search for anything that could give him a lead.

Suddenly, he heard a phone ringing in what would appear to be the boss’s office. The man placed down the paper he was looking at and casually walked to the abandoned office. He calmly answered the phone and answered with a simple “Hello.”

“Yes, um…Who am I speaking to?” The man narrowed her eyes. It was a female, no doubting it.

Without hesitating the man replied, “My name is Tseng. Am I safe in assuming that this is Verna Alm? Or should I say Elizabeth Lane?”

The line went dead. A small smirk formed on Tseng’s face. It was her. He looked at the phone number that came through. Finding her contact information was easier than he thought it was going to be. Now all he had to do was contact the new president.

Tseng slipped his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Rufus’s number, “I’ve found her number, sir.”

“I see,” Rufus sounded pleased and more laid back, Tseng assumed he was alone. “We’ll wait to call her. I have a feeling she’ll come to us. Besides, why should we expend our men to find her when we have more important matters to take care of?”

“Yes, sir,” Tseng nodded.

Rufus smirked and he hung up his phone. His hand stroked the top of Dark Nation’s head. Things were going well when it came to the newspaper. Even if the business moved buildings, he could just find that one girl he could make her talk. After all, people are more likely to spill everything they’re hiding if they have fear instilled in them.

Yes, ruling Shin-Ra Inc. would be easier with fear than it would be with money. People are selfish creatures and always want more making them hard to please, much like his father. Rufus scowled at the thought of his father. After he died, Rufus was responsible to cleaning up his mess. If he wasn’t the vice president before, he couldn’t even imagine the state Shin-Ra Electric Power Company would be in. The Turks would have been killed, and no doubt there would be more fatalities.

Rufus stopped stroking Dark Nation’s head for a moment. If he didn’t order his father to be killed, then there more people in Midgar would have been senselessly killed just to see what was fit for the company.

“Now it’s time to show the people they can place their trust in Shin-Ra,” Rufus spoke mostly to himself. “We won’t be some money hungry organization. Instead, we’ll help the people.” He laughed to himself, “I really haven’t learned anything, have I?”

His mind flashed back to when he was but a mere child. The young boy stilled viewed the world with innocent eyes. He thought that Shin-Ra helped people by giving them more comfortable lives. He wasn’t sure why Shin-Ra had enemies. No, he thought that they were monsters. Palmer even said that some of these monsters could come from space. That’s why he told his father he should have an escape plan, in case these monsters came from space.

“Escape?” His father looked at him with narrowed eyes. “No, I will not escape. If I were to escape I would be a loser. L stands for loser, Rufus.”

Rufus pouted slightly, “But if you have something to live for and you have to escape for the better of it then you aren’t a loser! You live so you win!”

His father smiled ever so slightly, “Tell you what, I’ll have an escape plan, but I won’t use it. It’ll be for you to use when you become president of this company. That is, if you become president.”

Rufus shook his head. If his father had an escape plan he should have used it when Sephiroth attacked. It was foolish that he didn’t. Still, Rufus knew that no matter what his father would have died. If Sephiroth didn’t succeed in the task then he would have had a Turk kill his father. After all, it’s the Turk’s way to finish a task no matter what.

A phone rang. Tseng glanced down at it and questioned if it were the president calling him back. Had something happened after the few minutes that he spoke to him? Quickly, Tseng answered his phone.

“Tseng speaking.”

“Tseng!” It was a female’s voice. He narrowed his eyes at the person speaking, he had very little liking for the woman. “It’s Scarlet from the Weapons Development program. Heidegger just informed me that some of your men will be going to Gongaga to try and find AVALANCHE. I have a little favor I want to ask of you!”

“What is it?” His voice was void of any emotions.

“Hmph, so cold,” Scarlet complained. “Anyways, I’m going through different Mako reactors to search for a very special material and I need a Turk, such as you, to escort me. There’s a broken Mako reactor near Gongaga, so I figured now would be a good time to go.”

Tseng glared at seemingly nothing. The real reason Scarlet wanted to go there was because she had very little trust over Heidegger, his boss. He sighed. At least he’d get to supervise Reno, Rude and Elena when they were going after AVALANCHE. Reeve must have been keeping regular updates on their location.

“You still there?”

“Yes, I’ll go.”

“Have a helicopter come and pick me up. I’m at Costa del Sol right now.”

The doors creaked open. Dust blew around at the sudden breeze. The mansion hasn’t changed in the slightest. Silver hair flowed behind a figure in a cloak. The hood was down; there was no need to hide who he was. The people here were mindless puppets. His remnants would inform him should there be a disturbance.

On the second floor, a secret door opened leading to the basement. Boots walked calmly down the rotting wood. He kept his awareness high. The stares weren’t secure and could very well give way underneath his weight.

His glowing eyes narrowed in slight amusement as he came to the room he locked himself in for days. It was here when he came upon the realization of the horrible experiments that were performed on him. This was the location upon he knew he had to help his mother, Jenova.

Still, there was something he was missing. Something he needed. After his body finally reconstructed after being trapped in the life stream for so long, he needed to find it. It was somewhere in the many notes found in the basement. Someone with the last name of Valentine wrote about Gaia meeting its end should something strike the planet. If he found whatever could cause this destruction his mother would be pleased with him.

Sephiroth picked up a piece of paper, it was the last one he read before he destroyed Nibelheim, and it was the most important. His eyes scanned it and the ends of his lips turned up into a smirk.

“First, I’ll have to mislead Shin-Ra and that group of eco-terrorists,” He placed the paper back down. “And then I’ll get the Black Materia for you, Mother.”

--A/N—

Thanks to Ashj for the lovely review! I’m planning on making my chapters longer once things start to pick up…Which is after Chapter 12…I might make that chapter 11, though. Unless I have a filler of Verna’s past. I must also say that I completely agree that Rufus doesn’t get enough attention. ;_; He’s one of the best and most complex characters of the game!

If you’re wondering why it’s suggesting Rufus had his father killed, it’s simply because there are suspicions that he ordered Sephiroth to kill his father. And the thing from his childhood is actually based on the events in On the Way to a Smile. It’s pretty important…So I thought I’d hint with it right now… >_> Yeah…like…Extremely important. Life or death important! Not really a spoiler, since if in the very least played the game and watched the movie you’d know. Another thing I want to bring up is that this fan-fiction will go to at least the end of Advent Children. I might venture into Dirge of Cerberus, even if Rufus is mostly doing things in the background and it doesn’t flat out say he’s there…Maybe I’ll go into Genesis after that game…Uh…Must plan more!