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         "You can't stop me, Aeris," Devin yelled, his temper frayed beyond the point of rational thought. "It's my life! MY LIFE, goddamit! And no one, not you, not our parents," his arm swept around grandly to point at Red, who was watching him dispassionately, "and not some furball with an attitude is going to dictate how I live that life."

         His hand fell, and he turned back to Aeris, who was watching him as dispassionately as Red.

         "I'm joining SOLDIER, Aeris," Devin declared. "You have two choices. You can step aside and let me do as I wish, or...," he paused, his eyes cold. "You can kill me."

         At that, Aeris' calm expression broke, and Devin could see that he'd hurt her. He hadn't wanted too, but if that was the only way to get through to her, then it had to be done. Once it was over, once he'd joined up and proved himself, he would just have to hope that she would understand.

         "As your sister and I have been patiently trying to convince you for the past thirty minutes," Red began, walking up beside Devin and looking up, his one good eye blinking once, "we have no aspirations to control how you live your life, or what you do with it. However, we, and your parents, I might add, are not going to stand by and let you commit suicide. You are welcome to do whatever you like with your life. You are not, however, welcome to end it."

         "And just why the hell do you think I'd be committing suicide?" In exasperation, Devin spun on Red and glared down at him. "I can take care of myself."

         "Wouldn't think so, from the way your first visit to New Midgar turned out," Ada put in smugly, from her position several feet behind Red, to his immediate right. They hadn't bothered restraining her, and after three attempts to escape, and the three tackles from Red that had followed such attempts, she seemed to have given up, for now at least, any thoughts of escape.

         She also seemed to be completely ungrateful for the Fullcure spell that Red had been kind enough to use on her, after Devin, of course, which had saved her from dealing with a broken shoulder, several ribs, and a nasty concussion. As they'd found out upon exiting the warehouse, Bull and his flunkies had pushed a heavy dumpster up against the door she'd tried to open before entering, anticipating that escape route. If Devin hadn't stayed to fight them off, for which she also seemed completely ungrateful, she wouldn't have lived to see another day.

         And, although Devin doubted it was real, at least they had finally been given a name for her. The New Midgar police had arrived with several stretchers and carted off Bull and his men, but Devin had kept Ada with them, merely because she still refused to tell him what she'd done with his money.

         "You," Devin spit, spinning on her and advancing, "you stay the hell out of this. Thief."

         She actually flinched at the sheer anger his words contained, but that one admission seemed to anger her beyond reason.

         "Screw you," she spit back. "What the hell do you think you know about my life, you high-born little prick? When the hell have you had to worry about money? Living in your goddamn mansion with your goddamn servants, with half the goddamn world worshipping you like a god?" She advanced on him as well, until their faces and bodies were separated by mere inches. "Where the hell do you get off, judging me?"

         "Unlike you," Devin replied angrily, "I actually know what it is to WORK, Ada. Work. You know what that is? HONEST work, I mean?"

         Her eyes flared. For a brief instant, they merely stared at each other, each of their stores of anger and hate fighting from the safety of their smoldering eyes, each struggling to overcome the other. With no success.

         "Screw you," she said again, turning away.

         "In your dreams," Devin returned, turning away as well.

         "Although it may be inappropriate to ask, could we perhaps get back to the matter at hand?" Red commented mildly. "If you would, Ada, please refrain from making any more comments about this matter. It is none of your concern."

         "Fine," Ada responded sullenly.

         "And you, Devin," Red said, turning his incredible calmness on the younger Strife, "need to think long and hard about what you are asking. On that matter, what do you know about SOLDIER?"

         "What does that have to do with anything?", Devin asked angrily.

         "I think you know, Devin," Aeris said softly. "It's a simple question. Why won't you answer it?"

         "I don't have to answer it! It's a stupid question!"

         "Humor me." Aeris stared calmly at him, as cool as ever. Devin glared at her for a second, trying to stare her down, but she would have none of it. She never had.

         "Fine," he muttered. "SOLDIER is the best and brightest of the Shinra army. The elite. The best of the best."

         "And?" Aeris prompted.

         Devin glared. "What else do you want? Although they don't infuse you with Mako anymore, since they can't, they do inject you with drugs to augment everything from your strength to your resistance to injury to your sex drive."

         "Now why would someone like you need that?" Ada remarked smugly, but Devin ignored her.

         "And what about the cases where those drugs fail, Devin?" Aeris asked. "What happens then?"

         Devin scowled. "If there are," he began, the contempt in his words clearly defining his distaste for this line of questioning, "defects, which, I should mention, happen in only %10 percent of those injected with the drugs, they can range from anything from temporary insanity to turning into a full-fledged wacko." He paused. "I know the risks, Aeris. I'm not going into this blind. Dad was injected with Mako and he did just fine, and the Mako processes were far less precise than the ones they have now, if you remember. Genetics are the single biggest factor in whether the drugs take hold correctly or not. And, considering who my father was, the chances of me rejecting the drugs are virtually non- existent. I know. I've checked."

         He paused, shaking his head angrily. "And what else would you like to know, sister dear?" He twisted the last word to be as derisive as possible. "Statistics? Average strength increase? Average agility increase? Average lifespan of a SOLDIER? Resistance to drugs, guns, blades..."

         "That's enough," Aeris interrupted him. "You just don't get it, do you Devin?" There was anger in her eyes now, too, and that in itself surprised Devin more than he cared to admit. Aeris, even when subjected to the height of his childhood pranks, had never given him more than a gentle reprieve, although his parents had been considerably less forgiving. He had always thought it was because she was weak, or because she just didn't know how to get angry. Looking at her now, however, seeing the fury reflected in those calm blue eyes, Devin was suddenly glad that she'd kept it restrained in the past.

         She looked like she was ready to take the entire city down.

         "It doesn't matter whether the drugs work or not," she continued, her voice rising, not in pitch but intensity. "It doesn't matter whether you can take care of yourself or not. What matters, Devin, is what a SOLDIER does. Do you know what a SOLDIER does, brother dear?" By comparison to his earlier derision, her use of the term was almost obscene.

         Devin was about to lash out with a stinging retort, but it caught in his throat, as he suddenly realized what she was asking. She had him cornered. He tried again, and still nothing came.

         "That's right." Her voice dropped, almost to a whisper. "A SOLDIER kills, Devin. He kills when others tell him, not in self- defense. He kills without remorse, without pity, without any regard for those who fall underneath his blade."

         She took a deep breath, and suddenly the anger in her eyes was replaced with an emotion that was far harder to deal with. Love.

         "A SOLDIER is a killer, Devin. The best there is." Her eyes continued to hold his, and although he ached to look away, he found that he couldn't. The love, damn it all, was simply too strong.

         "Is that really what you want to do with your life?"

         He could see her sudden vulnerability, her complete openness, and realized that with one word he could destroy her, crush that brief glimpse into her emotions and her emotions along with it.

         And that he couldn't bear to do it.

         His eyes fell, staring at the ground. He didn't answer. His sudden silence said more than any words every could.

         Dammit, why does she always have to right?

         The tranquil silence existed for only a second before it was shattered by a voice, an unknown voice that had no business intruding on the proceedings.

         "Aeris Strife? Rex XIII?"

         Devin looked up to find the owner of the voice, the person who had come in and shattered a brief moment of tranquility in which everything that was his life had, at least for that moment, seemed clear. Any anger he might have nursed as a result of that intrusion disappeared almost as soon as it came, and his eyes widened.

         A man was the owner of that voice, a man who couldn't be more than a few years older than Devin's father. But it wasn't his age, or the massive sword strapped to his back, or his wild red hair which caused his eyes to widen. It was the distinctive cut of his Shinra uniform, signifying his branch of service, and the barely discernible glow in his eyes.

         SOLDIER. Like Dad was.

         "That's us," Aeris agreed calmly, turning to face him. "Who are you? Shinra?"

         "That's right, ma'am. I've been sent by the President to bring you in. Did you find your brother?"

         Aeris glanced at Devin, waiting calmly for an answer. Sighing, Devin turned to their visitor.

         "Yeah," he said. "She found me."

         "Then it's time for us to go," the SOLDIER informed them. "There's been a problem. The President has asked to speak to you."

         "The President himself?" Red asked, evidently needing a bit of clarification before he agreed to the man's request. "Not a subordinate?"

         "The request comes straight from the top of the food chain. I was pulled away from my post and told to come find you as fast as I can, and that's what I've done. I'd like to get back to that post as soon as possible, if you don't mind, so if you would..."

         "Of course," Aeris said graciously.

         "I take it I can go then?" Ada asked, stepping away from them slowly.

         "Fat chance, thief." Devin turned to the SOLDIER, trying to keep from sounding like a starstruck fan as best he could. "Do we have time to stop by the brig?"

         The SOLDIER was about to answer, but a brief commotion from behind Devin seemed to stop him. He turned, smiling, knowing instinctively what he was going to see.

         Ada was thrashing on the ground, her hands futilely attempting to push Red off of her, striking his nose, his face, and his body like dueling jackhammers. Red merely ignored the weak blows and calmly waited for her to subside, as she had in the past. To Devin's surprise, submission seemed to be the furthest thing from her mind.

         "Let go of me!" Her voice was desperate, almost pleading. "I can't go with you! I can't go back to them! You can't make me! They'll kill me, don't you understand? They'll kill me!"

         "Who's she?" the SOLDIER asked conversationally. "Seems a bit strung out for a girl that young. Thief, you say?"

         "Probably robbed just about everyone in New Midgar at least once," Devin agreed. "Including myself."

         "Well, if you want to drop her off, we've got time. We'd better make it quick, though. Like I said, I need... too..." He trailed off, suddenly staring intensely at Ada.

         Devin, confused, followed the line of his gaze. Ada had stopped struggling, and was staring back at the SOLDIER, but not with anger or desperation. Only one emotion remained in her eyes, an emotion that Devin had never in all his life thought he would see. Pure, uncompromising fear.

         "No," she whispered, closing her eyes and turning away. "No. Don't look at me."

         Red glanced up curiously, obviously as bemused by her sudden change in attitude as the rest of them. The face of the SOLDIER, however, immediately hardened, and he slowly walked toward her. Devin moved with him, and the SOLDIER sunk to one knee beside Ada's prone form, still staring at her intently. Ada finally opened her eyes, noticed his gaze, and looked away. Crushed.

         "My god, it is her." The SOLDIER's gently glowing eyes were wide with disbelief. "I thought I was seeing things, at first. Up until now, that is."

         "You don't know me," Ada whispered.

         "Uh huh." The SOLDIER smirked. "Of course I don't."

         "What is it?" Devin asked in confusion. "Who is she?"

         The SOLDIER turned to look at him, something strange in his blue, slightly luminescent eyes. "C'mon," he said suddenly, rising to his feet. "We need to go see the President. And she's coming with us."

         "No!" Ada screamed, fighting against Red again, digging her nails into his fur, scratching and biting. Red winced as her teeth sunk into his leg, her eyes as feral as wild animal, and then the SOLDIER moved with insane quickness to her neck, and injected her with a small syringe he'd pulled from a pocket in his uniform. In less than a second, her eyes closed, and her head fell back against the ground, lifeless.

         "What did you do to her?" Devin asked, suddenly angry.

         "Don't worry, she's not dead." The SOLDIER turned his attention to Red. "Let her up."

         "What do you intend to do with her?" the object of his request asked calmly, that one good eye blinking thoughtfully. "If my ears did not deceive me, which, I should mention, they seldom do, I believe she said that you were going to kill her."

         "She might be right." The SOLDIER shrugged, and Devin was chilled by the callousness with which he seemed to deal with that thought. "But not without interrogating her first. We can use her, especially with the matter that came up, the matter that the President sent me here about. She's leverage."

         "Leverage against who?" Aeris asked, her voice suddenly cautious.

         "Who do you think?" The SOLDIER gave her a derisive glance. "Dyson Corporation. The bastards that we've been at war with for almost a day now. She didn't tell you her name, did she?"

         "Not all of it," Devin admitted slowly. "She said it was Ada."

         "Well, at least she told the truth about that," the SOLDIER said with a hint of a chuckle. "That is her first name, but you'll love her last one. It's Dyson. Ada Dyson."

         It took a second for those words to fully register in her mind. When they did, Aeris was not sure what to think of them.

         So what are they going to do? Leverage, they said? Are they going to use her against her father? She remained still, considering that. And just how are they going to use her, I wonder? She remembered the calm way in which the SOLDIER had responded to Red's question, and suppressed a shudder. Sadly, it seemed all too clear just how Shinra meant to use her, and Aeris hated herself for being able to think the same way they did.

         Devin seemed to catch the full import of the SOLDIER's words as well, and she could see that it hit him like a brick in the stomach. He straightened, shaking his head slowly.

         "Ada Dyson?" he asked in disbelief.

         "You heard me right," the SOLDIER answered coolly. "She's coming with us. And we need to move. Get off of her, Red XIII. She's not going to try to escape again."

         Reluctantly, Red did so, seemingly unable to find any excuse to disobey the SOLDIER's order. She had seen the way his stance had changed as the SOLDIER had answered his question, immediately obvious to even the most casual observer. Use her. In the space of an instant after the SOLDIER's admission, his stance above the unconscious girl had gone from restrainful to protective. And it was not hard for Aeris to figure out why.

         Use her. Just like Shinra used him, more than 20 years ago.

         The SOLDIER grabbed Ada in both hands and slung her limp body over his shoulder as if she weighed no more than a feather, and then turned to look at Aeris.

         "We're going." No emotion showed on his face. "Follow me."

         Seeing no help for it, Aeris did so, Devin falling into step behind her, Red bringing up the rear, his teeth momentarily bared at the SOLDIER's back.

         She caught Devin's eyes, and launched an unspoken question.

         Well, this is a SOLDIER, brother. What do you think?

         He turned away to stare at the Shinra warrior's back.

         The SOLDIER led them quickly through the streets of New Midgar, the milling crowds parting to let them through with little resistance. In barely five minutes they were met by a hovercraft, containing two Shinra regulars. One of the men hopped out and opened a door, motioning them into the craft's passenger area.

         "Change of plans," the SOLDIER informed them. "I'm coming with you."

         "Sir?" the Shinra regular asked, confused.

         "I've got a prisoner. Call in back-up, as well. I want three more hovercraft, with full complements, to escort us to the Shinra building. I'm not taking any chances with this one."

         "Sir, yes sir!" The Shinra regular literally jumped to return to his seat and his radio. His voice carried the same amount of awe that might have been in Devin's. Might have been there ten minutes earlier, that is.

         The SOLDIER stepped into the hovercraft and settled Ada's body into the seat next to him. Then he turned to those still outside.

         "Coming?"

         The ride to the Shinra building was uneventful, and the three other hovercraft that the SOLDIER had requested joined their group in less than a minute. By the time they'd arrived, there was another full platoon in readiness outside the doors of the building, evidently summoned either by the Shinra regulars at the hovercraft's controls or by some unspoken look at them from the SOLDIER. He grabbed Ada and slung her over his shoulder again, and stepped out of the hovercraft with barely a glance in their direction.

         "The President asked for us?" Devin looked around cautiously as the exited. "What do you suppose he wants?"

         "I don't know," Aeris returned, falling into step behind the SOLDIER. "I guess we'll find out, soon enough."

         "Perhaps so," Red agreed noncommittally from their rear.

         Another man, a Shinra private, met them at the door, and told them he'd be escorting them up to the President's office. The SOLDIER moved to leave them as soon as they walked in the doors, but Devin was after him before Aeris could move.

         "Wait. Where are you taking her?"

         The SOLDIER turned around and gave him another derisive look. "Where do you think, kid? The highest security cell we have." He cocked his head, evidently confused by the reluctance in Devin's eyes, and then he seemed to understand. And, as Aeris had thought he would, he got it completely wrong.

         "Don't worry about your money, kid," he said with a shrug. "With the reward on her head, you'll probably get twenty times what she took from you. I'm not going to try to steal it, if that's what you're thinking. Relax."

         Then he turned away, and Devin looked like he was going to speak again, but the man walked into an elevator and disappeared before he managed to do so.

         "Let us hope," Red commented, the dark import of his words barely suppressed, "that Shinra's methods for using people have been revised since Reeve came into power.

         Though Devin said nothing, Aeris could see that he was thinking exactly the same thing.

         The Shinra commander led them to an elevator opposite the one that the unknown SOLDIER had disappeared into, and the ride up to the fiftieth floor of the Shinra building was accomplished in silence. Then the elevator slid to a stop, and the doors slid open.

         "That's as far as I go." The Shinra private grinned. "I'm not cleared for this level, so you're on your own from here. Straight down the hall, take the first left, look for the door with the bodyguards outside. They'll let you in."

         He scratched his head, bemused. "The President must really trust you guys, though it's not hard to imagine why. Not even the Shinra council members get to come up here without an escort."

         Red did not comment, but merely stepped out of the elevator, signaling Aeris and Devin to do so. After they'd all exited, the doors slid shut and the elevator began to descend.

         "This way." Red seemed confident he knew his way around, having obviously visited before. Aeris had been here once, when she was six, but the place had changed considerably since that time. Red had evidently seen the President's level more recently, and he led them to the correct door without hesitation. The bodyguards parted to admit them, though grudgingly, and one punched a sequence of numbers into a keypad at the side of the door that took a full thirty seconds to enter. Then the door slid open, and the bodyguard motioned them in.

         They were met at the entryway by a solemn looking President Reeve, who had risen from his desk when the door slid open and come over to greet them. The door was closed the instant they were all inside.

         "Aeris, Devin, it's been ages," he said as they entered, scratching his goatee thoughtfully. "The last time I saw you was-- nearly five years ago. You've grown up."

         "Yeah." Devin crossed his arms across his chest. "We have. So what's up, Mr. President?" Only Devin would be so brash, Aeris reflected with a mixture of amusement and disapproval. Subtlety and tact seemed to be two concepts he had forever failed to grasp.

         Reeve didn't seem at all amused by Devin's reply, but it was not anger that she saw in his face. It was sadness, and a large amount of regret.

         "I--I didn't want to have to tell you this in person." He turned away from them and headed for his desk. "But it would have been heartless to do otherwise." His shoulders sagged, and Aeris stepped forward, suddenly overcome with dread.

         "What's happened?" she asked softly.

         Reeve sat heavily down at his desk, and looked as if he was about to speak, then thought better of it. He seemed to be struggling with something inside himself that they couldn't see. Even Devin remained respectfully silent as he grappled with whatever inner demon he was battling, and finally seemed to best it.

         "It's--well hell, I'd better just say it," he admitted finally. "Dyson--that is, Dyson Corporation--has taken your parents hostage."

         Aeris' eyes widened in disbelief, unable to believe his words, and Devin's jaw dropped.

         "What?" he asked, almost in unison with her own exclamation.

         "They have them, in that fortress around Wutai, the Hive." Reeve spoke calmly, his words like the words of a dead man. "And they've issued me an ultimatum. If I don't surrender my company, my men, and all of my resources to them within--let's see, 18 hours and 30 minutes, now--they are going to kill them."

         Devin blinked. Then, as Aeris would have done had she not barely kept her emotions in check, he exploded.

         "They can't do that!" he yelled, slamming his fists together. As if the strength of his words could somehow change what was going to happen in and of themselves.

         Aeris still couldn't believe it.

         Mom, Dad...

         She'd given barely a thought to them since she'd arrived in New Midgar the previous night. She'd known that they'd gone to Dyson Corporation to discuss the plans to strip-mine Nibleheim, and had known just as well that open war had been declared between Shinra and Dyson before the close of the same day. But somehow, years of experience making the idea preposterous, she had never worried a second for their safety. They were Cloud and Tifa Lockhart-Strife. Two of the best warriors on the face of the Planet, and the two most important people in Aeris' life. And Dyson--even Dyson wouldn't dare to move against them...

         But they did, and they had. And Aeris still couldn't accept it.

         "They can't do that," Devin said again, quieter, his body shaking.

         "Damn right, but the did it," a voice said gruffly as the door slid open again, and the new speaker walked in, a half-burned cigarette hanging limply from his lower lip. He finished it off with one last drag and tossed it into an ashtray at the side of the door, evidently put there for just such a purpose, as Reeve didn't smoke.

         "And now we've got to decide what we're gonna' do about it," Admiral Highwind declared grimly. Then he turned, looking behind him, at the closed door.

         "Dammit all!" He mashed the button to open the door again. "Cain, what are you waiting for, a goddamn invitation? Get yer butt in here!"

         In response to that, a flustered looking Cain Highwind walked meekly into the room, blushing.

         "Sorry," he muttered. "Um, the door closed before I could enter."

         "Forget it." Cid waved a hand dismissively at his son and turned back to them. "So, Devin Strife. Glad you decided to pull yer head outta yer ass and join us, son. Had your fill of New Midgar life yet?"

         Devin bristled a little at the derisiveness in Cid's tone, but somehow managed to control himself.

         "I haven't exactly been given a guided tour," he said, unclenching his teeth. "Just the night life, so far."

         At that, Cid chuckled. "Yeah, I heard about that. Your little run in with Ms. Dyson, huh?" He shook his head. "I don't know how you did it, kid, but you may have pulled all our butts out of the fire. Damned if I'd have been able to do it."

         Devin blinked, surprised at the Admiral's sudden attitude reversal.

         "News travels fast around here, doesn't it?"

         "Has too, son," Cid agreed. "That's why we're still alive." With that he turned on Reeve, taking a few steps toward the desk and regarding the President thoughtfully.

         "So, Mr. President." The way in which he used Reeve's title seemed to hold some underlying joke for him that nobody else in the room grasped. "What are we gonna' do about this little bundle of joy that just fell into our laps, courtesy of Devin here?"

         Reeve shrugged. "I don't know yet, Cid."

         Cid gave him a look. "What do you mean, you don't know? Isn't it obvious? We've got a hostage now, too, one that Dyson can't ignore. He's not going to kill Cloud or Tifa while we have his daughter."

         "We can't be sure about that." Reeve shrugged again. "And what about that, by the way? Are you willing to be her executioner?"

         Cid blinked. "Of course not," he protested indignantly. "For cryin' out loud, Reeve, what do you take me for?" He paused and grimaced. "But we've got her. And they've got Cloud and Tifa. It's a trade, Reeve, a trade that they have to take. And then once we get their asses out of there, we can stamp those Dyson bastards out of existence."

         "Will they trade for her?" Aeris asked, receiving a sharp glance from Devin. She ignored it, and that seemed to irk him.

         "As I said, I'm not sure." Reeve leaned back in his chair and gazed at the ceiling thoughtfully. "It's possible they might. It's also possible they might kill her."

         "Why in tha hell would they want to do that?" Cid asked in disbelief. "She's his frickin' daughter, for cryin' out loud!"

         "I didn't say I understood it." Reeve blinked. "I merely said that's what I heard. She disappeared from Wutai about two years ago, kidnapped, the official sources told us, not by whom, not why, just kidnapped. This happened at about the same time her mother, Melissa Dyson, was killed. No ransom asked, none paid. Considering what happened to her mother, we assumed that she was dead and that they simply hadn't found the body."

         "That's when old man Dyson went into seclusion, too," Cid remarked gruffly. "The loss of his wife and daughter musta torn him up."

         Reeve's gaze turned again to ceiling. "One of our agents was in the area at the time, doing surveillance, and he caught a glimpse of her near the southern edge of the Hive. He was watching it, taking stock of activity on that side, and she came rushing out onto one of the docking pads and went for a cargo boat that was berthed there. From what he told us, she looked to be in quite a hurry, for good reason. Although our agent's estimate might have been off, he said anywhere from fifteen to twenty Dyson soldiers were chasing her. When it looked like she was going to reach the boat ahead of them, they opened fire."

         "They opened fire on Dyson's daughter?" Cid cut in. "Why the hell would they do that?" After a second, he spoke again. "So did they get 'er?"

         "Unknown. Our agent said she fell into the water after the gunfire, and didn't come up. He watched for a few minutes as soldiers, helicopters and boats began to sweep in on where she'd fallen in from all sides, and then had to vacate the area to avoid discovery."

         "So she didn't die." Devin was obviously disturbed at thought of the cold-blooded murder attempt that Reeve had just described. "That still doesn't explain what she's doing here, though."

         "It's a surprise to us, as well. Though it's no mystery why she had to sink to theft once she'd arrived here. The only way to get a job anywhere in New Midgar is with an ID, and if she'd let us identify her, we would have known instantly who she was, and either taken her prisoner or sent her back to her father. She probably had no other choice."

         "Yeah", Devin murmured.

         "So how did you find her? It was reported that she robbed you?"

         "Yeah, as soon as I got here." Devin's remark didn't contain the anger that Aeris would have expected it to, and she wondered at that. "I chased her down, but she got away. I didn't see her again till the next day, after," he paused, glancing at her, "after my sister here chased me away from the SOLDIER office. I had a run-in with some guy named Bull, gave him a bloody nose, and then ran into her on the street, to put it simply. I tracked her back to her hide-out, but before I could get my money back Bull and his buddies showed up, out for blood."

         "Bull Jennings, yes." Reeve scratched his goatee absent- mindedly. "New Midgar police have been trying to nail that animal for months. He's involved in everything from drug-running to flat out murder for hire. He's also suspected of killing three police officers, though we could never get any hard evidence."

         Reeve grimaced. "We still don't have any, except for his murder attempt on you. Nobody has ever lived through one before. Hopefully, that will be enough to put him away."

         "You're kidding me. That guy's a monster! How can you even think about letting him go?"

         Reeve shook his head sadly. "Things don't work the same as they did in President Shinra's day, and although it's a good change, I sometimes miss some of his policies. For instance, using the Turks to deal with people like Bull. We have a system of justice now, you see. Innocent until proven guilty."

         "He's guilty." Devin spoke with grim certainty. "He's killed before, far more than three times. I saw it in his eyes, and I didn't like what I saw." He paused, glancing at Aeris, and she remembered their earlier conversation back in the street. The conversation where she'd finally gotten through to him.

         "So that's just great." Cid gave Reeve's desk a good kick. "Just great. So if we try to trade her for Cloud and Tifa, the ol' bastard may just say keep 'er and kill 'er, huh?"

         "Or ask for her back so he can kill her himself," Reeve pointed out. "That's why I'm worried about trying to use her as leverage. I'm against the idea on principle, but unfortunately, if we can't find any other way to resolve this we may have no other choice. And that leaves me a third option. Now, instead of sacrificing my corporation and my people or having two of my best friends killed, I can instead send a young woman to her execution." He sighed, and lowered his head into two upraised hands.

         "My choices here just keep getting better and better, don't they?"

         Aeris wanted to comfort him, sensing the agony he was in, but refrained. After all, she barely knew him. But he seemed a far cry from what her parents had told her about the previous presidents of Shinra Corporation.

         Before the idea could be discussed further, the door hissed open once more. Aeris turned along with everyone else to see who was entering. It took most of her self-control to prevent her jaw from dropping, and the rest to refrain from drawing her sword and marching toward the person who'd just entered the room. He wore a suit, a gray suit, and was flanked by four men in crimson uniforms, unarmed, who were flanked in turn by Reeve's bodyguards and Shinra soldiers as far into the hall as Aeris could see.

         "President Reeve," the unknown Dyson executive commented pleasantly, as he breezed into the room. Reeve's bodyguards moved with him, and the tension between them and the unarmed Dyson soldiers was so thick it was palpable. The exec, by comparison, seemed either ignorant or uncaring in regard to the hotbed of resentment coming at him from all directions.

         "As per our agreement, I've been sent here by my employer to assist you in your transfer of your goods and resources to our management. I'd expected a better welcome than this, but you can't have everything, I suppose."

         "We disarmed them, sir, but you said to admit them," one of the bodyguards explained, somewhat bitterly.

         "A useless precaution," the exec said dismissively. "If we wanted to kill President Reeve, we would have done so already."

         "Sure you would have," the bodyguard replied, his words barely covering an aura of lethal menace. Over my dead body, Aeris could almost hear him add.

         "So, President," the exec paused, correcting himself, "or should I say, Citizen Reeve. I trust you are ready to begin the transfer?"

         "Not yet," Reeve answered coldly.

         The exec seemed surprised, and stepped further into the room, his soldiers and the mob escorting them moving with him. The office was quickly growing crowded, and the bodyguards didn't like it one bit.

         "Problems with the necessary arrangements? I assumed that even a corporation as old as your own would still have SOME sort of working command structure."

         "There's nothing wrong with our set-up," Reeve clarified darkly. "I still have no guarantee that you will release the Strifes unharmed if I do as you ask."

         "And what guarantee would you have, Citizen?" the exec asked haughtily. "You are not exactly in a position to make demands, you know."

         "You arrogant son of a bitch," Devin muttered.

         "Excuse me?" The executive glanced around the room momentarily, detecting another voice and finding it strange. "Did you say something?"

         Devin bit back anything further, or louder, and Aeris was grateful that he had the sense not to aggravate the man, not with everything that was at stake. She knew this must have cost him dearly, considering his usual lack of self-control. Even though she knew that the lives of her parents hung in the balance, it was all Aeris could do to avoid lashing out at the man herself.

         "Once again, I ask what guarantee I have that the Strifes will be released, unharmed, if I do as you ask." Reeve's voice was a far cry from what it had been seconds early, having gone from confused musing to bitter contempt as soon as the Dyson executive had entered his office. "And, as it seems prudent that I point this out to you, YOU, sir, are in no position to make demands." He smiled grimly. "Take a look around."

         The executive shrugged. "You can kill me if you want, Citizen Reeve. I am certainly not at all partial to that course of action, but with the exception of the brief pleasure you might deride from such an action, I can see little you have to gain by pursuing it. The execution of Mayor and Lady Strife seconds later would, I assume, dampen your brief surge of ecstacy rather quickly." He smiled warmly. "This is business, Citizen, nothing personal. You shouldn't get so worked up."

         Reeve glowered at him. "Fine. This is business. But I don't do business with people when I am unsure if they are going to fulfill their end of the bargain. And I am unsure that you, sir, are going to fulfill yours. So," he leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers in front of him. "Assure me."

         "That's more like it," the executive said warmly. "It is so hard to hold a civilized conversation in today's violent world. As to your question, Citizen Reeve, all I can give you regarding the safety of those involved is the word of my superior, and that word is that if you do as we wish they will be released unharmed."

         "Does that make sense?" Reeve raised an eyebrow suggestively. "Think about it, good sir. These are not merely two people off the street that you have taken hostage, or a pair of spineless politicians which can be paid for their trouble with money or power. These are Cloud and Tifa Lockhart-Strife we are talking about here. Are you honestly going to tell me that your employer, whom I assumed had at least a small bit of intelligence, believes that they will take no action against him after they are released?"

         Reeve frowned. "I know them, good sir, as I know all of my people. And I think you know them as well. And I also think that Dyson is too smart to release them, knowing the damage they could do to his company as well as himself upon that release. Once again, I have no guarantee. So what would it profit me to give you my company? From my perspective, they die either way." His eyes glittered angrily, and he rose to his feet, resting his knuckles on his desk. "So, as I said. Convince me. Start by convincing me that I should let you live ten more seconds."

         The executive didn't immediately respond.

         "Nine."

         "You are...," the exec began.

         "Eight."

         "Being quite uncivilized,"

         "Seven."

         "About this matter,"

         "Six."

         "Citizen Reeve."

         "Five."

         "Four."

         "Three."

         "Oh, very well!" Reeve paused his countdown momentarily. "If you really insist on having this guarantee of yours, if you are going to insist on being so impolite as to doubt the word of my employer, an honest and hardworking man..."

         "Two," Reeve said coldly.

         "Your guarantee is this," the executive snapped. "We currently have troops in position around Nibleheim and North Corel. We also have Lord Godo and his daughter hostage, as we have for some time, and in addition have troops in position around Kalm, Cosmo Canyon, and just about every other major city on the face of the Planet. Those soldiers will remain there, inactive, unless one of two things occurs. The first case, of course, is a direct strike by anyone in the Strife family against the Hive itself, or any of the people who live there, including, of course, my employer. The second case is an attack on any of our resources, including our soldiers and equipment, those in the Hive as well as those in their aforementioned position around the towns I've already laid out, or any attempt to remove those soldiers from their positions. In the event that case one or case two should take place after the release of Mayor and Lady Strife, the troops in position around the aforementioned towns will move in and level them."

         The room, rather quiet up until that point, literally went deathly silent as the executive finished his explanation.

         "You are, of course, joking."

         "Far from it, Citizen Reeve, I speak in grim earnest," the executive assured him. "As you have said, the two hostages in question are extremely powerful, and, as my employer and I both have no doubt, could cause a great deal of trouble for Dyson Corporation upon their release, providing proper safety measures were not taken." He smiled. "And, as you must admit, no one, no matter how powerful, is capable of taking out that many troops at that many different positions at one time. No matter who they go after, whether it be the troops around Nibleheim or those in the Hive itself, or even our founding father, they will be responsible for the deaths of millions. Now, knowing them as well as you do, Citizen Reeve, can you honestly tell me that you believe they would act against us, with such great stakes arrayed against them?"

         "No," Reeve said softly, his head slowly shaking as he settled back into his chair. "I suppose not."

         "Well, there you have it," the executive exclaimed, smiling warmly. "There is your guarantee! So, without further discussion, I assume you will be transferring your resources..."

         "Bastard!" Devin roared, leaping forward and smashing into the foremost of the man's guards, who had quickly moved to block him. Not quickly enough, it appeared. The first guard doubled over as one of Devin's boots smashed into his stomach, and then he was upon the executive, his hands reaching forward like a vise and wrapping around the man's neck. And squeezing. Hard.

         The executive gasped, as much from lack of air as his considerable surprise, and two of his bodyguards moved to pull Devin away. The first received a fist to the side of his nose for his trouble that sent him stumbling away in agony, and the second was intercepted by one of Reeve's bodyguards. The last soldier was literally trampled by the sudden rush of Shinra soldiers from outside in the hallway, and Aeris found herself leaping into the fray, drawing her sword.

         "ENOUGH!" Reeve's voice was so loud that the entire room suddenly fell still, some in mid-punch or kick. Only Devin and the executive seemed unaware of their surroundings, the executive turning purple, Devin's eyes filled with murderous intent.

         "Admiral." Reeve's tone was as cold as ice. "Restrain our young friend before he moves this whole situation beyond the point of recovery."

         Aeris blinked, realizing that her sword was drawn, hanging threateningly over one of the fallen Dyson soldiers.

         What am I doing? she thought with a mixture of disbelief and confusion.

         Cid slowly moved forward and put a hand on Devin's shoulder.

         "That's enough," he said softly. "He's not worth it. Your parents. Remember your parents."

         Devin squeezed harder, gritting his teeth.

         "Remember your parents, Devin," Cid repeated calmly. "Remember."

         Gradually, the pressure eased. Then, with a muttered curse, Devin's hands slowly and painfully unwrapped themselves from around the Dyson exec's throat. The man gasped, gagging painfully as he desperately struggled for air, his eyes wide and pained.

         "You," Devin said, pointing a finger at the man, his eyes filled with hate, "you--may live." He rose, cracking his knuckles with a sound that was clearly audible against the silence in the room. "For a time."

         He turned and stalked out of the room, brushing past the Shinra soldiers in his way, and was gone before the Dyson guards had even begun to get to their feet.

Continue to Chapter 7