4Chapter 1: Meeting of the Minds
The conference room on the executive floor of Shinra Headquarters was abuzz from what the two Turks stationed outside could hear. For the past fifteen minutes since the meeting inside had started, the voices behind the door had gotten progressively louder and more agitated, though neither Turk could make out what was being said.
"You think this is about the Junon reactor?" Reno asked as he leaned against the wall.
Rude, his partner in the organization, merely shrugged.
"I heard it's been a bitch finding backup power there," Reno went on, "The old power plant's practically falling down." He sighed wistfully. "I remember when I was twelve. I'd tag along with my older cousin when he'd tag the place. It's where I smoked my first blunt. I miss that. Damn urine tests..."
"You're bad enough when you're drunk," Rude said pointedly.
Reno playfully flipped him off.
Just then, the elevator doors at the beginning of the hallway ahead of them opened, and the two men tensed up, hands going to their respective weapons.
Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheart stepped off the elevator, walking down the hall together. The two Turks relaxed.
"What are you kids doing here?" Reno asked, cracking a smile.
"Going to the meeting," Tifa answered, "The president's been trying to fit us in, and we were finally free tonight."
"The hell does he want with a couple kids?" Reno laughed.
"You mean the couple of kids who helped him kill Ruby WEAPON?" Cloud quipped, "Give us a little credit, Reno."
"Just let us in," Tifa said as she playfully raised her fists at the redhead.
"Oh, we're gonna fight?" Reno laughed as he whipped out his nightstick, "Bring it on, kiddos! Oh, where's your big fancy machine gun now, trooper-boy?"
"Trading it in for a Shinra-issue sword once I start the SOLDIER training program," Cloud answered, smirking.
"Oh, shit! It's finally happening!" Reno laughed, "Hey, man, congrats." He held out his hand for Cloud to shake. However, as soon as the former army trooper grabbed it, he began pulling at him, trying to submit him in hand-to-hand, which all Turks and members of the army knew the fundamentals of.
"Oh, grow up, Reno!" Tifa complained as the two young men began to scuffle.
"Let him get it out of his system," Rude sighed.
"But Reno knows that he's already had the Mako enhancements, right?" Tifa asked.
Cloud managed to flip Reno…right into the doors with a loud thud.
"He does now, I suppose," Rude quipped.
"Shit…" Reno groaned as he slowly got to his feet and looked at Cloud, whose eyes now glowed; a telltale sign of a member of SOLDIER. "I figured they'd stop doing the special showers since we can't touch the Mako anymore."
"Only when it comes to powering cities," Cloud explained, "And it's not like that anymore. They took me and the other recruits to Mideel where that big Lifestream pool is. Had us sit in there like a hot spring. Takes longer than the showers, but safer for the-"
The door suddenly opened and an irate-looking Rufus Shinra appeared. "What the hell is going on?" he snapped, "I thought someone was using a battering ram what with that loud crash against the door!"
"Sorry, sir," Reno apologized half-heartedly, "Strife and I were just messing around."
"Well, stop it and let him and Miss Lockheart in," Rufus said, annoyed.
"You heard the president," Reno said as he gestured toward the conference room.
Rufus stepped aside, ushering both Cloud and Tifa inside.
"Cloud, you've met Director Lazard already," Rufus said as he led the two teens to a long rectangular table where the polite bespectacled man in charge of SOLDIER sat at the head.
"Good to see you again, Cloud," Lazard said pleasantly, "Have a seat anywhere that's not already taken." He then turned to Tifa. "Hello, you must be Tifa. Good to meet you." He held out his hand which Tifa shook.
"Hey, you two," Jessie greeted them. Biggs and Wedge were seated next to her. The two former members of the now-disbanded Avalanche waved.
"You already know these guys," Rufus stated, "But have you met our other guest? Reeve Tuesti, meet Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheart."
A dark-haired man in a blue suit and green tie stood up and went over to greet the two newcomers. "Hello there," he said, smiling as he shook each of their hands, "I'm the new director of city planning. It's nice to finally meet you both. The world owes you two a debt of gratitude."
"Wait a second…" Cloud recalled, "Aren't you the guy who built the mako reactors in the first place?"
"Guilty as charged…" Reeve sighed, smiling sheepishly, "That's quite all right, though. President Rufus took me to meet Bugenhagen personally. He showed me Professor Gast's machine, gave me the same speech as he did our president…" He hung his head. "I understand. I'm just grateful what the machine showed never came to pass…nor will it."
"Wow, that's pretty open-minded of you," Tifa remarked, "Most adults I know would just double-down and never admit they're wrong."
"And those are all the adults I fired," Rufus interjected, "And just so you know, he's also the one who built that irritating robot-thing we met at the Gold Saucer last summer."
Jessie looked away uncomfortably. True, Cait Sith was just a robot, but he was a robot that had seen her topless and had called her out in front of everybody.
"Oh, and did you program him into being less of a blabbermouth?" Tifa teased Reeve.
The older man chuckled embarrassed. "Personality is such a nuanced thing…it's very hard. The best I could do was give him orders to never ever give wake-up calls to anyone, anywhere, for whatever reason."
"Thank the gods…" Jessie muttered under her breath.
"So!" Rufus clapped his hands together. "Shall we begin?"
"I got it!" Reno exclaimed as he snapped his fingers.
"Hmm?" Rude turned his head to look at the younger man.
"Maybe it's a project to rebuild Nibelheim!" Reno reasoned, "What better than to use two of its citizens? Reeve's the director of city planning now, so they probably called him in to help! Huh? Ain't I brilliant?"
"What would they need Director Lazard for?" Rude pointed out, "Not to mention Jessie, who's a grunt in the weapons department, and those other two Avalanche guys?"
"Maybe they have multiple agendas tonight?" Reno suggested.
"Each agenda would have a different meeting," Rude countered, "It allows for less change for sensitive information to be leaked."
"Well, that's how the old president did shit," Reno argued.
"And anyone with half a brain…" Rude muttered.
"Oh, you gonna get smart with me now?"
"If you try to pick a fight with me, you'll probably lose that raise you earned when you helped save the world from WEAPON and that alien." Rude warned him.
Reno sighed. "Well, shit!" he groused, "What the hell are that freaking motley crew talking about in there…?"
"This makes no sense!" Tifa complained, "This guy says I'm a wand-user? I'm waving a magic wand like some fairy princess? Is this because I'm a girl?"
"No, the dice says you're a wand-user," Lazard answered as he opened a large book, "All the numbers you wrote down from rolling the dice dictate your stats, and I assign you the character that best fits said stats. And I'm not just 'some guy'. Tonight, I'll be your DM."
Cloud blinked. "DM?"
"Dungeon master," Reeve explained.
"And hey- I'm using a halberd!" Jessie pointed out to Tifa.
"Yeah, but you said you're a seven-foot tall male ogre!" Tifa argued, "My character's still female!"
"Hey, Biggs and Wedge haven't rolled yet," Jessie told her, "Wedge could wind up being a Valkyrie. Those are badass. Maybe next time you can be a Valkyrie."
"If a male ogre hits a Valkyrie does that count as a hate crime?" Cloud quipped.
Jessie stood up, irritated. "NO!" she shouted, "Do NOT bring the dreaded 'real world' into this! See these potato chips?" She held up an already opened party-sized bag of Chieftain Chips. "Until this bag and is empty and the kingdom is saved, we don't bring up the real world. Not real-life crime statistics, not Mako reactors, not our new jobs, not how all of Sector 7 hates me, not how Vincent suddenly disappeared, and Mrs. G clearly knows where he is but won't tell us! We talk about ogres, imps, elves, magical swords and wells that are more than just ordinary wells! Do I make myself clear?"
Cloud blinked. "Yes, ma'am…"
Tifa glanced at Rufus. "I'm surprised you're not the DM since you already run things here."
Rufus shrugged. "Well, Lazard is the one who knows about this thing. Jessie and I are the ones who are still relatively new at this. Besides, we don't need any accusations of me favoring a certain halberd-wielding ogre just because she's what the press likes to call my 'mistress'."
Jessie reached across the table and pointed at Rufus. "No mentioning the press either!"
Rufus smirked. "Whatever you say, ogre-lady."
Jessie threw a chip at him.
"I'm next!" Biggs picked up the dice and rolled, writing down all of the results, as Lazard had instructed.
"Hey, partner?"
Rude glanced over at Reno. "Hmm?"
"You think it's good the chief's getting some action now? I mean, he's been with the computer nerd for like, six months or whatever. I'll admit…if the old president had died before that whole mess with Jenova and Meteor, I'd have been a bit nervous having him as the new president. But he's a lot more chill these days."
"He did manage to win some favor from the people after he helped the people of Corel with that giant monster," Rude acknowledged, "Also, Corel was thrilled that he fired Scarlet when she started to badger them about building a reactor there."
"He won over Gongaga too," Reno added.
The small foothill region in the southwest part of the Western Continent had been the first to have its reactor torn down, particularly when Reeve had visited and discovered there had been a large flaw in its construction. Had the reactor not been torn down when it had, it surely would have exploded, no doubt causing numerous casualties.
"It's still gonna be a bitch when we finally make the switch back to electrical power over here, though," Reno went on, "I mean, especially on the Plate. All the rich snobs were happy with the way things used to be."
"It's with them that his approval rating is the lowest," Rude agreed, "It could be troublesome."
"Troublesome?" Reno scoffed, "What are they gonna do? Riot with their parasols and tennis rackets?"
"More like possible bank runs and pulling out of all sorts of investments with the company," Rude answered thoughtfully.
"Ah, so that's what Tseng meant…" Reno mused, "…when he said 'not all riots involve swords and guns. Some just involve checkbooks."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Rude said as he adjusted his sunglasses, "It's not the kind of thing our weapons could fight…"
"Oh, my!" Lazard chuckled, "Looks like it's Cloud who will be the Valkyrie tonight!"
Cloud's eyes shot open. "Say what?"
Jessie burst out laughing, "Yes! This is perfect! You and Tifa can team up and do some kind of girly attack duo!"
"You'll be BFFs!" Biggs joked.
"Girl power!" Wedge shouted in a high-pitched girly voice.
"Please just give me the rest of my stats or whatever so we can start the game…" Cloud sighed.
"And you wanted to give the newbies a standard array…" Jessie said, smirking at Lazard.
"What's that?" Tifa asked.
"Sort of like an average set of stats," Rufus explained, "It would've made creating your characters much simpler. But my girlfriend appears to be a sadist and insisted you both roll the dice."
"He says I'm the sadist but wait till the campaign actually starts…" Jessie quipped.
Two hours later the door opened, and Cloud and Tifa were the first to trudge out.
"What the hell happened to you guys?" Reno asked.
"The director is an absolute monster…" Cloud muttered.
"Well, you'll just have to get used to him being the guy in charge…" Tifa sighed as she rubbed Cloud's back reassuringly.
"My brain is completely fried…" Cloud said as he shook his head.
"Man…" Reno remarked as he watched them get on the elevator, "I'd always heard Lazard was a fair man. Guess you can't trust what people say."
Reeve then walked out.
"Everything good?" Reno asked.
Reeve shook his head sadly. "I wasn't able to stop a horrible landslide from killing the townspeople. Hopefully I can avenge them next week. Have a good one."
Reno and Rude stared at the back of his head as he also walked to the elevator and got on.
"What landslide?" Reno asked bewilderedly, "Are the plates unstable now?"
"That's worrisome, to say the least," Rude remarked.
Biggs and Wedge walked out next.
"What's this about a landslide?" Reno wanted to know.
"We both nearly got crushed," Biggs said.
"So did Jessie," Wedge added, "We spent an hour dealing with the aftermath."
"I'm beat!" Biggs yawned as he stretched his hands above his head.
"Yeah, let's get outta here," Wedge agreed. He waved at the two Turks. "See ya."
Reno stared at Rude. "I really thought things were starting to calm down after the initial panic..."
Once Rufus had announced he was restoring the old power plants and tearing down the reactors there had been a huge uproar in Midgar, particularly the Plate and the other wealthier communities. Pundits everywhere had stated that he had been radicalized by Avalanche and their "backwards, nature-obsessed ideals". Before his father's untimely death at the hands of Emerald WEAPON, the late president had given a somber press conference announcing that his son had been abducted by the eco-terrorist group, complete with him playing the part of a concerned father, even wiping away imaginary tears.
This had been the one issue with Rufus taking over the company after his father's passing; many people were sounding off on social media, claiming that the young president was "brainwashed". Rufus had dismissed the gossip and forged on with his plans to do right by the Planet, however.
"Well, I guess we know why the Avalanche guys were there, not to mention the chief's lady," Reno finished.
"But why Tifa?" Rude wondered.
"Hey, you think maybe she considered Tseng's offer?" Reno suggested.
Rude furrowed his brow. Tifa had been offered the chance to join the Turks, but she had turned Tseng down…for the time being. "Then why wouldn't she contact Tseng directly? I'm sure he left her his card. The chief wouldn't bother with matters like that."
"Well then I'm stumped!" Reno sighed as he leaned against the wall.
Lazard was the next to walk out.
"Breaking in the newbie already, director?" Reno joked, seeing how haggard Cloud had looked after supposedly dealing with him.
"You know it," the director answered cheerfully as he also walked to the elevator. "Have a good evening, gentlemen…"
"Thank you, Reno, Rude," Rufus said as he and Jessie appeared in the doorway as well. "We'll take the private exit back to my suite. Tseng will let you know once we've arrived safely."
"Wonderful!" Reno yawned, "Sure was a late meeting, though."
Jessie glanced at her watch. "It's only ten."
"Get use to it," Rufus said with a smirk, "We'll be doing these meetings every Sunday from now on. Don't worry, though. I'll rotate you two with other guards so you're not stuck here every time. Goodnight, gentlemen."
"Later," Jessie said with a wave. They stepped back inside and closed the door.
"I can't say I understand what he sees in that chick," Reno chuckled quietly.
Rude shrugged. "None of our business."
Reno glanced at the ground. "Oh, they dropped something…". He knelt down and picked up a piece of paper. "Character sheet," he read aloud, "Name: Gaspar…race: ogre…class: berserker…" Reno frowned. "What the hell is this shit?"
"Hmm…let me see…" Rude took the piece of paper and looked at it. "Advanced Wizards and Warriors: Fifth Edition."
Reno's mouth dropped open. "Are you shitting me?!" he exclaimed, "We were standing guard over a goddamned gaming session?! And not even video games, but that bullshit with the dice and the books and…my god, Rude. I don't care if I get executed for saying this, but our president is a freaking nerd!"
Rude shrugged. "A nerd who's trying to turn this planet around…"
A/N: All right, we're doing this!
