Chapter One


Kit took a moment to impatiently brush her unruly red hair out of her eyes before opening the door to the conference room. She liked her hair best this way - it was such a shocking color that it was all a person would notice of her at first glance, and it could be styled or cut into any number of variations. A girl's hair generally meant a lot to her, but for Kit it was merely the means for a disguise. In her line of work, disguises always came in handy. She patted a stray lock back into place, refusing to even consider the possibility that she might be actually concerned how she appeared. Not even before President Shinra and his associates.
The masked guard behind her shifted nervously. When President Shinra called for you, you did not take time to fix your hair, you ran. At least that's how it was with these lesser troops. But Kit was of SOLDIER, it was different for her. She rolled her eyes in exasperation and reached for the doorknob.
Inside the conference room, the group was assembled. The President of course sat at the head of the table. His son Rufus, looking smug as usual, sat beside him as vice-president. Heidegger and Scarlett were to be expected, as Heidegger was actually in charge of the military action of Shinra, and that meant SOLDIER, and Scarlett, wearing a trashy red dress and a bad dye job, was the weapons expert. It was slightly more unusual for her to be present, unless of course this mission was special enough that they were issuing her a new sort of weapon. Probably it was, or she wouldn't be getting her instructions from President Shinra. Also, Hojo was there. That was a bit of a surprise - Hojo was infamous among SOLDIER, as head of the Shinra science department, but what would he have to do with this mission she'd signed up for?
The guard closed the door behind her, and almost before it was shut, the President slapped a file folder down on the table. "So you're Kit, SOLDIER first class," he said, stroking his mustache. "I was expecting someone a little larger." He eyed her closely, and much to Kit's annoyance, so did Rufus, but his look was more like a leer. She fought the urge to sigh. Rufus was far too arrogant to take over Shinra Inc. anytime soon, and not only that, he was wearing that stupid white suit again. She supposed he thought it was stylish. Scarlett did, by the way she was gazing at him. Let's hope President Shinra sticks around for a few more decades, she thought to herself.
Heidegger laughed like a horse neighing. "SOLDIER is SOLDIER," he stated, "whether that officer is a man seven feet tall, or a short little thing like Kit. She'll do just fine, or she wouldn't be first class." Kit didn't like Heidegger much better than Rufus, but he was her superior.
"She'd better," said the President. "This is a very serious matter we're dealing with."
"Oh, she'll be just fine!" Scarlett gushed. "With this new gun we've developed, unless you miss by a long shot, it'll slice the victim into ribbons. We've outfitted it with Sense materia, so you can tell when your enemy is coming, and-"
The President cut her off with a wave of his hand. "That information will come later. First of all, we need to be absolutely certain that she wants this job." Kit was glad when he turned to her - she was growing tired of everyone in the room talking as if she weren't there. "Kit, this is a very dangerous, very classified assignment. Once you say you'll take it, you're taking it. We can't even brief you before you make your decision. Do you understand?"
"I do, President Shinra. I signed up for this mission, and I will do my best to make you proud, sir."
Hojo giggled at this, sounding like the mad scientist he resembled. "Then that's settled. Can she see the files now?"
"She can." President Shinra gestured for her to take a seat, and passed her the folder as she did so. Inside the folder were at least two dozen papers, and when she lifted them, a photograph fell out onto the table. It was very poor quality, she saw when she picked it up, and black and white besides. A man's head was fuzzily displayed, with long light-colored hair in bangs that hid much of his face. Looking at the contents of the folder again, a name jumped out at her.
"Sephiroth?" she said, curious. He was a legend among SOLDIER, a war hero whose feats had almost certainly been embellished in the years since he'd been killed in some sort of accident.
"Yes. We have reason to believe he's still alive," said the President. "Look at the other picture in that file." Kit flipped through a few pages before she found another photo, a small full body shot of a man wearing a dark coat and carrying the largest sword she'd ever seen. This one was in color, so she could see his hair was silver, though it was too small to make out facial features. She'd seen variations of this picture throughout her time in the barracks - it was one of the few pictures of Sephiroth that had been taken, and had been sketched from memory by the dozens who idolized him. Drawings and copies of this picture had hung on the wall of nearly every SOLDIER's room.
"That picture was on his official picture ID," said Heidegger, "about seven years ago. The black and white picture was taken from a surveillance camera down in Sector Two just two days ago."
Kit held the pictures next to each other and studied them. The face couldn't be made out on either shot, but the hair was remarkably similar, and the man in the black and white appeared to be wearing the same coat as the one in the color shot.
"We're afraid," said Rufus, "that he might have come back to Midgar to destroy Shinra Inc." Rufus certainly didn't sound afraid, but the President did seem a little nervous.
"Your mission is to patrol the area around the HQ building for him," said the President. "Only for Sephiroth. And, if you do see him, to kill him."
"What? Me? Kill Sephiroth?" Kit gasped before she could stop herself.
"That's where my gun comes in," Scarlett put in. "Besides the hollow point bullets and Sense materia, it's also fitted with Speed materia. Once you sense him, you can slow him down before he realizes you're there, and then you may have the chance to put a bullet in him. And not only that, but it has two extra slots, so you can put in whatever other materia you might have."
"The stories haven't really been exaggerated all that much," Hojo added. "He was the best of SOLDIER, so you'll need the best weapon you can get." He looked as if he were stifling a giggle again.
"You'll only get one shot," said the President, "and if he sees you before you see him, you won't get even that."
The astonishment must still have been apparent on her face, because the President added, "The files will tell you all the details you need to know, but let me summarize it quickly. That fire that Sephiroth died in, at Nibelheim? He's the one who set it. He went mad during a mission there, probably because of something to do with the Mako reactor that was malfunctioning. We don't know for certain what happened, because we really did think he was dead. At least, that's what we hoped. If he lived, he would most likely come back to Midgar, to punish Shinra for sending him there."
"And it looks like he did," Heidegger added. "You won't be the only one on this mission, of course. We've assigned a few others so that we'll have full coverage of the area, around the clock."
"When will I be starting this assignment?" Kit asked.
Scarlett pushed a pistol across the table to her, and Kit picked it up and examined it. The grip indeed did hold Sense and Speed materia, she saw as she slipped the gun into the holster that Scarlett handed her.
Heidegger laughed that horse laugh again. "When will you start? As soon as you finish reading these files."
To Chapter Two.
To the intro.
© 1998-2000 by Andrea Hartmann.
That means it's mine, not yours!