Sector 6

[Steve Harmer]

[shadow=red,left,300]Come here for any general Sector 6 roleplay.[/shadow]


May include: Honeybee Inn, Don Corneo's etc

[Gdosimirj Sunset]

In a dark, hidden alleyway on the ouskirts of Midgar, struck by a single shaft of sunlight from the setting sun, a bonfire glows.

Before the burning trash can, there sits, cross legged, a woman. Her brow is heavy with concentration, her dark skin glistens with beads of sweat. Her wrinkled grey pants suit is heavily scented with mothballs, for she has taken it from her storage chest and put it on for the first time in ages. Her name is Gdosimirj Sunset, she keeps reminding herself. She will not continue to disgrace everything that her bloodline stands for.

Her brow darkens as she stokes the bonfire. The burning article in question? A purple ceremonial robe.

Visions of death and darkness course through her mind. She sees the deity that has ruled her for years rising against all of humanity... even those loyal to her. She sees bloodshed and horror. She sees brave souls... heroes... who stand in the great titan's way.

Her mind quivers as she senses the presence of the Nightmare, the One-Winged Angel. She boggles as she sees his downfall. And many hours later, as her robe burns the brightest, she senses the defeat of Jenova. Suddenly, the fibers which had refused to burn for so long catch aflame and are consumed, nothing more than ashes in mere seconds.

A small boy peers into the alley, eyes widening. He watches as the woman stands, pointing a shaking finger at the smouldering remains of the robe. Her body starts to convulse, her eyes flashing green. Magical green sparks start to fly from her fingertips, which form together into alien runes before dissipating into smoke. Her time has finally come.

She is trying to rid herself of the curse she set on herself at the name of Jenova.

Her head drops forward, and she reaches convulsing hands up the golden chains that hang about her neck. Screaming, she yanks one of them up, trying to remove it from herself. But just as it leaves her forehead, an ancient rumbling comes from the ground. A zap of electrical magic courses though the golden chain, and it shoots back down onto her neck, joining the other six that were bound to her in a nearly magnetic way. No matter how hard she tries, Gdosimirj can not cast these last relics away from her.

She rubs the burn marks left on her neck from the red hot chains and sparks of electricity. This can not be, she puzzles. Is Jenova not defeated? Why, then, does her essense cling to me still?

She turns and heads to her chocobo. I must return to the cursed temple and see for myself...

[Amnesty Lazuli]

On the edge of the ruins in Midgar's center, a slum still survives. A slum where Sunset once hid from Jenova's cult, where Fruxas... now self-christened Jared... knew through his memetic link to her that safety could be found, at least temporarily.

"If my grandmother's flunkies couldn't find one of their own here, then anybody else will have a he-- um, I mean, a really hard time tracking us down," he asserted, adjusting the itchy wig her now wore everywhere in public. Thanks to the memories he inherited from his aunt, he knew how to pass himself as human, but it took a lot of doing, and plenty of attention to detail. The baby, too, had been disguised, but with nowhere near so much makeup or trappings-- she had instead been carefully bundled up and given the suggested pair of sunglasses. That would continue to work until the weather warmed again... after that, hopefully she would be old enough for the more sophisticated methods. A few months old... they would be pushing it, but it was only the first snow, so they had time.

"Looks kinda shabby, doesn't it?" Jared asked glumly. It WAS dreary... gray and nearly falling apart.

He gave Tseng a wry smile. "Better find a place to stay for the night, hmm? Can't stay out here to freeze."

****

A few hours after they had left that particular area of the slum, two partners strolled through casually, wearing hooded cloaks... "Hmm... I smell Jenovan flesh," a deep but feminine voice murmured.

Her companion scoffed. "Down, girl... I know you go wild with the scent of blood."

She gave him a pale-lipped smirk. "I don't smell blood yet... but I can correct that in short order."

"Let's just find these twice-cursed brats and call it a day," he replied flatly. He was a little sick of her histrionics...

She took a deep breath and pointed. "That way."

They went in the direction she had indicated.

****

A motorcycle hummed through a half hour after that. It did not stop for clue or conferences... its passenger already had a destination in mind.

The lone rider pulled up outside a former Shinra safe house. No one was inside, but she could see water splashed on the inside of the bathroom windows that hadn't even had time to dry yet. I'm close.

The rider went to the Dumpster a few dozen yards away after combing the house for clues and finding none...

She hit pay dirt.

A Turk uniform... with a strand of long black hair clinging to it.

"Tseng."

I wouldn't have credited you with this... it seems you are more unpredictable than even I knew.

The rider boarded her cycle again and roared off...

[mistervillainman]

Tseng didnt feel right. Almost like something was drawing nearer... But they had no choice, this was the safest place to hide out for the night and it was either this or freeze to death.

"Yes I suppose we'd better... You take your sister to one of the rooms near the furnace and I'll go activate it... Get us some heat in there." He said, leading them inside cautiously.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Jared led the way inside, his cat eyes glowing softly in the dark, flickering as he reached out with his mind...

He entered the room with the furnace in the closet, as instructed, but a sudden queasy sensation seized him... he paused and gave the baby carefully to Tseng. "Wait a minute..."

Jared ventured slowly inside, and the dizzy feeling got a little stronger... he found the gas line for the furnace and sniffed it... No gas leak... He had to suppress a bit of a wry grin at the long unused mako energy line with the Shinra emblem on it, now corroded. He straightened up. "Tseng, did you..."

He heard the baby fussing, but as the dizziness suddenly tapered, so did her whimpers. So she felt it too...

The feeling disappeared entirely. He poked around a little longer, but could find no source for what he had felt.

A little bit confused, he shook his head and took the baby back. He put his coat around her and sat next to the closet, rocking back and forth to get his blood flowing. "Anyway, the furnace still looks like it works. The pilot light is out, though. Got a match?"

He looked around the room, long sacked of anything valuable. But there were at least some curtains left, and a couple of thin sleeping mats. Anything beats sleeping on the floor. He spotted black spatters on the floor... Someone with the stigma lived here. He noticed a couple of drid flower petals on the floor... Hmm... "No food we find here will be any good. This place has been deserted for at least two years." Hence the obsolete mako line and the stigma splatters. "I hope you have money."

Jared let his mind wander, literally, searching for some kind of food vendor. He could see in his mind's eye... It had gotten dark outside, and a broken streetlight sparked. Someone caught the spark on a sheet of newspaper, which ignited. The paper bearer let out a quiet cry of triumph as he carried the paper away and dropped it onto a rubbish heap, using it to keep warm against the snow. I'll remember that for later.

Jared gave Tseng a long sidelong glace. He decided to distract himself from the bitter chill. "Hate to be so inquisitive tonight, but I don't know how you intend to explain where Hope and I came from. It goes without saying you won't want to give away our actual parentage until the time is right... which could mean a good twenty or more years from now. Who are you going to say we are?"

[mistervillainman]

"My niece and nephew, orphaned two years ago and i'm your only living relative." Tseng said simply as he struck a match for the pilot light. He'd prepared that story early on. "As for money... Yeah, we've got a lot of that, your dad had an emergency stash of it for you guys if anything happened to him."

-----------

Mulligan sprinted down the sidewalk, dodging into a blind alley and hurrying towards a door at the far end. Dimitri's bike screeched to a halt at the entrance to the alley and the bounty hunter parked it, stepping off calmly and strolling down the alley after his "unwilling informant". Mulligan struggled with the door, but it had been locked firmly shut recently, not an escape route any longer...

"Mulligan, if I didnt know any better I'd say you were trying to avoid me." Dimitri said as he approached. As he stepped closer, Mulligan whipped out a small knife and held it towards Dimitri, who considered it as though the man was holding a sandwich.

"Stay away from me you friggin SeeD washout!" Mulligan shouted, waving the knife around in a shaky grip. Dimitri didnt wait a moment longer, he snatched Mulligan's wrist and twisted it hard, plucking the knife from him and using his own arm to slam him face-first into the wall.

"Careful Mulligan... I may not consider you my friend if your going to be unpleasant towards me..." He said. "Now, I have a couple simple questions... even simple for you." He added, twisting his arm slightly more, resulting in a squeal of pain from Mulligan.

"Okay! What do you wanna know?!"

"Thats better..." He said, not loosening his grip. "I need to know if a former Turk is in town, he's got two kids with him, probably trying to stay off the radar though... Any ideas Mulligan?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Mulligan choked out, straining not to squeal in pain again. "Rumors that Tseng is back in these parts and he brought some kid carrying a crossbow with him. They had a baby with them too!" He managed.

Dimitri nodded. "Very good Mulligan, got it on the first try... Now... WHERE were they RUMORED to be going and have they stopped anywhere in the neighborhood?" He asked, squeezing Mulligan's twisted arm a bit.

"Agh!" He choked out. "Yes yes yes! They stopped at one of the old Shinra dumps where those stigma bums all went to hole up years ago! Lemme go already!" He begged.

Dimitri considered it, then let go of the informant, folding up the knife. "Thanks for the help Mulligan, always knew you were a good friend..." and then tossed the knife up to the roof, where it slid and was lodged into the gutter. "You shouldnt play with knives though... Very dangerous." He said, heading back to his bike and waving. "Be seeing you, Mulligan."

As Dimitri headed over to the chemist's office, he thought about the old Shinra buildings in the area, he knew each of them because there had been quite a few hit contracts that led him there during the Stigma days... He just needed the right tranquelizer and he could move on the targets immediately...

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Jared smiled quietly... Left us a fund, huh? Guess he really was thinking of everything... To think I was ever under the impression he didn't care about us. "Good... but two years orphaned won't wash. Hope is only a few days old." He paused. "Well, technically, so am I, but she really looks it. Maybe a few months orphaned would work... and here's hoping we don't run into anybody who knows a lot about babies."

He looked around at the thin walls. "We can't stay here for long, but I don't know where we can stay next. Either way, we have to keep moving if we plan on drawing from that 'stash' you're talking about... they'll be able to track the transactions."

He gave the furnace a weary glance. "That'll do for heat, but we'll need light, too. I'm gonna get us some." He gave the baby over to Tseng and went outside...

He got a garbage barrel and tossed as much dry rubbish into it as he could, carrying it back to the room. Then he headed back out to spark some paper for a starter...

He saw two figures standing under the defunct light, and his fingers twitched towards the crossbow on his shoulder...

The figures turned towards him. "Hello, little boy," the shorter figure crooned.

Something inside Jared cringed... there was something unbearably familiar about this hooded woman...

She removed the hood from over her face. "My name is Isis. And this is I disagreeociate, Horus."

Jared gasped... they had silver hair... and amber eyes.

"You... you're..."

"We're Seraphs, as humans call us... like you."

He froze... something about them was telling him to turn and run... but he had never seen a Seraph besides the members of his family before...

"And like you, little boy, we miss our home, our old world. But we have nothing left of it but memories," Isis purred. "There are so few of us left, but we can find each other if we search with our hearts... that's how we found you. We've crossed greater spaces of the vacant cosmos than you can imagine, child, trying to locate more of our kind. And though you don't know us, we most assuredly know you, little one. A child of Jenova if I've ever seen one... my memories declare it is so."

Jared tried to reply, but he hesitated, stunned by the coinciding strangeness and familiarity of this creature... something about her reminded him of his mother...

Isis clucked her tongue sadly. "You don't even have the memories, do you? Poor thing... well, we can fix that..." Isis continued sweetly. She pulled something out of a pouch at her side... an orb-like something that glowed with a bright orange light...

Isis crouched in front of him, offering the orb for closer inspection. "Do you know what this is, little boy?"

Jared looked at it and met her eyes defiantly. I am NOT a "little boy". "It's materia, duh."

"And you know what materia is made of?"

"Concentrated mako energy," he replied sternly. I'm a Shinra... of course I know!

"But what is mako?" Isis pressed.

Jared shrugged off-handedly. "Memories. What about it, lady? What's the point?" He always got irritated when people assumed he was stupid.

She looked closely at the orb, and it glowed more brightly. "This is made from the mako of our motherworld... it is one of the few left of its kind. Within it are so many memories, memories that can tell you who and what you are."

Jared examined the "materia" curiously, but trying to disguise his vibes. He still didn't trust this creature, but found this object intriguing...

"Don't you want to know more about yourself... little orphan?" Isis continued sweetly.

Jared jerked, glaring at her. "What makes you think I can't find out about me on my own?"

Isis pocketed the orb. "Nothing, nothing... I was just trying to help, but if you're so ready to pick a fight with your last living relatives..." She turned to Horus and the two started walking away.

"Wait a minute!" Jared ordered, feeling a little put out by her determination to be difficult...

She smirked before turning back to him. "What is it, little one?"

"For one thing, dispense with the 'little boy' c**p," he snapped.

Horus moved forward in the blink of an eye and seized the child's mouth. "Watch your language, little boy," he growled.

Isis laid a hand on his arm. "Now, now, Horus... no need to resort to force," she said soothingly. "Corporeal punishment is no way to teach a child right from wrong." She smiled at him, but Jared could definitely see a raging fire in her eyes...

Horus gave the child a sidelong glance and finally released his grip. "I apologize," he murmured.

Isis nodded satisfaction. "As do I, child... you'll have to forgive my poor associate. Horus is rather a proactive fellow. At times his impulses just take over... he really can't help himself." She patted Horus condescendingly on the shoulder. "But here, my young compatriot... a token of my penitence." She offered the "materia".

Jared watched her angrily, rubbing his sore face, red from the force of Horus' grasp. The glow of the "materia" illuminated his mistrusting face... "Put it on the ground."

Isis drew back slightly, regarding the child with an aloof attitude. Well, well... the twice-cursed may have just a few more brains than I credited him with... "Hmm... as you wish..." She laid it down.

Jared looked at it, and it slowly rose through the air... he stretched out his hand and it landed in his palm. "How does it work?" Jared demanded.

Isis' smile grew. "Simply keep it near you at all times, and soon you will find its essense enters your mind all on its own. The memories will begin coming to you, and your sister as well, if you expose her to it."

Jared nodded slowly, his eyes still filled with suspicion and hostility... "Thank you, but I can't help but feel this begs the question... why do you share this gift with me?"

Isis tried to touch the boy's face, but he swatted her hand away. Horus tensed and moved forward, but Isis waved him back calmly. "Because, as I said, we have searched long and hard for more of our kind... we Seraphs are all on the verge of nonexistence. We must come together, cooperate.. or we will all be lost forever."

Jared took a deep breath, his expression unchanged. "I understand."

Isis merely stood and backed away. "When your memory is restored... we shall return to you, and teach of our ancestor's ways."

"How will you know how to find me?" Jared inquired.

"The same way as before, child... we will follow our hearts to you," she replied. She replaced the hood over her face and turned away, moving silently into the darkness.

Horus stood still for a moment, watching the boy darkly. Jared met his eyes unflinchingly, and they watched each other for a long moment... Horus raised his hood and followed Isis on her way.

Jared looked down at the orb he had acquired as they walked away... when he looked up again, they were gone. A strange feeling was creeping into him from it... the same one he had gotten earlier at the slum... How long have they been watching me?

He considered for a moment before slipping the materia into his shirt. What have I got to lose? He glanced back at the house, where Tseng and the baby were... No need for him to know of this just yet. No reason why he shouldn't know, either, but... He carried the paper to the streetlamp and ignited it before heading back inside.

****

He dropped the paper into the barrel, and the room was filled with a comforting glow... and also a great deal of smoke. He pushed the barrel hurriedly to the window, opening it to draw the smoke out. He dropped his hands into the snow on the sill, slightly singed from shoving the hot receptacle... "Geez. I'm just leading us from bad to worse..."

He started directing the smoke outside with his mental capabilities, simultaneously blocking the cold air. "We'll need some kind of blanket or sheet to direct the smoke out... no, that won't work, it'll catch fire... Sheesh." He groaned quietly. "We'll need sheet metal. There ought to be some of that laying around this dump somewhere. I can't keep shoving the smoke out all night."

He looked at his hands, pulling them out of the snow... lobster red. At least they weren't blistering... but they stung like crazy. He bit his lip, trying to not think about it. "Stupid... Tseng, have you got any cold packs on you?" He didn't think so, but it was worth asking. The hurt was bad enough that it was getting tough to think straight... The orb began to glow brighter inside his shirt...

[mistervillainman]

"Ahh! A remnant, eh!?" Doc said, thoroughly excited by the new challenge Dimitri had presented him.

"Yeah, a bloody dangerous one apparently, supposed to be related to Jenova herself... So I'm gonna need some good tranc and its gotta be potent as hell."

"ah ah ah!" Doc said, shaking a finger. "Careful now pal, I know what your saying, but its gotta be subtle enough so that it doesnt kill him. Its still a kid and remnants have a much faster metabolic rate than humans do." He explained, mixing chemicals faster than Dimitri could even keep track of them. After a few moments, Doc slammed his palm down on the desk and held up three vials over his shoulder, chuckling. "There ya go kiddo... ALMOST a challenge for me, but that should work on the little devil."

Dimitri smirked and shook his head. "You always were the best Doc." He said, taking the vials.

"Was?! HAH! I AM AND ALWAYS WILL BE THE BEST HAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Doc shouted, dancing around his desk... Doc was a few bullets short of a full clip.

Dimitri sighed. "Alright Doc, calm down now, dont work yourself up too much old timer."

"Bah! I could still whip your a$$ up and down the street youngin!" He said, laughing.

"Yeah if you say so... Alright I'll see ya later doc." Dimitri said, bidding his friend adeu and heading back out of the chemist's office to his waiting bike. Dimitri set the vials into his duffel bag and climbed on his vehicle, starting it up and screeching off towards the slums where Mulligan had said Tseng was headed the day before. He only hoped Tseng had decided to stick around for the night...

----------------

Tseng sat motionlessly, looking out the window and clutching his Uzi loosely in his right hand just below the window. From his vantage point, he had a clear overview of the alley leading to the only accessable door to the building. Tseng decided that he would wake up Jared... still had to get used to calling him that... in an hour or so. They had to go get supplies for the week ahead.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Jared sat up on his pallet tiredly, rubbing his eyes. He'd been curled up around the bundled-up baby the entire time he'd slept, and as a result of both this and sleeping on the floor, he was stiff as h**k. The baby had whimpered half the night, and Jared had been almost at a loss as to how to calm her down... then he discovered the wonderful world of diapers.

He blinked at Tseng, who looked even more wiped out than him, and out the window just beyond him. It was starting to get light out... "What're you doing still up? Should've been my shift nearly an hour ago."

****

The motorcyclist from the safe house, in the meantime, was poking around an abandoned metro station, where the local bums had a habit of hanging out. A few of them reported some weird goings-on near the "edge slums"... they kept metioning a landmark they called the Firestarter.

As the sun rose and the bums began to disperse, looking for ways to survive another day, she decided she had learned all she could from this crowd. She began making her way into the crumbling slums thrown together at the border of the ruins... I'm getting closer.

I told you you'd get yours someday, Tseng... someday just arrived.

Hope you haven't forgotten your old colleage...

[mistervillainman]

Tseng looked over at Jared through tired eyes, but shook his head. "As long as I dont let myself sleep at all for a couple days I should be able to keep moving normally." He said simply.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Jared blinked and tilted his head. "Tseng... I don't remember you ever meeting my mother. So... how come you seem to share her attitude towards sleep?"

He glanced at the baby... still sound asleep. Thank G**.
****

Firestarter... firestarter...

The rider pondered what the h**l that could mean. A source of drywood? A stash of kerosene? Come on, Sarai, think...

A flash of light caught her eye, barely seen between tywo buildings through an alley, and she came to a screeching halt.

She parked her bike quietly against a brick wall, chaining it to a barred window. She moved silently forward, her dark clothing and countenance keeping her disguised in the pre-dawn haze against the sooty landscape...

Another flash-- there! A defunct streetlight, releasing sparks at erratic intervals. And she was sure it was no coincidence that she could smell smoke... Could this be it?

She spotted movement in a nearby window and drew her crossbow. I think I just hit the jackpot. She ducked back towards the alley, staring intently at the window. She opened her cell...

"Suspected targets in sight. Waiting to confirm visual..." The light wasn't sufficient, and she was unsure that she could indeed trust her eyes. I doubt it could be this easy, in any case...

[mistervillainman]

A click was the only sound that Sarai heard as Dimitri suddenly appeared behind her, his gunblade drawn and aimed straight at the back of her head.

"Excuse me ma'am... But I think you mis-understand the concept of waiting in line. I was here first and I'm not sure whom your here to get, but I'm not leaving without those kids. If its the guy you want, your welcome to him when I'm through." He stated simply, staying just out of reach, but close enough to let her know he could get her LONG before she could get him.

-----------

Tseng nearly nodded off, then all of a sudden, his senses bolted to life again and his eyes snapped wide open. Someone was there...

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Sarai smirked. "Correction... you aren't leaving here, period."

She spun and fired a trank dart at him, ducking under the gunblade. "And for the record... I'd be happy to have my way with the guy, but unfortunately, my bosses still seem to think he's useful. Bureaucratic b*****ds."

She realized the significance of the gunblade and smirked at him. "Ex-SeeD, are we? Don't know how you washups are trained... but Turks are never expected to stay in line behind anyone but the fellow with the long green."

She swept a leg under him at his ankles. "This planet is Turk territory. You, and all your horticulture-crazed militiamen, can be thanked to remember that and clear out to where you all came from."

****

Jared heard the unmistakeable sound of a crossbow firing. "Shi... uh, shoot," he corrected himself. He set the baby down on thestill warm mat and pulled his gun. "Tseng, we got company."

[mistervillainman]

The dart sailed at Dimitri and just snagged the edge of the fabric of his trenchcoat as he twisted to avoid it. He then stomped his foot down hard on the woman's as it swept at him, stopping her attack dead. He then pushed forward with his shoulder, with her foot pinned under his, she could not keep her footing and toppled over, the crossbow skittered away down the alley.

"Where I come from is none of your concern, where I'm going is though... And that is away from here with those kids." He said, ripping the dart out of his coat and tossing it aside. "Now I have no need to fight you and no desire to either, so you can either walk away now or I'll just go through you."

--------------

Tseng hurried towards Jared and Hope, peering carefully out the window. "Yeah I noticed..." He said as he saw two figures down the alley. They were too ubstructed by the fog to make out though...

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Jared could tell without even probing them that the pair were far too interested in each other to give him or Tseng any trouble. "I suggest we get going while the going is good. Let's go through the back way."

There is no back way, but I can fix that.

Eight successive shots later, a man-sized hole had been blown through the thin shack wall.

He hung his gun on his shoulder again and picked up the baby, hurriedly wrapping her against the cold and making a break for it. He turned back and motioned to his guardian. "Tseng, come on!"

****

Sarai yanked her foot out from under his and took advantage of whatever balance loss that brought him. She sent her other foot careening towards his head as she leapt back to her feet, connecting with his jaw in a wide arc. "Over my rotting, maggot covered corpse, trespasser."

She pulled her EMR and brought it from the opposite direction of her kick, attempting to meet his head somewhere between the impact of her foot and the ground. "I have enough competition for my job... last thing I need is some d**n GI reject mercenary to come along, nosing his way into my turf, got it?"