CHAPTER 20

"Oh... pretty!"

This was the most eloquent way that Zack was able to express himself, given the sight before him.  A large, over hanging yellow sign designated the neighborhood in front of him as "Wall Market", though this itself did not garner much of the former SOLDIER's attention.  Rather, it was the large number of buildings and people  traversing the streets.  Glowing signs were everywhere, and one could not go more than a few feet without seeing some sort of advertisement or display for some store.

"I wouldn't quite call it 'pretty', Zack.  This place can be very dangerous, especially for a girl," Aeris responded.  However, she too was slightly taken by the ritzyness of the general area.  It was busier than she had ever seen it, and there were a few shops which she didn't remember as having supposed to have been there.

"Huh?  Whaddya mean?"

"This whole town is owned by Don Corneo, a crime lord and notorious pervert.  I'm willing to bet that Tifa was being taken to him."

"Uhm, what makes you say that?"

Aeris gave Zack a sly look and paused for effect before responding.  "Just trust me."

"So... what, you think she's in danger?" Zack whispered as the two walked into the town square.  They were both getting strange looks from several people.  Zack possibly because of his SOLDIER uniform, and Aeris because she was a beautiful woman.  At least one man pointed this out and made some rude comment connotating a sexual encounter, to which he was rewarded with two fists to his face.

"Well just look at this place," Aeris began to reply, "Hookers, pimps, deviants... Not that I go around judging people, BUT I don't think this is the type of place this 'Tifa' friend of yours would come to willingly, right?"

"Uhm, I guess..."

"So then pipe down and let's keep going.  The Don's mansion is north of here."

The two walked in silence for the next several minutes up the dirt path.  They passed many stores and restaurants, and while Zack tried to take everything in, he realized that Aeris had absolutely no interest in anything going on around her.  This troubled the SOLDIER, and as the pair made their way out of the busier few blocks, Zack stopped short and stood waiting for Aeris to notice.

The young woman slowly came to a halt and turned her head at much the same slowness and gave Zack a suspicious glare.  "What is it?"

Zack crossed his arms and lowered his eyes.  "Are you mad at me or something?"

"Of course not, why?" Aeris half-lied.

"You're acting weird, and to be honest, I don't like it," Zack answered.  "I mean, if we REALLY wanted to find out what Tifa was up to, I could of just gone and asked Dyne what was up.  I mean, for all we know, this could be much more legit and innocent than you seem to be making it out to be.  And I know you care a lot about people in general, but showing this much concern for someone you don't even know... it's just..."

"Look!" Aeris said louder than she intended, interrupting Zack's rant.  "One, don't profess to know me so well.  Two, I -KNOW- she's going to be in trouble."

"Aeris, no offense... and maybe I'm just dumb, but I can't see your line of thinking here!  And don't try this 'mystery girl' stuff with me while pretending to know everything yourself!"

By this point, both of the two could feel their anger rising a bit.  Aeris took a deep breath and closed  her eyes and said nothing for a moment.

"Zack, do you trust me?" the flower-girl spoke, not looking up.

Her ex boyfriend hesitated for a short moment, but did after a moment come out with a quiet, slightly unsure "Yes."

"I know I may be acting strange, and okay, there is a chance I'm wrong. But wouldn't you rather try to help her now and risk a mistake rather than find out too late that I was right?"

Zack nodded slowly.

"I promise I'll explain everything... when the time is right.  But for now, you really do have to trust me," Aeris finished.

Aeris turned on her heel and continued north, Zack tagging silently behind.  He wanted to keep arguing his point, but his brain had already pretty much died from overuse after their conversation earlier on the slide.  He knew that Aeris was almost psychic at times, and supposed that this would be a good test of such an ability.  He only hoped he wouldn't be causing any trouble...

When the two had reached "Mansion Corneo",  Zack had raised an eyebrow at the sheer ludicrousness of the sight.  It was a large building adorned with Wutainesse silk wall scrolls, pottery and decorations.  The front entrance, composed of a large stone slab, was being guarded by a lone muscle-man in a blue tee-shirt and jeans.  Though that was not what Zack was concentrating on.

He looked at the ground, and saw them: a pair of wheel tracks, about ten or so feet apart, with some type of large bird prints in the middle.  It was obvious that the cart he had seen Tifa in had come through this way.

"HEY!" the guard yelled out after the two had walked into view, "Identify yourselves and state your business!"

"Who wants to know?" Zack asked smartly, raising an eyebrow and standing in a cock-sure pose.

"This is the mansion of Don Corneo, and I am its gate-keeper!" The man proclaimed proudly.

"Uh, 'gate-keeper'?" Zack asked. "You're probably a goddamn rent-a-cop!"

"Grrr... GET OUTTA HERE!" the man growled.  "The Don is busy and has requested that he not be disturbed!"

Zack was about to say something when Aeris tapped him on the shoulder.  They backed up a few feet so that they could converse privately as the "gate-keeper" kept a close eye on the two.

"What's up?" Zack whispered.

"I don't think we should start a fight here.  We may have to sneak in..."

"Ah, forget it, pain in the ass," Zack retorted, walking up to the guard.

"Zack, no, WAIT!" Aeris tried...

-POW!-

Zack shook his fist and rubbed it as the guard dropped like a bag of potatoes at his feet.  He looked around, but did not see any type of mechanism that would open the doorway.  Shaking his head, he backed up a few steps and glared at the large granite slab.  He then glanced at Aeris... or rather, the staff tucked away under her coat.

"Can I see your Lightning materia?"

"Uhhhhm, whhhyyyy?" Aeris asked hesitantly.

***

Clyve sat back in his leather chair, his long pony tail hanging far behind it as he had his feet propped up on the desk in front of him.  In his hands was a comic book of some type, depicting what looked like young girls in depraved versions of sailor outfits.  He couldn't exactly tell what the story was about, as it was all in Wutainesse.  All he cared about was the constant upward-angle "camera shots" which showed off the characters' undergarments.

The room he was in was a large lobby with uniquely patterned carpets on the floor, and large, golden vases strewn about.  A set of stairs stood several yards away from him, leading up to the foyer and much of the rest of the small mansion.  He himself was at something of a reception desk made of fine oak and painted red, adorned with gold in various places.

Suddenly, the earth shook as a large explosion tore open the door he was watching from the inside!  Chunks of rubble flew everywhere, one landing smack dab in the middle of Clyve's forehead, sending him sprawling backwards towards the ground, where he wound up getting knocked unconscious as his head collided with the marble floor.

Zack walked into the lobby nonchalantly and tossed the lightning materia back to Aeris.  "THAT'S why!"

Aeris shook her head in complete disbelief, her eyes wide with worry.  "You..." she started, but was unable to come up with an insult perfect for how she felt towards Zack at that moment, "Someone was bound to have heard that!"

"Let 'em come!" Zack proclaimed, unsheathing his large Buster Sword.

Aeris growled to herself and took out her staff, extending it to its full length, ready for anything.  She started up the stairs, Zack practically next to her.

"You know where yer goin'?" Zack asked as Aeris hurriedly ran through the foyer, passing several doorways without a hint of slowing down.  Aeris' response was charging through a doorway at the end of the hall, which contained stone stairs leading down into a basement.  It was somewhat small, with a large torture rack in the middle and various other torture/holding contraptions spread through out.  Aeris slowed her pace as she reached the bottom of the stairwell, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the basement only had two occupants, one of whom she recognized as...

"Tifa, hey!" Zack chimed as he came down, looking behind himself every couple seconds to make sure they were in the clear.  He noticed the other girl, but didn't recognize her off hand.

"Zack?!" Tifa exclaimed.  She was wearing a glittery purple and black silk evening gown, which while it only exposed her arms and a bit of her back, was tight enough to not leave much to the imagination.  "What are you doing here?!  Who's this?!" she said in a slight panic, motioning to Aeris.

"This's Aeris, and we're here to help!" Zack said proudly.

"HELP?!" Tifa yelled out, "You idiot!  You'll probably ruin everything!"

"Uhm... ruin everything?" Zack asked with a blank stare, glancing at Aeris for but a second.

"Yeah, it's complicated," Tifa started to explain, but then shot a look to Aeris.

"Fine, I'll turn around," the flower-girl sighed, turning and putting her hands to her ears.

"What's with the get-up?" Zack asked.

"Yesterday, the Don came by.  AVALANCHE has had an alliance with him, but we messed up big..."

"AND what, Dyne sold you off for sexual favors to get the Don offa his back?!  THAT CREEP!"

"NO...! No, this was my idea.  Corneo alluded to the Turks having visited, but he wouldn't say what they were up to.  So I'm here to squeeze the info out of him."

"What body part are you gonna have to squeeze?" Zack asked with a playful smile.

He got three fists in his face for his trouble.

"I thought you weren't payin' attention," Zack lamented to Aeris.  "Hey, who're you, anyway?" he asked the other girl who had punched him.  Her face was concealed by a large red wig, and was wearing a very large and somewhat unflattering dress.  She turned around a bit shyly, and Zack noticed that she had a pretty decent behind.  Looking for only a moment, he bent down and tried looking up into her face.  "Yo, no need to be shy!"

A pair of glowing, light-blue eyes blinked in front of him.

"What the f.."

"Hi Zack," came Cloud's voice.

"GAH!" Zack cried as he hit the floor.  Cloud removed his wig, letting his spiky blonde hair flow up and out freely again.

CLOUD! Aeris could only barely stop herself from yelling out in joy.

"Uhm, Cloud... Why're you dressed as a chick?"  Zack asked, picking himself up off the stone floor.

"It was the only way for me to get in.  I couldn't let Tifa do this by herself, after all," Cloud responded a bit nonchalantly.

"DOWN THERE!"

Everyone's heads spun towards the stairway where the voice had come from as steps echoed rapidly closer and closer to the four companions.  Quickly and silently, Zack motioned for Aeris to take cover, and for Cloud and Tifa to cover his flanks, both of whom tore off their dresses, revealing combat gear underneath.  Cloud also had an extra surprise: A machine gun.

Five men came down the steps, charging at Zack, who was the only person they saw at first.  Zack slashed out with his blade while Cloud shot out with his own weapon.  Surprisingly, Zack's attack was ducked under while Cloud hand managed to completely miss.

One man lunged for Tifa, who caught his hand and twisted it around.  After hearing a satisfying CRACK and a scream of pain, Tifa kicked the man away, his body felling limp like a rag doll.

The other four men split up, two going after Cloud while the other two contended with Zack.  Cloud shot one of his opponents square in the chest, but found himself clocked in the head with the butt of a handgun.  At this, Aeris stood up from behind the torture rack she had been hiding behind and cast a powerful Fire spell at Cloud's attacker, reducing him to ash before he could even scream.

Zack slashed down between his two attackers, causing them to dodge in separate directions, which was fine by him.  He brought his weapon back up, slashing one in the face, while he extended his foot to his side, kicking the other man square in the chest, knocking the wind out of him.  Zack smashed the first attacker in the face with the flat side of his sword, making him fly back and onto the ground.  The ex-SOLDIER then turned back to the second man, kicking him in the jaw with enough force to make his neck snap.

The five men lay on the ground, either dead or incapacitated in an almost near-circle around the four companions.

"That was easy," Aeris said, walking up to the other three.

"Hmph.  No wonder this guy needs AVALANCHE's protection," Cloud quipped, though his tone was serious.  He rubbed a growing bruise on his cheek where he had been struck and winced as it stung at the slightest touch.  Aeris came up to him, and gazed into Cloud's eyes with a look he couldn't read.  "Uhm, h-hi."

"That's a pretty nasty bruise," Aeris commented, looking away and digging into her small bag.  She produced some herbal balm applied it to Cloud's cheek without invitation or permission.  "Just relax.  This will sooth the pain and work on getting rid of the injury," she stated before anyone could ask what she was doing.

Zack let slip a slight smile as he saw the look on Aeris' face.  He couldn't quite read her expression, but he could just tell that she was very, very happy to see Cloud.  But for whatever reason, he couldn't quite fathom.  Maybe she thought he was cute...?

"Cloud, you okay now?" Tifa asked, a bit of impatience in her voice.

"Y-yeah," Cloud replied.  "Let's get this over with."

Zack and Tifa took the lead up the stairs, while Cloud and Aeris jogged up after them.  Aeris looked over to Cloud, who noticed, becoming a tad nervous as a result.

"My name's Aeris, by the way," the flower girl said with a smile.

"Uhm, Cloud... In case you didn't catch it before," the former soldier replied.

"Would you like to buy a flower?"

"Uhm, what?"

"Aeris," Zack interrupted, "is now really the time for that?"

Aeris remained silent as a reply.  For once, Zack was making sense.  She had to focus on now, and not trying to fix things.  The fact that Cloud was here with her now had to be some kind of sign, or so she thought.  All she had to do now was make sure everything else went as smooth as possible.

Though how possible would that be?  Tifa was very different, Aeris could tell the just by looking at her.  Zack was there, too.  And Cloud... Cloud seemed...

No, Don't.  Don't go there.  Just focus.  Everything's fine...

"Aeris?"

"Hm?!"

"Now's not the time to zone out on us," Zack said in a hushed tone.  The four stood in front of a large double-doorway decorated with golden dragons, obviously the way into Corneo's private office and quarters.

"So how're we going to do this?" Cloud asked, a bit of hesitance creeping in his voice.

"Suggestions?" Tifa offered.

"I say," Zack started, "We do this like in the final scene of 'The Server' where Neon and Tritality walk into the office building all cool like and start blowing shit up in slow motion..."

"I am -not- participating in a movie parody," Aeris stated flatly.

"Me neither," Tifa agreed.

"Count me out, I didn't even like that movie," Cloud interjected.

Zack looked at his companions with lowered eyes.  "You all suck.  Oh well, it wouldn't be as cool without the techno music in the background anyway."  He then started singing, "Bau wao wao, ba-wa wa wao waooo..."

"Zack, zip it!" Tifa ordered.

"Oh fine.  Let's just bust on in there and see what happens," Zack said disappointedly with a shrug.

***

Don Corneo lay in his large round bed, staring up at the ceiling with glassy eyes as his head lay on a blue, heart-shaped silk pillow.  In one hand he held a half-drank martini, in the other he held a small golden chain which was attached to the collar worn by a lingerie-clad woman sitting on the end of his bed.  Normally she would be catering to the Don's twisted desires, but today was different.  Today the notorious Don Corneo wished to save his energy for the girl-turned woman he had been eyeing ever since she had joined Dyne's rag-tag band of morons.  She had grown almost before his eyes the past few years, which was surprising, given that she had looked better than most grown women then at the age of fifteen, and was even more voluptuous now.  And here she was, coming to him willingly... Corneo knew that Tifa couldn't possibly resist him forever, after all, he WAS the Don Corneo of Wall Market, the most powerful crime lord the world had ever seen.  How could anyone NOT be turned on by that?  There she was, sitting in his basement, waiting to be summoned, oh how sweet it was to make her wait.  She was probably soaking herself in anticipation...

Corneo was shook out of his pondering as his two aides, Scotch and Kotch, crashed through the walls and flew to either side of his bed!

"WH-WHAT THE HELL?!" Don squealed out in surprise as his "companion" let out a shriek of her own.

"CORNEO!" Tifa shout out as she walked in through one of the large holes in the wall.  She was flanked by Zack and Cloud, both of whom had their weapons drawn.  Her large, reddish-brown eyes held nothing but fiery hatred and determination.  The Don shrunk back into himself when he witnessed this hateful look.  He was also disappointed that she was wearing a combat outfit which only really showed off her arms, which was her only "bad" feature as they actually had muscle on them.  Though something told Corneo that how Tifa was dressed wasn't as big an issue as WHY...

Tifa walked up the right side of the Don's bed, standing on Kotch's neck, not removing her lowered, hating eyes from The Don for even a moment, causing him much discomfort, which was just how Tifa wanted it.

"Okay Corneo, this is how this's going to work.  I'm going to ask you some questions, and you're going to tell me the answers, understand?" Tifa growled.

The Don tried his best to put on a neutral look before replying.  "And if I DON'T?"

Tifa punched her fist onto her hand, and very audibly cracked her knuckles.  "I'll smash them," she said as a response, glancing between the Don's legs, (And was quite satisfied that she didn't see anything sticking up through his boxers).

"Eep!  Okay, okay!  Wh-what do you wanna know?!"

"What were the Turks doing here?"

"The Turks... Th-they wanted to know where you AVALANCHE guys were based!"

"WHAT?!  Did you tell them?"

The Don remained silent, more out of fear rather than stubbornness, however.

"TALK, DAMMIT!  If you don't..."

Cloud then came up, placing a foot on Corneo's bed and leaning down towards him.  "I'll shoot them off," he said, loading a fresh round of ammunition into his machine-gun.  Tifa shot the former soldier a smile, but only for a moment, as she was occupied reading Corneo, who was sweating bullets.

"Y-yuh- yes..." Corneo admitted, fear growing on his face.

"WHY, Goddmamit?!  Are they up to something?!" Tifa spat, not trying too hard to keep herself calm.

"No, ple-e-ease, you don't understand!  They'll KILL me!" Corneo pleaded.

"If you don't tell us what we wanna know," Zack said, coming up to the bed and flashing his large Buster Sword at The Don, "You'll die dickless."  And with that, he slashed down between the crime-lord's legs, missing him on purpose by about a hair.

Corneo froze in fear and was ready to pass out.  "OKAY, OKAY!" he yelled in a panic, eyeing the end of the large sword. "Th-th-th-th they.. they.."

"Spit it out, Porko Pig!" Zack said harshly.

"Eeek!" the Don responded as his breathing became visibly erratic, "Plate boom sector seven make the and splat go ping and crash with the pow and the explode they're gonna with the pillar andandand.."

"Hey, slow down!" Tifa said angrily, "And quit speaking nonsense!"

"Yeah, start making sense," Aeris said, walking next to her companions and eyeing Corneo predatorily.  "Because if you don't... I'll peel IT and THEM like onions, and slowly drip lemon juice on all of it while making you watch gay porn."

Everyone looked at Aeris with wide, shocked eyes.  Tifa smiled after a moment though.  "I think I'm already beginning to like you, Aeris!"

Corneo blinked for but a moment and laid back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling with a blank expression.  When he spoke, his voice was in monotone.  "They're going to destroy the Sector Seven support pillar, and bring the upper plate down onto the slums."

"WHAT?!  Why?!" Tifa asked in shock.

"I dunno.  They just don't like you, I guess," The Don spoke plainly.

"Hey Cornholio," Zack asked sternly, "What's up with you?  You're all calm and stuff all of a sudden," he said, his suspicion rising.

The woman who had sat unnoticed at the end of the bed slowly crawled to her employer's side, and looked into his blank eyes.  She looked up at the four strangers with an apologetic look.  "I think he's having some kind of epileptic episode," she announced.  "It happens when he's under a lot of stress, he'll just lay there and talk."

"So he's not telling us the truth now?" Tifa asked, disappointed.

"No, he can't lie when he's like this, it's like he drank a truth serum."

"So that means they're really gonna do it?!  Knock down the pillar, I mean?" Zack asked.

"Doesn't matter, this is too big to worry about not being true!" Tifa said, already making her way out, the others following.  "We have to go warn D- EEEE!!!"

The shriek came too late.  The floor had given way under Tifa's feet, and a large chute presented itself underneath her.  Both she and Zack had fallen in, and Cloud was teetering over the edge.  Aeris shook her head and grabbed Cloud.  Before he could thank her for the rescue though, she jumped into the chute, dragging the blond along with her, who's only resistance was a mere yelp.  Corneo smiled as his hand came away from a hidden switch on the side of his bed.  He sat up and leered at where the four had been only a moment ago.  "Suckers..."

I was really hoping to have avoided this part... Aeris thought to herself as the companions plunged into the darkness....

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