The Color of Blood Chapter 15
The Military
By Brady Bryner, Bill Shofstall, & Anthony McKinley
Valhalla, Streets 5:15 PM April 23
"What do you want?" Nanaki shrugged off a soldier. He was trying to spy in Valhalla, but was meeting little success.
"Identification."
"Why?"
"I'm not familiar with you."
"I'm quite sure that you're not familiar with many people."
"Listen. Just let me check for some identification, and you can go on your way." Nanaki's eye flitted around.
"Uh... I don't have any."
"Then you'll have to come with me."
"But... I... Um... I..." The man clubbed him on the back of the head with his gun, sending Nanaki unconscious.
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Valhalla, Streets 12:03 AM April 28
Vincent and Anthony had been sent to find why Nanaki had not contacted his office for almost a week. The first was ordered to go, the latter volunteering. Vincent was quiet, as usual, still caring for little conversation. Anthony was quite loud, chattering on about unimportant things, or things Vincent didn't understand. Anthony looked so deranged to him now. Vincent's eyes fell upon Anthony's face once, and what he saw was something terrifying. Anthony stopped talking, his eyes looking insane, driven by some unknown madness. Anthony always asked to go for missions in Valhalla, and always led to mass destruction. Murders, assassinations, general slaughter.
"Anthony?"
"What!?!" Anthony turned around screaming.
"Calm down."
"Why should I do that?"
"You'll get us killed."
"Doesn't matter, we all die sooner or later, just sometimes we get hit sooner."
"Anthony, my desire to live is quite strong, so please calm down."
"You? Desire to live? You hate your life, so sit down and stop bitching. I got it all under control..." Anthony walked in front of a large stone building, a Shinra facility and threw a large rock that had chipped from the road at one of the windows.
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Cosmo Canyon, Observatory 1:34 AM April 28
Seto stared vaguely into the stars, not focusing on anyone of them, but the sky as a whole. His face was creased with a certain sadness and loathing. Sadness of his two sons, who always seemed to be near something that he wished they wouldn't. Loathing of the humans of the world, because they let them be destroyed by hate. Two brothers, hating everything. Humanity. He almost laughed at the prospect of such a thing. Humanity. A species he tried to defend, but now, not many were worth it. His only friends had died, save Hargo. But Hargo was busy, no time to talk. Boredom had perhaps taken over his mind. A festering boredom. So lonely.
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Midgar, Shinra Building 7:45 AM April 28
Ranika sat on a chair next to a door, pouting, not allowed to go in. He was thinking of a way to sneak into the room, the executive cafeteria. Cait happened to exit from it, as he was one of the most powerful people in Shinra, and looked up at the chair. "Where's the gaurd?"
"I don't know..."
"What's wrong with you?"
"I'm hungry and the fat guy wouldn't let me go in."
"That was the gaurd."
"I'm hungry." Cait turned around, opened the door, and ushered Ranika in, then turned around and looked for the gaurd.
"Hello!" Cait jumped and saw him. A fat man eating a donut, dropping jelly onto his suit.
"Did you NOT let..."
"No one but executives and such, just like I was ordered." The fat man smiled and ate his donut.
"Alright...fat boy... You made my friend cry, and for this, I'll crack your head open." The man looked at him quite oddly.
"The little freakish thing?"
"You think he's freakish? When the doctors are removing that donut that I've permanently jammed into your ass, you'll see who's freakish, you rotten bastard!"
"I'm sorry?"
"No no no..." Cait whistled, his fat moogle exiting the cafeteria, holding Cait's drink. "Hand me this..." He grabbed the drink. "Now... Kick his ass."
"Huh?" The gaurd looked at Cait, then his moogle, almost to tears. "I'll be good."
"You'll do better in a coma." The moogle punched him in the gut, and then the chin, knocking him out. Cait hugged his moogle. "God I love you. You know what you need? You need organs. Like me. That's what we'll do. Work on getting you some biomechanics." Cait looked at the man. "You got knocked the fuck out!" He giggled and went back into the cafeteria.
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Valhalla, Streets 9:18 AM April 28
Anthony and Vincent slept under a bridge. Thanks to Anthony's "incredible" talents, they had been chased for almost eight hours by soldiers across most of the northern continent. They were safe though, and just dozed off, sleeping for almost four hours.
When Vincent woke, he found himself under the bridge, alone. "Anthony... If you ever do that again, I'll kill you." He heard Anthony laugh, coldly. It seemed quit warm for the northern continent. Then Vincent heard gun fire. He didn't know how he slept through what was going on, but he did. He crawled out of a side, seeing Anthony firing aimlessly into something. He still couldn't see. Further out he saw licks of flame. He pulled himself up next to Anthony, finally seeing everything. Soldiers, flames, and Anthony covered in blood. His own, others. Vincent looked at him, actually afraid. Anthony had a number of severe bullet wounds to his chest, but they way he acted it seemed like they didn't exist. Anthony stood up, wearing his cloak, the blue clashing with his blood. He dropped the hood, and from behind him removed a sword with a massive blade. The blade itself must have weighed at least sixty pounds from the look of it. The Claymore.
"Are we having fun yet kids?" Anthony threw his hand in front of him, the men falling back from some unknown pressure. He did the sames to the buildings, but instead they lit ablaze with white hot flames. Vincent cursed and fell back down under the bridge, where it was still he could still bare it. "So fucking awesome man..." Anthony sliced a man in half and began walking by them. A fear arose. Shoot him, and maybe he'd die, but shoot him, and maybe he'll kill you. He grabbed a man by throat and sank the two fangs he had into the man's neck, sucking the blood from his body. Anthony's bullet wounds began to heal. He dropped the man to the ground, barely alive, and soon to die. Anthony threw his arms out, and the buildings behind him exploded violently. Bricks and shattered stone pierced the men, but not Anthony. Vincent remained well hid, and it began to cool. He found Anthony lying on the ground, laughing like a child. He stared at the stars, but there were none. He was hallucinating. When Vincent touched him, Anthony punched him in the stomach, and then wandered away to another part of the city.
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Valhalla, Barracks 4:23 PM April 28
Nanaki sat in a room, tied to a chair, that he knew he was full well strong enough to break. He was seeing how much information he could get from his interrogator. "So Nanaki... What were you doing in Valhalla?" Nanaki laughed at the man.
"You're pathetic at this. How about this? I'll interrogate myself." He started asking and answering himself, laughing. The man slapped him hard across the face, but Nanaki laughed harder. While human, his body still was quit tough. "Alrigh'... I'm here on vacation."
"You can't vacation here..."
"It's called sarcasm. In a perfect world, morons like you would understand it."
"I've known jokers before, and you look like no joker. You look too serious. Now... Answer my question or I'll..." He picked up and syringe and a scalpel from a small metal table. "...beat them out of you."
"Well you see..."
"Yes?"
"A physical beating would require punching. Thus, syringes and little knives wouldn't be part of it."
"You try my patience."
"Quiet cry baby. You have not yet begun to hear me bitch!"
"I won't have to if I cut your tongue out."
"You won't be able to with no fingers."
"What?" Nanaki's hands flew around the sides of the chair, and broke all ten of the man's fingers. "Gyaah! Shit!"
"Ya damn right." Nanaki kicked him in the stomach and shoved him backwards onto the ground.
"Nanaki!" Vincent stood in the doorway. "I was about to shoot him! Didn't you notice me?"
"You smell like pimentoes. Yes, I noticed you. Now shut up."
"Anthony's here."
"Good, we can use a deranged psychopath."
"No, I mean in the city. He destroyed a military section of town and wandered off mumbling something."
"Oh... Great... He burned it, didn't he?"
"Yeah... Why?"
"Told him he was a pyromaniac. No one believes me."
"Okay Nanaki, you have gotten too casual, you never act like this. Whatever drug they got you on, cut the dosage." As much as it was a joke, Vincent remained monotone.
"But..."
"Come now Nanaki." Vincent grabbed him and pulled him down the hall.
"But..."
"Quiet!" Vincent handed him a gun.
"Why? How'd you get in here? You must have killed the gaurds."
"Nanaki..." Vincent sighed, sounding almost normal. "You just can't understand the military. Would you gaurd an entire facility with six gaurds?"
"Well, if they were..."
"No! You would not! For some one who is supposedly a genius, you're an idiot!" Vincent stopped for a moment. He had acted like a basically normal person. Shaking his head, he continued to walk the entrance.
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Rocket Town, Cid's House 12:54 AM April 30
Shera sat alone. Marlene was asleep, Cid was in Midgar. She felt bored and tired, but insomnia had become a problem in the past week. She yawned for the seventeenth time in an hour. She'd been counting. As soon as she felt she could finally sleep, some one knocked on the door. She sighed, straining herself. Finally she stood, walked to the door and opened it. Outside there was a woman, wearing a shroud. Shera could see little of her face. Eyes, and part of her nose. "Yes?"
"Is Shera here?"
"Yes. I'm her." The woman lunged at Shera's throat. "What the..." Shera kicked the woman back. The woman's shroud fell back over her head. Shera picked up a brass candle holder, small, but effective. She smacked the woman in the head with it. Shera backed up. The woman wasn't phased in the least. No blood, but a deep gash across the flesh. The woman grabbed Shera again with her long murderous nails. Shera punched her, which sent her sprawling back a few feet. Shera took this time to grab a knife from a drawer in the kitchen. She turned and the woman was standing, with greenish eyes. Reminded her of SOLDIER. Those green or blue glowing eyes. Shera wasted no time, and flung herself at the woman that stood at her door. Shera brought her knife into the woman's back, and then drilled it into her chest. The woman spat up a blackish-red substance. Like blood, but thicker. Almost like an oil. Shera brought the knife up, splitting the woman's chest cavity open. Shera saw nothing. The woman was composed entirely of the oil. She began to melt into a puddle of an unknown substance. It had no smell, nor any true mass to it. It appeared to gain mass, as it felt heavier or lighter depending on heat. An odd thing it was. Shera turned and saw Marlene awake, eyes wide with fright, staring at the what remained of the woman.
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Shinra Building, Tseng's Office 5:55 PM April 30
"Reno?"
"Yeah?" Reno looked at Rude.
"Have you found the report yet?"
"Hell no... I found these. Tseng and Elena's honey moon pictures. Personally, I always thought she was a dyke."
"I thought you were a queer until you hit on that whore."
"I didn't know at the time. Now shut up." He flipped through the photos and stopped. "Are those real?" Rude looked at the picture for a second.
"Nah... Silicon... Maybe some transparent or camouflaged wonder bra thing."
"You two find the report yet?"
"Huh!?!" The two of them turned around. "Uh... No..."
"What were you looking at?"
"Nothing." Reno slid the pictures into his coat, later burning them while trying to light a cigarette.
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Shinra Building, Kianki's Office 6:34 PM April 30
Reno stood in the doorway, smoking a cigarette, staring at Kianki sleeping with her head propped on Anthony's neck. Anthony was still awake. Reno looked at him then. "You two gonna have sex or just afterglow?"
"I will KILL you..."
"Uh huh..." Anthony busily waved his tail about, staring at Reno.
"Don't make me get up."
"Get up and I'll kill you..." Kianki yawned and fell back asleep.
"I have a very strong desire to live right now... Otherwise, I'd KILL you..."
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Midgar, Ike's 11:34 PM April 30
Nanaki had his head laying on the bar, sitting next to his other loyal drunks. He groaned and stuck his hand up. "Scotch I say! Scotch!" Ike slid him another round. Nanaki lifted his head high enough to drink it. "Fug yeah..." He stood up, swaying, and threw the glass to the ground. Laughing like an imbecile, he fell to the floor. When he did, his out stretched arm clubbed the bar, making several shot glasses fall to the ground, shattering with liquor spilling out. He looked up. "Oh... Sorry..." He was about to say more, but was kicked backward by a boot to the face. He lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. "Ow..."
"Ya' lil' bastard!" Nanaki saw a man, ugly with an open cut on his forehead.
"Sir... You... You are one ugly old man." Nanaki stood, and grabbed a bottle of whiskey from over the bar. "Ike... I'll reimburse your loses." Nanaki smacked the ugly man with the bottle, which remained intact. Then he lifted it and shattered it over the man's head. "Mudda' fucka!" The patron punched Nanaki's stomach. "Bwah!"
"Hit me wid' a bottle... You stupid..." Nanaki growled and grabbed the man by his neck, lifting him off the ground with one hand. Nanaki hurled him into the shelves of bottles, all of them shattering or falling.
"Sa... Son of a bitch..."
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