Shinra Reborn Chapter 2
By Dan Schmidt
Cloud Strife stepped out of his home in Nibelheim. For the first time in his life, there was no Mako smell in Nibelheim. Reeve had shut down the Nibelheim reactor. Cloud also finally felt free of the shadow of Sephiroth and Hojo. For the first time in his life, Cloud felt free from his past. It was about noon, and he was supposed to meet Tifa for lunch in the Nibelheim diner.
Cloud stepped into the Nibelheim diner, and saw Tifa sitting with Barret at a table near the wall.
"Over here Cloud!" Tifa called out to him. Cloud walked over and sat down.
"Barret, I didn’t know you’d be here," Cloud said.
"Neither did I, until two hours ago," Barret said, "We’ve got trouble."
"What?" Cloud said
"It’s Reeve. He’s been kidnapped."
"Kidnapped? By who?" Cloud almost shouted.
"If I knew, don’t you think I’d be hunting them down right now?" Barret said
"Who’s running Midgar now?" Tifa asked, speaking for the first time.
"Reeve’s friend Drayson. Drayson is also Vice-President of Avalanche, Inc." Barret replied.
"At least Midgar is in good hands." Cloud said, "But who would want to kidnap Reeve?"
"You got me," Barret said, "But whoever kidnapped him was good. They knew what they were doing. My guess is that the person or persons who kidnapped him are still loyal to Shinra. And who do we know that is still loyal to Shinra, and specializes in this sort of thing?"
Tifa and Cloud both looked at each other and said," The Turks."
* * *
Reeve sat with his hands tied behind his back and his mouth tapped with duct tape. He sat in a small cell, surrounded by concrete walls with a door made out of steel bars. Outside his cell, he heard two men talking. Reeve inched closer to the wall so he could hear what they were saying.
"So, you think we pulled it off?"
"Oh yeah! Cloud and his friends will never find Reeve. They spent all their time looking for the Turks!"
"Ha! We sure pulled off a great stunt here! Ha ha!"
Reeve could tell that both of them had a little too much to drink.
"So, do you think Waylon will give us a raise?"
"He better, cause if he don’t, he’ll have to find a better pair of kidnappers."
"Yeah! We’re gonna be rolling in the cash for pulling offa…" His voice trailed off. Reeve peeked out of his cell and saw both men had collapsed on the floor.
"WAY to many martinis," Reeve thought. Reeve wiggled at his bonds and tried to get a hand free. Reeve stretched the rope with one hand, and tried to bring the other one up. When that didn’t work, he tried to bring his other hand down. That worked. He slid his hand down and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small remote control. It was the controls to the stuffed Cait Sith. He had to tell Cloud and the other where he was, and Cait was the best way to do it. He turned on the stuffed toy, and directed it towards Nibelheim.
* * *
"You are so wonderful," Cid Highwind said, "I love you!" He kissed his airship, the Highwind, again.
"You look so good with your new paint job! Yes you do!" Cid ran his fingers along the Highwind’s silver plating.
"Cid, what are you doing!" Shera called from behind him.
Cid spat out his cigarette in surprised, and turned around, almost slipping and falling as he did.
"Oh, uh, hi Shera."
"Were you kissing the Highwind again?"
"Oh no," Cid said, scratching his head, "I was, uh, just checking for, um, scratches."
"Well, whatever you were doing, it can wait. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret are here. They want to talk with you."
Cid stepped into his house and saw Cloud, Tifa, and Barret sitting around his kitchen table.
"Hey Cid, we’ve got trouble," Cloud said.
"Do we ever not have trouble?" Cid replied. He took a seat next to Barret.
"Reeve’s been kidnapped," Cloud said.
Cid fell out of his chair. "Kidnapped! By who?"
"We think it’s the Turks. Drayson, Reeve’s Vice-President in Midgar, told us about it," Barret answered.
"Turks, huh? I knew we should have finished them." Cid righted his chair, and sat down again.
"We’d like to use the Highwind on our search," Cloud said.
"Sure, I’d love to assist in the fight, but I’m afraid I can only spare a few hours of my time. Shera and I are about to go on our second honeymoon. We’ll be spending a week in Costa Del Sol with no worries, and no problems. I’d really like to help, but you three can handle the Turks."
"Alright then," Cloud said, "We’d love your help, but we should be fine on our own. It’s just three Turks."
"Yeah, your right," Cid said, "Let me get my gear and we’ll be on our way! Oh by way Cloud, where are we flying too?"
"The only place I could think of to start. Shinra Headquarters in Midgar."
* * *
Heidegger limped off the 69th floor elevator on his crutches. He wasn’t exactly a dangerous looking person, but he was in charge of Shinra now, nonetheless. The work on the Shinra building was coming along great. The 69th and 70th floors were totally refinished. The 68th, 66th, and 62nd floors still needed lots of work done to them. Every other floor was good enough to work in. Reno, Rude, and Elena stood before Heidegger desk on the 70th floor, along with several other Shinra employees.
"Well, things are looking very good," Heidegger said, "Rufus is scheduled to be released from the hospital in three days. The Shinra building is almost repaired, and Reeve has disappeared. This day marks the beginning of Shinra’s new glory!" Heidegger picked up a champagne glass.
"A toast," Heidegger said, "To Shinra Reborn!" The room exploded into applause.
"How touching," Reno whispered sarcastically to Rude. Rude didn’t reply.
The Shinra employees began filing out of Heidegger’s office. The Turks turned to leave, but Heidegger stopped them.
"Reno, Rude, Elena, do you know anything about this Reeve kidnapping?" Heidegger asked.
"Only that it was meant to look like we did it," Reno said.
"Well, I want you to find out who’s behind this. If someone kidnapped Reeve, then that means that they may want to overthrow Reeve’s government. And if they want to overthrow the government then they may be a threat to us. I want you to find out who kidnapped Reeve, and if these people are threats, neutralize them."
"Yes sir!" Reno said, "We won’t let you down."
"Good. I have a car waiting for you outside."
"Do we have any leads?" Reno asked.
"Only that the person behind this knew how you guys worked. I would suggest starting your search right here in Midgar."
"All right then, let’s go," Reno hurried towards the elevator.
.