Assassins in Gaia

The group of four walked up to the reactor looking around the vicinity for any escaped monsters or creatures. So far, there was not a single monster in sight, but they did not let their guard down especially after running into monsters, that escaped from the place. Cloud looked at the reactor with some apprehension, this was where his father worked and then died under questionable and suspicious circumstances. He was not sure how to feel about that, he felt Desmond's hand on his shoulder. Cloud turned to look at Desmond watching him with a very understanding look clearly seen in his eyes, but there was no pity.

Cloud gave a small reassuring smile, "I'm okay, don't worry."

Ace turned to him, "We don't need to enter it, you know. We're here out of curiosity, mostly, not because it is the be all and end all."

Tifa nodded in agreement, "Yeah Cloud! We can go directly to the mansion. We can always check this place out tomorrow. No hurries."

Cloud shook his head, "Thanks guys! But no, I'm good, besides I want to see the place my father worked for. I don't like it, not at all, but it will give me closure of sort. I want to see and find out the why and how."

Desmond looked at the building in front of them, "You are hoping to find something about what happened to your father. Am I right?"

Cloud looked at the reactor frowning in thought, "Dad was from what little I remember, always careful and meticulous. I don't think he would have been caught off guard, to the point, that he would fall off the roof of a reactor. That's just the most bogus reason, among a lot of bogus reasons."

Ace looked dubious, "That what they tell you?"

Cloud nodded to Ace, "I know right?"

Tifa frowned at the story Shinra gave, "I'll be honest Cloud. It sounds like a really really bad cover up to me. Like the ones, you see in the telly."

Desmond looked at the door to the reactor and noticed it was password protected but suspiciously enough,nothing more. He looked up when Ace approached the door and saw the password lock. He sighed standing up and Ace sauntered forward checking the lock which looked pretty old.

Ace smirked, "Not a problem for me ~"

Tifa peaked at Ace from behind Desmond, "Is that a good idea? Won't we get caught?"

Ace shrugged starting to tinker with the gadget, "We already came this far. Might as well go all out."

Cloud looked around, "As long as we are not caught, I guess it's fine?"

Desmond ruffled Cloud's hair earning a yelp, "Don't worry! Luckily for all of us, those cameras over there are a bust. Most likely, due to the rough Nibel weather up here and the lack of proper maintenance. We will be fine."

Cloud pouted as he straightened his messed up hair, though he secretly enjoyed the hair ruffles Desmond did. The blond turned to Ace watching and observing him with awe, as he activated his Eagle vision. It always fascinated him, how the eyes seem to glow with power, whenever the sight was activated. It reminded him of the sun, when it was rising in the early morning during the first summer week after a long cold winter season, in a way.

Cloud, 'It suits Ace, in a way. He is bright and warm just like summer.'

Ace meanwhile had used his ability discreetly, to manipulate the program in the lock and enter the password opening the door. Even though he was in his human form now, some of his abilities stayed. Admittedly though, he was not expecting to use his abilities in a technologically backwater town. Who knew the old abandoned reactor still had a security lock on it. He would have to make sure he didn't alert anyone on the other side however.

Ace looked up, "That worked out well."

Cloud's eyes twinkled, "I can't wait for mine to be active soon."

Desmond chuckled, "It'll probably be different from Ace's though. I know mine is."

Cloud nodded at that while Tifa pouted, as she did not share this trait with them. Ace led the way inside the reactor, through the narrow hallway that widened as they went inside. It was a lot more different than what Cloud had expected it to look like for a reactor. There were office stations in every corner that he saw, Tifa looked around the tables and shelves along with Ace.

Tifa huffed just empty furniture, "Nothing over here. "

Ace who was looking through shelves, "Empty! Empty! Empty! Not even a single paper or book."

Desmond frowned, "That's a little odd for a research lab or reactor, don't you think?"

Ace grumbled, "Maybe, but what can we do about it. This place has been cleared out."

The four of them shrugged then went further into the reactor following the hallway, which led them to an office that had a familiar name on it. Cloud stopped in front of the door eyeing it, before pushing it open and walking inside. Inside the room there were dust mites and cobwebs everywhere, as there has not been a single person who came here for a clean up. Cloud looked around the desk before circling it and checking the drawers. In one of the drawers he found a picture of the three of them, he as a baby being held by his mom and his Dad smiling proudly while he held her.

Ace walked over to Cloud, "You okay, bud?"

Cloud smiled a bit teary, "Yeah! I.. I think, I will be."

Ace nodded and the two of them moved around the room checking the shelves. Some were empty while others were filled with blank papers and empty bottles of ink. In one shelf, they found a bottle filled with Nibelheim mead making Ace grin at Cloud while he snorted back amused at his antics. The two looked around the office some more before deciding there was nothing else left to search and joined the other two outside.

Tifa who was with Desmond, while Ace and Cloud were elsewhere spoke up, "Soooo Desmond, how come I don't know much about you guys?"

Desmond, "What do you mean?"

Tifa, "I mean, well, I know, you came here in search of family and you are very good at crafting stuff, while Ace is really good at finding really rare stuff and computers and you are Cloud's cousins. But apart from that though there is not much known about you guys."

Desmond hummed amused by her curiosity, "We would be here the whole day if I tried to explain everything now."

Tifa shrugged, "Just tell me what you can for now!"

Desmond looked at Tifa, "Alright then, to begin with Ace and I we are half brothers. My mother passed away due to a monster attack when I was very young. Dad then married my second mom and Ace was born from that marriage."

Tifa looked sad, "I'm sorry for your mom."

Destiny shook his head, "No, don't worry about it. It was in the past and no one can predict what happens in the future."

Tifa got a thoughtful look ( •̀ ω •́ )✧ , "Maybe, I should get Dad married again. I could get a cute sibling. He he he he he he!"

Desmond snickered thinking how Mr Lockhart would get grey hair between two adventurous kids (*^▽^*) , "Sure!"

Cloud and Ace joined them after a while of searching. The two of them had not found much except for a bottle of Nibel mead much to Tifa's pleasure and the picture Cloud's dad had kept in the table. Desmond ruffled Cloud's hair and decided to check the adjoining rooms out. The next room turned out to be a locker room filled with lockers for assistants and helpers in the research. They snooped around the lockers finding old lab coats, some glass tubes with questionable stains and a few dried ink bottles but nothing much.

Tifa grumbled (˘･_･˘), "There's not much here. How disappointing! I was hoping for something."

Ace huffed in agreement, "Yeah! Guess, they took whatever was still valuable before they left."

Cloud nodded, "Should we move on?"

Desmond gave a final look around, "I don't see why not. We are done here anyway."

Ace took the lead in going out of the area into the main reactor. The path was lighted by mako glow coming from the pipes that were pumping mako into the reactor. Cloud shivered looking around him at all the mako being pumped, it felt kinda cold on his skin. Tifa walked closer to Desmond feeling creeped out for reasons she could not explain. Desmond placed his arms around both Cloud and Tifa feeling their trembles. Ace stayed closer to Cloud as the four of them walked deeper into the heart of the mako reactor. As the reached the end of the hallway the saw pods and pods filled with mako and covered with dust. There were six pods near them that were broken.

Cloud looked at the broken glass, "I guess this confirms the monsters came from here?"

Ace looked, "Agreed, I don't see any monsters around, so I think you may be right about that."

Tifa wiped some of the dust from a pod near her only to back away gasping in shock at what she was seeing, 'What in the world?'

Ace looked at what Tifa was looking at, "The hell? Are they experimenting on monsters or creating monsters. I swear that thing is breathing."

Desmond looked disgusted, "I think both, we should bring a camera next time to show proof to the rest of the villagers. I don't think they are going to be happy about this."

Cloud frowned, "I wonder if...."

Ace prodded Cloud, "What's up Cloud? What do you suspect?"

Cloud looked at them, "I just had a thought. My Dad was against monsters being brought here. I just wonder, if the accident was really an accident."

Cloud spoke quietly, "I wonder, if it was actually murder."

Tifa gasped, "That is a good point."

Destiny looked at the pods suspiciously, "We would need a confession of sorts to figure it out. I don't know, if there are video cameras here. If there are we could probably see if there's a clue in it."

Ace yawned which was copied by Tifa and then Cloud. It was getting very late Ace mused. They had been trekking, fighting and now snooping around for hours.

Desmond huff in amusement, "But first we need to sleep."

Ace checked the clock that was surprisingly still working in the reactor, "Yeah it's late, half an hour past eleven. Half an hour till midnight."

Tifa blinked, "WOAH! We stayed up that late. Huh, no wonder, I'm beat."

Desmond gathered the group, "Well then come on, we can crash at the mansion for a shut eye. I know it is abandoned and probably dusty and maybe infested, but we can make due."

Ace nodded in agreement, "Better than sleeping out in the wild."

The four of them started to leave the reactor when Cloud stopped and pointed at a door. The door was different from the others and looked much more heavy. Like it was hiding something behind it.

Cloud became curious, "I didn't notice that before."

Desmond looked at the closed door before moving forward, "We can check it out tomorrow. For now, we need to get some sleep."

Cloud nodded and followed the others out of the reactor to a well beaten path that has been used a lot. They closed the door that locked itself automatically making Ace snort. Cloud looked at Ace curiously but shrugged and followed Desmond out of the reactor grounds to the road and up the hill towards the mansion. He wondered what they would find in the mansion, he was partly excited thinking about a possible treasure he could find.