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"Come on, we've got work to do."-Rude of the Turks
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President Alec Beacon looked around himself, a smile lighting his handsome features. He wore a dark blue suit over his trim form. His hair was a mix between red and blond, cut short and slicked back with hair gel. His prominent facial features, high cheekbones, high forehead, and long nose only made him seem boyish in his looks. His eyes were a dark blue, almost as dark as the depths of the oceans. He held himself straight and tall, towering over the two other men that stood with him.
"Midgar. The city of ruins…" he said softly, looking over the expanse of a ruined city. It was a huge city, circular in form. On the ground level lay slums, where at one time the poor people of Midgar lived in poverty. Huge pillars lay in ruins, some still attempting to hold up the huge saucer that the main city lay on. At one time, Midgar had been a huge feat of technology, but two hundred years ago it had been ruined by Meteor.
"Yes, sir!" the man to his right piped in. He was short and rounded, but he appeared to be in the peak of his health. His brown hair was a mess on top of his head, as one his brown beard. He smiled widely, his brown eyes glittering.
"Thanks for the input, Stanley," Alec replied dryly. He turned to the other man. "What do you think of this place, David?"
The other man was about a head shorter than Alec, but he held himself with an air of dignity. He was the senior to both men, but was actually lower in ranks. His head was topped by grey hair held neatly in a ponytail. Like Stanley, he wore a beard, but his was kept much better. He had brooding dark green eyes that seemed unable to blink. "Hmm. I honestly don't see what you want with a place like this."
Alec chuckled. "Always cynical, aren't you?" He paused to move his gaze towards the center of the city. "The old Shin-ra building in all its glory."
"Yeah, right," David replied, eyebrows arching.
"Well, it's not much to look at anymore, but who's to say there isn't still useful things locked within its doors? I'm pretty sure nobody has touched anything that lays within those ruins," Alec replied, unfazed by David's reply.
"Who would want it," David muttered.
"We do!" Stanley said wildly, grinning from ear to ear.
"Yes, we do, David." Alec took a few steps forward. "Now the trick is to actually get to the building…" He ignored the chuckling from David as he walked into the ruined slums of what had been the greatest city of the Planet.
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"Sir! I think I found something!" Stanley shouted, grinning excitedly. He waved papers in front of Alec's face.
"What is it?" Alec asked in irritation. They had been searching the Shin-ra Headquarters for hours without any success, all the while Stanley talking about his vegetable garden. Alec never wanted to think about beets or turnips again.
"It's something about the Sister Ray! Written by Scarlett two hundred years ago!" Stanley replied, still waving it around.
"Two hundred years ago…Of course, Stanley. Did you expect her to have written something just yesterday?" David walked into the room, frowning. "And if you keep waving that old document around like that, you're going to ruin it."
"Oh…yeah… I sorta forgot about that, I guess…" Stanley said, fiddling with his feet. He handed the document to Alec.
"Good job, Stanley," Alec said lightly, reading over the document. It spoke of how they had taken the huge cannon for Junon and moved it to Midgar in hopes of destroying Sephiroth. It was hard to read it due to the yellowed paper and the fading ink, but he made out the main parts. "If only we could find instructions on creating something like this," Alec muttered.
David's eyebrows arched even more. "I found something that may be even more interesting, sir."
"Do tell."
David took a deep breath. "A document on Jenova and how her cells were infused into the bodies of humans. It was written by Professor Hojo, the one who tried to destroy Midgar for Sephiroth."
"Oh, yes, that fool…" Alec said softly.
"He even speaks of what he did to a certain Vincent Valentine…" David said, shedding no further light on the situation. He turned and left, leaving Alec and Stanley to stare after him.
"Hey. Shouldn't he have told you more, sir?" Stanley piped in.
"Quiet, Stanley," Alec replied, scratching his chin in thought.
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"Too bad the top floors of this place were ruined by Weapon," Alec muttered. In frustration, he flung a useless text about the Shin-ra aside, causing an avalanche of books. Soon, just about every novel that Stanley had set aside as worthless were mixed in with the few that would do them good.
"Well, that was good," David, who had been siting on one side of the room, said dryly.
"I don't need your comments," Alec replied with growing irritation.
"Ow-Ow-Ow!!!" Stanley shouted.
Alec and David turned to where Stanley was prying away something on the wall. He pulled his finger away, sucking at it.
"What are you doing?" Alec sighed.
"It looked like it might come off…" Stanley mumbled lamely.
David rolled his eyes, standing up and stretching. He walked over to where Stanley had been working on the wall and examined it himself. He picked up a piece of discarded metal and used it as a wedge. After a few moments of grunting and straining, a small metal portion of the wall separated itself.
Alec immediately went over to where the two stood. Behind the twisted portion of metal lay two perfectly preserved computer discs. He exchanged glances with the two other men and reached into the hole, pulling them out. One was labeled "Neo-Midgar Plan", the other labeled "Jenova". He laughed. "For once, Stanley, you have overdone yourself in a good way!"
"But…is there any equipment that will actually work with those disks. I mean, those are two hundred years old!" Stanley replied, taking the words right out of David's mouth.
"Great…now both of you are going to start sounding like that," Alec muttered. He turned away and scoped the library for a computer. "There's probably some on higher levels."
"There's only a few floors above us due to the destruction of Weapon and Meteor," David said quickly, correcting the President.
Alec frowned, walking out of the room. "Then we'll just have to find something on the 62nd floor," he replied, his words clipped in irritation.
All three left the small room and wandered around on the floor. Alec found one room of which its door was wedged tightly against the outer world. He shoved on it hard, falling with it when it finally gave way. He looked around himself, smoothing is clothes out. Neither David nor Stanley were anywhere in sight. He stepped through, finding himself in a cramped up office.
He looked around, taking in his surroundings. It was actually quite a cushy office, but it looked more confining than anything else. He walked around, finally spotting a computer. "Stanley! David!" he shouted out the door.
He was rewarded with the sounds of Stanley trotting obediently towards him and David trudging behind. When he spotted the two, he stepped back into the office.
"What is it, sir?" Stanley asked, panting from the jog.
"A computer, Stanley," David said dryly, walking up behind the shorter man.
"All we have to do is find out if it works…" Alec said, grinning. He sat down in front of it, searching the front of it. Soon enough he found a button that looked very likely to be the power and pushed on it. The old machine began clicking and whirring. Alec stood up and took a step back, half expecting it to blow up in his face.
"Hi, sweetheart. What would you like to do?" the computer asked, a woman's face popping up to smile mischievously.
Alec blinked a few times. "Obviously a pervert's computer…" he muttered.
Soon enough, the main screen popped up. Alec sat back down in the chair with Stanley and David behind him. He pushed one of the discs into a slot and waited for something to happen. After a few moments, the computer began clicking and whirring again. Sure enough, it opened up another screen. Professor Hojo sat on a chair before their very eyes, a smile lighting his ugly features. "Hello. If you are looking at this right now, you must be rather snoopy." He stopped to reposition himself as he laughed at his own joke. "Anyway, this disk contains information about Jenova and her cells. As you most likely know, Jenova was an Ancient that scientists have been using for tests for many years."
Alec stopped the disc and took it out, pushing the other one in. This time, a completely different face popped up. Alec didn't recognize him. "Neo-Midgar was dreamed up by President Shin-ra, President Rufus's father. He built it on people's dreams of the Promised Land. We still do not know much about the Promised Land, but in time our knowledge will begin to grow." The man stopped to scratch his small mustache. "Both Presidents believe in Neo-Midgar as a success. The plans for its construction are all here. They are confidential and should remain within Shin-ra."
Alec stopped that disk and took it out. He held both in his hands, smiling. "We just might have something here."
"Yes, sir," Stanley piped in. "But…"
"What?" Alec asked, standing up from the chair.
"Who was that man on the second disc? I don't recognize him."
Alec shrugged. "Probably just one of the lower workers. That's my guess. I'm not really sure, though. Records of the Shin-ra members aren't all that clear anymore. I'm surprised it didn't say who it was."
"Well, then, sir. Have you found what you needed?" David asked.
"I think I have. We should probably be heading back, now."
The three men started the long journey back to the entrance of Midgar. They talked little among each other, instead thinking on what had just passed. Stanley hummed to himself the whole way, earning much irritation from his companions.