The whole brainwashing scene at the end was bugging me all week, so I had
to fix it before I could start Chapter 21. Now C.J.'s loyalty to Shinra is
being insured by something else...while it does let her keep all her
marbles straight, it's a lot nastier. No, Archer is not in any way involved
in it. Calm down.

-------------------
Final Fantasy VII: Children of Jenova

Chapter 20

In the beginning, God said "Let there be light." And there was. And it
was good.

But it was too damn bright.

Reno groaned and quickly shut his eyes again as angry rays of said light
stabbed them like tiny white-hot spears. His head ached fiercely,
particularly at the base of his skull. He reached back and rubbed the spot
gingerly, wincing as his fingers brushed against locks of hair stiff with
dried blood. Raven had clocked him a good one, all right. Carefully
opening his eyes once more, he took in his surroundings: four plain white
walls, cot bolted to the floor topped with a mattress about as thick and as
soft as the average comic book, stainless steel sink and toilet likewise
secured to the floor, single door with one wire-reinforced window about
six inches square and a slot at the bottom through which meals would be
shoved whenever his captors felt like feeding him. His nightstick, of
course was gone, as were his belt and his shoelaces. As if there was
anything in here he -could- hang himself from.

Reno grumbled and laboriously hauled himself up onto the cot. No
blankets, no pillow. He had no idea what time it was, as there were no
windows to the outside world in his quaint little room; besides that,
someone had lifted his damn watch. Archer, probably. Again.

A soft groan and whimper of "Oh, my head..." from his next door
neighbor startled him, and he sat up and pressed his ear to the wall.

"Hello?" he called.

"Ugh..." There were a few seconds of silence, and then: "Reno?" 

"Oh no." Reno felt as if his stomach had dropped into his shoes. "Oh shit.
I'm sorry, Reeve. I tried--"

"It's okay." There was another short silence. "Did they get Rude too?"

"I don't know. I never saw him again after I left the building." Reno
swallowed, winced, got up, and took a quick drink from the sink. The
water was lukewarm and metallic-tasting, but it was water. "I hope he's
okay. How'd they get you?"

"I feel like a real dumbass now that I think about it." Reeve snickered
softly. "Like an idiot, I didn't even look up when I heard 'em come in my
office. I thought they were you and Rude. Then I saw Raven's legs."

"Ugh. I'm surprised your eyeballs didn't melt out of your skull."

"Cute. Anyway, someone conked me on the head with something very
hard. Next thing I know I'm a guest at the Shinra Hilton. Um--" There
was the sound of footsteps approaching, followed by a scraping sound,
and the footsteps went back from whence they came. "Thanks, I think."

"What was that?"

"I dunno. Looks like a cold chicken leg and a warm soda." Reeve
snickered again. "Room service."

"I wouldn't eat that if I were you," Reno advised. "Remember who's
running this place."

"Nah, she wouldn't poison me in my cell," Reeve said around a mouthful
of chicken leg.  "Ugh--yep, cold as hell--I suppose she's going to have
me drawn and quartered, or put in front of a firing squad or something.
And however it is she decides to off me, I'm sure it'll be on national
television."

"Don't say that--" Reno began, but Reeve cut him off.

"Come on. You know as well as I do that's why I'm here."

An uncomfortable silence covered both cells for a few minutes.

"So...who got you?" Reeve finally asked.

"Raven. First she shot me, then she pistol-whipped me." Reno took a
look at his arm; the wound had been healed but the spot still ached
faintly. "How about you?"

"I didn't really see. Like I said, he hit me with something very hard right
when I looked up. Blonde guy, I think."

"That son of a bitch." Reno shook his head in disgust. "Archer. I hate
that guy."

"You know him?"

"Yeah." Reno swallowed dryly again and wondered when the hell he was
going to get a cold chicken leg and warm soda of his own. "He's some
relation to Rufus, I know that much...third cousin twice removed or
some such shit. Not really close, but...y'know. Enough to pull some
strings."

"I take it you two weren't exactly best buddies," Reeve commented.

"Right. Anyway, in the old days he was an officer in the regular army,
like me, and he was always going around bragging about how he was
going to get into the Turks. When they picked me instead of him...well,
he wasn't too happy about that. I ran into him at the tower one day and
he just gave me this little smile and said he wasn't about to give up that
easily."

"And?"

"And," Reno continued with a sigh, "I'm on my way home from the bar
that night drunk off my ass, of course, and someone jumps me in the
alley, swipes my watch, and gives me a few slashes with a big freakin'
knife before he knocks me out. Oh, that's how I got these scars on my
face, in case you were wondering."

"Don't tell me--"

"Yeah. I was out of work the next day, but when I went back the day
after that I saw him and some of his flunkies in the hall shooting the
breeze, and right when I walk by he goes 'As a matter of fact, I do know
what time it is,' looking at me the whole time, and sure enough he's got
my goddamn watch on."    

"Shit!" Reeve gasped. "And they never caught him?"

"Nah. It would have been his word against mine and I -was- drunk at the
time it happened. Besides, I figured he'd shoot himself in the foot sooner
or later. I guess he never did." 

"Jeez, Reno, you should have told someone about that...huh?"

"What's up?"

"Shh..." Reeve was silent for a minute, and over the hum of the
fluorescent lights Reno could faintly hear a cell door a bit farther down
opening and then shutting. "Hey...they got someone else."

*              *              *

"Blackhawk. What the hell kind of name is that?" Raven rubbed her eyes
tiredly. 

"Not her real one, probably. We'll get something good out of her later
on." Archer, just as tired, sat down and pulled the folded lost-kid flyer
out of his pocket. "I'm bored. I wonder if I'll catch hell if I go pay Reno
a visit--"

"I don't give a shit," Raven sighed. "What have you got there?"

"Something I found in Junon. That kid looks familiar." Archer handed the
paper over to Raven, who studied it closely. "Hey...can you scan that
picture?"

"Sure. Why?"

"I just want to see something."

"I hate it when you say stuff like that," Raven replied, but she slapped
the
leaf of paper into the scanner anyway, pecked at some keys on her
comnputer, and sat back to wait for the scanner to do its thing. "At least
all the pilots she shot down managed to eject. One of 'em's dead, but
that's just because his chute didn't open. Okay--" Raven tapped a few
more keys, and an image of a small blonde child appeared on her
terminal. "Now what?"

"You got one of those things where you can make her look older?"
Archer queried, and Raven shrugged and nodded in reply. "Cool."

Raven did her thing again, and the image changed to a ten-year-old, then
a teenager. "Are you going to tell me what you're up to or--" Raven shut
up quickly. "Oh my God."

"Well, I'll be damned." Archer grinned widely. "I'll be damned." The
image on the screen, if one added glowing green eyes, was the face of the
woman who had wiped the floor with him in Branford.

"I don't believe it," Raven said softly, but the proof was right there,
etched in glowing phosphor on her monitor. Then she too grinned evilly.
"You got your ass kicked by a six-year-old!" With that, she doubled over
in gales of laughter. "Oh, wait till I tell Stuart about THIS--"

"I--oh, shut up!" Archer turned purple as Raven cackled on. "So what
are we going to do with Wonder Girl there?"

"I don't know." Raven snickered a bit more. "You got any ideas?"

"A few," Archer replied, cracking his knuckles. Raven stopped laughing
and glared at him.

"You're not to touch her unless I say otherwise. Got it?"

"What?" Archer threw up his hands. "Why? You--you--no. No. don't
even think about it, Raven..."

"She's six years old, for God's sake! I do have SOME morals, y'know.
And if I remember correctly, I'm not the one that was grabbing her ass in
Branford." She smiled sweetly at Archer.

Without a word, Archer stood up quickly and stormed off toward the cell
blocks, probably to take out his aggression on Reno.

Raven turned her attention back to the terminal. She had an idea what to
do with the Highwind girl, but not of the type that would normally be
associated with Raven. It was an idea Archer would be unhappy with, but
one he would just have to live with. She picked up her phone and called
Heidegger up to see what he thought. Of course it didn't really matter
what he thought. Raven had ways to change his mind if he didn't like the
plan.

*              *              *

Junon's airfield was a total shambles. There was no way the Highwind
could land there, so it touched down just outside the city. Yuffie,
grateful
to be back on solid ground after the wild ride to the Northern crater and
back, disembarked first, fell to her knees, and kissed the
ground."Thankyouthankyouthankyou," she sighed as the green tint left
her features. 

"Oh, get up." Elena stepped off behind her, fighting back the urge to kick
Yuffie in the behind. "Sure is quiet out here now." She took a look
around. "I don't see any troops running around...you think Cid ran them
off?"

"I hope so." Tifa said quietly, Behind her, the rest of the crew plodded
off the airship. "It -is- quiet."

The group made its way through the wrecked streets, pausing every so
often to survey the destruction, which was extensive. "I hope Reeve's
okay," Elena said, watching two men try to push a fallen tree off a car.
"Looks like they didn't hit his building."

The Junon Hydroelectric building was still deserted as the party stepped
through the front doors. "Power's still on, at least," Barret remarked,
punching an elevator button and then turning his back to the doors. "I
mean, I like Reeve n' all, but I ain't goin' up them goddamn steps for his
ass..." The elevator door shushed open behind him, and Elena let out a
little cry. "What?" Barret turned around and let out a gasp of his own.
"Oh, shit."

Rude half-sat, half-lay on the floor, his head and shoulders propped
against the elevator wall. At first, Barret wondered why on earth he was
wearing a red shirt with his usual blue suit. Then it clicked. "Oh my God.
Tifa--" Barret waved her over frantically. "Tifa, get over here right now!
Rude's hurt bad!"

"What happened--oh, God." Tifa knelt at Rude's side and laid her hand
on his shoulder. "Full Cure!"

Rude grunted and struggled to sit up. "Ugh."

"Rude, who did that to you?" Elena scooted to her fellow Turk's other
side and took his hand. "Where's Reno?"

"I think they were the new Turks," Rude said, shiving himself up to a
sitting position and rubbing his head. "I was on my way up to Reeve's
office--" he trailed off. "Have you seen him? Is he all right?"

After a moment's silence, the whole group piled onto the elevator, nearly
trampling poor Rude.Yuffie wondered grimly what the combined weight
of herself, Barret, Tifa, Elena, Rude, Red XIII, and Vincent was as she
eyed the placard stating "Max Load 3000 Lbs." on the way up to the top
floor of the building. The way the elevator creaked and groaned as it
carried them, she figured it had to be close, and she was on the verge of
adding another form of conveyance to her "Things That Make Me Hurl"
list. The only thing that kept her from completely freaking out each time
the elevator squeaked or shuddered was the thought that if she did in fact
spew, she would do so on Barret; and that thought amused her.
"Air...need air..." she gasped, gulping like a beached koi.

"What, you don't have enough in your head?" Elena shot, speaking into
the back of Tifa's head. 

"Someone just trod on my tail," Red XIII muttered angrily.

"Sorry," Vincent replied, shifting his left foot a bit.

"OW! That's my finger!"

Vincent rolled his eyes and moved his foot again. "Sorry, Rude...uh, why
don't you get up?"

"I can't now, thank you all very much."

"Yuffie, get your damn cross outta my ribs--"

"Well, excuuuuse me, Barret! It's not my fault you're taking up half the
elevator by yourself--"

"You know, there IS more than one elevator," Tifa commented. "We
didn't ALL have to get on this one." Nobody had a suitable rebuttal to
that.

Finally, mercifully, the elevator doors opened at the top floor of the
building. Yuffie shoved her way to the front of the pack, calling out
"'Scuse me" and "Comin' through" as she elbowed folks out of her way.
"Gawd, it's about time..."

Elena and Rude were already in Reeve's office. "He's gone," Rude said
simply. "Chair's been knocked over...looks like a struggle..."

Elena wordlessly picked up a strange-looking implement she found lying
on the floor near the desk. It was a whip.

"What are they going to do to him?" Tifa asked quietly, and Elena threw
the electric whip down on the desk in disgust.

"Kill him, most likely, if they haven't already." She looked around the
office. "Looks like they got Reno too...damnit!" In a sudden fit of pique,
Elena kicked the overturned chair as hard as she could, and the chair
tumbled over onto its side. "I should have stayed here!"


"Oh, quit bitching!" Yuffie spat at her. "What if you did stay here and
they got you too? Huh?" She was answered by nothing but a confused
stare from Elena, and she took that as a cue to continue. "Instead of
standing here throwing a temper tantrum, you oughta be thinking about
how we're gonna get 'em back!"

"I hate to admit it," Rude began, ignoring the nasty glance Yuffie shot at
him, "but she's right. We need to get to Neomidgar in a hurry if we're
going to stop Scarlet before she does whatever she's going to do." Rude
took a look at his blood-stained shirt and added, "and I really need some
clean clothes..."

"Reeve! Hey! You okay--what the HELL!?"

All assembled spun around to see a very agitated Cid Highwind staring at
them, puffing away on a cigarette. "Where the hell's Reeve?" he asked,
looking around.

"Gone. Shinra got him," Elena replied.

"Shit." Cid shook his head angrily. "I think they got Junior too. Caught
her chute on the way down, I think--"

"Cid, what the hell you talkin' about? Chute!?" Barret cut in, and Cid
glared at him.

"Forget it. There's no time to explain. We're going to Neomidgar." With
that, Cid turned and stormed out the office door.

*              *              *

Reeve had tried, without much success, to get his new neighbor to say
something to him. Judging from the timbre of the sobs that passed
through the wall, said neighbor was female, but beyond that he knew
nothing about her except that she was very, very frightened.

Once more, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed in the hall
outside, and Reeve listened carefully as they stopped right where he
guessed the door to Reno's cell was. The door opened, the feet clomped
in, the door shut. 

Reeve could only guess what happened next. Some unpleasant words
were exchanged, followed by the sound of a struggle and a loud "wham,"
and then the door opened and slammed once more. The footsteps came
back toward Reeve's cell and then back down the hall.

When he was sure that Reno's visitor was gone, Reeve sat back down
next to the wall their cells shared. "Reno? What happened?"

No reply.

"Reno? Reno!"

This time he was answered by a soft groan, and that was good enough. 

Having nothing better to do and not knowing when the next cold chicken
leg or egg-salad-on-styrofoam or what the hell ever was due to arrive,
Reeve stretched out on the uncomfortable cot once more and tried to
take a nap. Instead of the soft classical music he was used to falling
alseep to, he had the girl's sobs and sniffles on one side and Reno's
occasional grunts and moans on the other. At least he could turn the
lights off in his cell. For some reason, his captors seemed to want him as
healthy as possible before they did whatever they were going to do with
him.

Sometime before he drifted off to sleep he heard he door to his other
neighbor's cell open and shut again, and after that the cell was silent.
They'd taken her away. Reeve guessed he would probably be next.

"Hey, Reno?" he called; although he knew Reno probably couldn't hear
him, it was better than talking to himself. "I know I'm supposed to be
some kinda pillar of strength for the folks in Junon and all, but..." He
swallowed dryly and drew a heavy sigh. "I'm scared to death, Reno...I
don't want to die."

*              *              *

One of the blue-suited guys C.J. had seen at the Hangar was now leading
her down the hall. Fortunately, it was the little skinny guy and not the
pervert. This guy actually seemed like a decent human being.

At length they arrived in some kind of conference room. "Have a seat,"
the guy said. "They'll be here in a minute to let you know what's going
on."

C.J. said nothing, and Stuart just shrugged and sat down.

After a minute or so, the other two blue suits came in (the pervert was, as
expected, shooting her all sorts of go-to-hell looks), followed by a fat
guy in a green uniform and a bimbo in a low-cut red dress. Charming.

"So," started the bimbo, "this is the Highwind kid?"

C.J.'s jaw dropped. "How..."

"Amazing what you can do with computers these days," Raven said with
a smile. 

"Anyway," Scarlet continued, "it seems you've been doing some things
you shouldn't have...theft and destruction of Shinra property, namely one
Viper aircraft and several of my planes...attempted murder, specifically,
that of my pilots...and assault and battery, specifically, beating up one
of
my Turks." Scarlet yawned. "Now normally, I'd have someone like you
thrown in the lockup for a very long time."

Archer snickered softly. 

"However," Scarlet went on, "we currently find ourselves in a bit of a
crisis, manning-wise. Since I found out who you really are, I've been
going through every scrap of information I can find on you and I'm
impressed, to say the least."

Archer stopped snickering.

"Genius-level I.Q., hand-to-hand combat skills advanced enough to
thrash Archer over there--" Scarlet seemed to be fighting back giggles as
Archer shot her a go-to-hell look-- "and on top of that, during your little
swim in the Lifestream you basically got the same treatment our elite
troops used to get."

"I don't like this," Archer hissed, and Heidegger told him to shut up.
Archer did so begrudgingly.

"So," Scarlet continued, "I'll be doing something a little different with
you. You are hereby sentenced to no less than five years compulsory
military service, effective immediately, assigned to the Department of
Administrative Research."

"What the hell does that mean?" C.J. spat.

"It means," Raven said with a sigh, "that you're a Turk."

"Oh, that's it!" Archer came out of his chair, pointing an angry finger at
C.J. "I am NOT working with this bitch!"

"You're just pissed because she wouldn't put out," Raven replied.

C.J. looked at the two of them in utter confusion. "Put out?"

Raven glanced at C.J., wincing. Oh yeah. She was six years old. She
didn't know about that stuff. Duh. "I'll explain it to you some other time,
dear." She pretended not to notice Archer and Stuart both grimacing at
that statement.

"That's really smart, boss," Archer spat, glaring at Heidegger. "First
thing she's gonna do is get on the horn to Daddy--"

"We'll be taking care of that momentarily," Heidegger replied. "Due to
the special circumstances of her conscription, certain measures to ensure
her loyalty to the company will be taken."

Scarlet poked him on the shoulder. "When did you learn all those big
words?" she whispered. Heidegger ignored her. "Raven, Stuart--take her
downstairs."

"Now wait a minute--" C.J. protested as the two Turks each grabbed one
of her arms and hauled her out of her chair. "Hey! Put me down, you--
you--you buttheads!"

"If you don't calm down I'm going to call Dr. Vail up here and have her
sedate you," Raven said calmly, tightening her grip on C.J.'s arm. "This
isn't going to hurt."

"Bullshit!" C.J. spat. "That's what the damn doctor always says before he
gives me a shot!" It was ironic that she chose that particular example;
Scarlet was already putting the phone down and some thirty seconds
later, Vail came through the door armed with a hypo which she jabbed
into C.J.'s arm. She fought the effects of the drug off as long as she
could--about another thirty seconds--before going limp in the grasp of
the two Turks. 

"Thanks," Stuart said quietly. "I was afraid she was gonna rack me like
she did Archer."

"Don't YOU start," Archer hissed at him as Stuart and Raven dragged
the unconscious C.J. away. "This is just great." Archer rolled his eyes
and sat back down. "So what do we do with her after they get done with
her down there?"

"Oh, I don't know." Scarlet shrugged and yawned. "Put her up in Kain's
place."

"What!?" Archer was absolutely livid. "Are you nuts? We haven't even
cleaned his stuff out of there, for God's sake! Have a little respect, will
ya?"

"It's not as if he needs it now, is it?" Scarlet spat at him. She levelled
a
caustic gaze at Archer and continued. "I'm going to tell you this one time
and one time only. You are not to lay a hand on her unless you're told to.
Is that clear?"

"Sure," Archer grumbled, crossing his fingers behind his back as he did.

*              *              *

Some time later, C.J. awoke to find herself strapped into an otherwise
comfortable chair, with some kind of weird goggles over her eyes. They
were not altogether unlike the ones she had worn for the Viper's built-in
flight simulator. /Now what.../  

She felt hands whispering around her neck, and heard a soft "click" as
something was fastened around it. "Can you hear me?" Raven's voice
asked.

"I'm awake," C.J. replied. "What did you just put on me?

"Something I sincerely hope I won't have to use. There were two
possible ways we could have made sure you stay on our side.
Brainwashing was one of them, and it just wouldn't do to have a
mindless little robot running around with the Turks now, would it?"
Raven chuckled a bit and continued. "That leaves this. Potentially very
messy, though. That little collar I just put on you is packed with
explosives. Highly stable ones, mind you, there won't be any blowing
yourself up if you trip over your shoelaces--you do know how to tie your
shoes, right?"

"Shut up."

Raven laughed again. "I know you do, dear. I was kidding. Anyway, the
only way that collar will blow is if I tell it to blow, or if you try to
take it
off. I won't set it off unless you give me a reason to; say, if you do
something foolish like try to call your daddy out here. When the boss and
I are one hundred percent certain you're loyal to us, I'll take it off. You
have my word on that." Raven lowered her voice and leaned a bit closer
to C.J. "If you want to beat Archer up some more, I'll pretend not to see
it. He's a good Turk, but as a human being he's worthless."

An evil little voice in the back of C.J.'s mind rejoiced at that statement,
and she was barely able to suppress a giggle. "So what are these stupid
goggles for, anyway?"

"Well, normally your training would last about two months. Since we
don't currently have that luxury, we're just going to dump it all into your
head at once. Don't worry, it won't hurt. That's how they had to do it
with the rest of us. We were picked out on sort of short notice. Actually,
it's kind of relaxing. You might like it."

"Just get it over with."

"Fine." C.J. heard the click of Raven's high heels heading away from her, 
and once again Raven spoke. "You might want to watch your tone with
me and the other Turks, dear. We're the only friends you have now."
And with that, she left.

Another bodiless voice spoke, mumbling something about "training
program...upload" and something interesting happened. Colored lights
inside the goggles began to flash in a strangely soothing pattern. Raven
hadn't lied; this wasn't bad at all. Except for the fact that it seemed
like someone was opening up C.J.'s head and this time putting stuff
in it...first aid, unarmed combat, armed combat with several flavors of
weaponry, night operations, interesting tips and tricks related to making
weapons out of normal everyday objects, and a variety of other
potentially useful tidbits of information. The voice then said something
about "...go out and burn one" and there was the sound of shuffling
footsteps. C.J. got the unpleasant feeling that she was now alone with
this thing that was dumping stuff into her head.

The stream of information continued for a while and then abruptly came
to a halt. /What.../ A new program started running...computer
passwords...map of the uppermost floor of Shinra Tower...and several
other things she felt she wasn't really supposed to know.

The lights in her goggles began to flash in a steady pattern: red, green,
green, red...over and over, faster and faster, until something in her brain
gave under the stress and darkness came over her again.

Once that was done, the original program picked up where it had left off,
and a lone figure crept out of the room.

*              *              *

/What is this?/

Sephiroth Obscura blinked as an odd vision came into his mind...a vision
of a sword much like his own, embedded in a glowing stone, came into
his mind. That in itself wasn't so odd. The fact that it appeared to be
located in some sort of amusement park and the fact that there were
people lined up out the door to try to wrest it from its stone were
extremely odd. And Sephiroth Obscura got the impression that these
people had paid good money to do so.

He racked the brains of his host in an attempt to determine the
whereabouts of this odd place and came up with "Gold Saucer." He did
not know what this blade was, but he did know that it was imperative
that it not be allowed to fall into the hands of his other self.

"Dad," he said in his best cute-son voice, "you said you'd take me to the
Gold Saucer if I let the doctor take my blood...remember?"

Cloud stared at some invisible speck some three feet in front of his face.
"Oh yeah," he said dreamily. "I did."

"I'd still like to go," Sephiroth Obscura said with a sweet smile.

"Sure."

---

Author's Notes: After some thought, C.J.'s induction process has been
revised. I like this a lot better.
-------------------

"Ice...snacks...and--fifty gallons of BEER!? What kind of life does she
lead, anyway!?" --Shinji Ikari
"Hang on to your drawers and don't piss in 'em!" --Cid Highwind
"A brand new ML to blow up! Wai!" --Zen
"Excuse me, I am a lost little boy. Can you help
me?.........................well, SCREW YOU TOO!" --Cartman
--------------------
Happiness is a belt-fed weapon
--------------------
Sailor Solathei's Cid Highwind shrine (still under very heavy construction)
http://members.xoom.com/ssolathei/cidshrine.html and the Cid Highwind Otaku
Ring: http://members.xoom.com/ssolathei/ring.html