Gang Welfare: by spikestrife
Chapter Seven: The Human Stain

Holy heck the update is here. I've made you wait long enough... enjoy.

This would be the day that we would strike back. We’d had enough. The Ballas had to know that we wouldn’t take these attacks sitting down. We had to show that we still had the strength the defend ourselves, our families and our friends. And I had to begin my revenge on the murder of my father. And The Racers had to take revenge on the murder of their loved ones.

Too long had the Ballas been a thorn in their side. Too long had they been a dark cloud hanging over their heads. Too long had they mercilessly murdered their families. We had decided that we would no longer let the Ballas get away with their actions.

They were going to pay.

Aaron Lewis was bored. Very bored. He’d fallen asleep twice in the past 4 hours, unable to find anything interesting to keep his attention. A dozen or so monitors in front of him buzzed with images from surveillance cameras around the building. A quick glance at his watch told him it was almost 9pm. Darkness had already engulfed the rooms of the buildings and it was almost the end of his shift. A friend of his, Jonathan, was due him a pint afterwards. But until then he had a job to do.

And this job included spotting a group of four wandering casually through one of the corridors.

Aaron perked up at the sight and silently watched as two of the group stopped and looked round, keeping watch as the other two walked off-screen. The pair on-screen stood still for several moments before the screen went blank.

Aaron jumped and instantly reached for the phone next to him to report the intruders. He paused, however, when another screen cut off. Then another. And another. Suddenly everything went dark.

And the phone wasn’t working either.

Jonathan was nearby to where Aaron was. Maybe he knew what had happened.

“Jonathan, come in!” he called through the radio. Static was his reply. He tried again. No answer.

Now he was nervous.

He dared himself to stand up and quickly searched blindly across a desk to find his gun. Finding it, and loading it, he quietly stepped out the door and looked round but he couldn’t see anything. He stealthily proceeded down the hallway, heading to where he knew Jonathan was posted.

As he stepped round a corner, blood was the first thing he saw, followed by Jonathan’s hacked body. The body was barely recognisable through the scarlet liquid that covered it and he could see a gaping wound in the chest of the corpse. Horrified and close to panic, he stepped back intent on setting the emergency alarm.

But as he stepped back, he heard a sickening slicing sound that made him freeze and he numbly stood there for what seemed like an eternity, before excruciating pain began to rise up his torso. His mouth opened wide in a silent scream and his arms twitched as he attempted to move but his muscles refused to listen. Looking down, the broadside of a blade was sticking out of his chest. His legs weakened and his back arched, his eyes wide as the blade was removed, feeling it slice painfully through bone and tissue.

His energy left his legs and he collapsed to his knees as the group of people calmly walked past him. The last thing he saw before he fell forward into eternal darkness was the final figure looking down at him as they walked by, a blade in their right hand dripping with his blood, their blue piercing eyes bright and emotionless.

Tifa had endured too many awkward silences recently for her to count. But the silence that had followed when Zack had spilled everything to Cloud had ripped her to the very core of her being. It wasn't helped by the look of anguish he had when the numbers had totalled.

Eighty dead, nine of them children, and thirty wounded, a dozen critical.

Tifa was feeling grief also. She wept endlessly that night, the exhaustion of the day falling on her entirely when she collapsed into her bed that night. So many had died... too many. They had gone back later that day to gather the bodies. She had found herself staring at the bodies of the small children she found, the youngest looking around 3 years old. Her tears hadn't stopped until all the bodies had been collected and transported.

The Racers had held several funerals for those killed already. They had all attended several of them and, even though she knew none of the victims, she had found herself in floods at every one. They were desperate to vent their emotions by destroying the bastards back for what they had done.

That's why they were here.

Aeris stood five feet away from her, facing down the corridor with her gun raised. She turned her head, nodding to Tifa, who edged forward silently, her gun raised also. Tifa stood poised at the turn in the hall while Aeris walked to her side. The two jumped around the corner to find it deserted, but they kept their guns raised. With the power cut, the Ballas probably realised this was an attack. Both of them edged down the corridor as lightly as they could, wary of all the sounds around them. Tifa occasionally turned to survey behind them. The last thing they needed was to be at the receiving end of a sneak-attack.

A door to their left stood slightly ajar. Aeris tipped her gun to the door, indicating that Tifa should search it while she continued down the hall. They were searching for the guard rooms and emptying them, the last of which was located on their present floor. Not knowing exactly which room meant that they had to sweep every room, and as they completed the search of each one, Tifa felt her nervousness rise. It was far too quiet. As she pushed open the ajar door, she kept her finger on the trigger ready for defending herself. The others had told her to avoid using her gun as much as possible, since the shots would bring the Ballas to their positions.

As she stepped through, she saw the pile of monitors at the opposite end of the room. Continuing forward past the frame of the door, she heard no sounds of movement or saw anything. She froze, however, when she saw a pistol lying on the desk by a computer, seeing its empty clips nearby. Someone had been here, but they'd seen no one leave the corridors. They were here somewhere. Her heartbeat thumped through her head. Lowering herself slowly, she went to reach for her dagger. The door creak behind her and she tried to turn. She gasped as a strong arm wrapped round her throat and tightened, lifting her off her feet. Her gun went of in her shock and she attempted remove the arm from around her throat. She struggled furiously, recognising the sleeper hold, knowing she had moments before she would likely pass out. Trying to turn her gun toward her attacker, she felt his other arm grab her wrist and clutch her arm to her chest, immobilising her use of her firearm. She brought her leg up behind her strongly, her heel driving into the man's crotch. He grunted in pain and bent forward, almost allowing her to reach the ground. Unfortunately he recovered quickly, falling back into the door, the slam of it shutting echoed through her head and his arm clutched her throat even more.

“Fucking bitch” he growled.

Her chest tightened as her body fought to get air. She tried to scream but only managed to release a feebly gasp. Panic started to set in as she realised she couldn't get free, and Aeris hadn't heard the shot. She couldn't even reach the blade in her boots. She was defenceless. She was going to die.

A dull thud and a disgusting slicing sound resounded behind her. Her attackers arms went limp and she fell to the floor, coughing uncontrollably, her chest still painfully tight. Her body felt so weak, and a headache built up at the back of her skull. She looked up at her attacker and froze.

A grey, steel blade had passed through the door, his skull and out the front of his forehead, blood trickling down his face, reddening the whites of his eyes. His eyes wide, a shocked expression that mirrored her own, he looked as though he was still surprised as to what had happened. She doubt he'd lived long to figure it out. By his side, his arms twitched horribly, like his body was considering reaching up to feel what had exited from his forehead.

Tifa felt slightly sick but at the same time she felt her hatred rise for the man who had tried to kill her.

There was another sounds of slicing through watermelon as the blade retracted through the door. The corpse in front of her fell feebly to the floor with a thud as the door opened. Cloud entered the room, heading straight to her, dropping his blood-soaked sword by the door, concern etched over his features. Still lying on the floor and weak, she let him lift her to her feet and clutched her to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist as he lightly stroked the back of her head.

“Are you all right? I didn't think we'd make it in time.” he whispered in her ear.

It might have been because of the shock of her attack, the proximity she had to the killing blow, the energy that had drained out of her body, or it may have simply been the relief she felt to have had Cloud save her from her death once again. Her entire frame began to shake violently. Tears slipped unwillingly from her eyes and she felt a sob building in her throat. She shook her head lightly and took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. She refused to be scared and weak any more.

“I'm all right now,” she said shakily, “Just relieved.”

Cloud pulled back from her enough to see her face but still be able to hold her. He wiped away her tears and gave her a faint smile.

“Being scared when your struggling for your life, doesn't make you weak Tifa.”

Tifa looked at him, with tear-filled eyes. Of course, he knew. Cloud had been fighting for survival his entire life. He had been scared of dying many times, maybe even now he was scared. She gave him a weak smile, which he returned. Kissing her forehead lightly, he pulled back and looked round the room.

The monitors around the room all displayed plain black screen savers, save one. Cloud made his way toward it, Tifa in tow. He quickly scanned the contents of the screen, seeing a window for a .png image and several documents, but what caught his interest most was the e-mail still covering most of the screen. The topic of the e-mail was blank, but it was the contents that made his blood run cold.

It was forwarded mail containing a table filled with names, addresses, numbers and a following list of names, three or four allocated to a single initial name. Cloud tried to catch his breath as he realised what he was looking at, Tifa noticing his distress.

“Cloud? Cloud, what's wrong?” she asked nervously. Having seen Cloud keep his cool in a gun fight and when being hunted to be killed, she instantly knew that if something was to cause him so much distress, it was serious.

She looked over his shoulder and skimmed down the table. She gasped as she saw three names on the list... Cloud Strife, Zack Tigard and Aeris Gainsborough. She saw the address of the villa next to each and a single name next to each of them. Zack and Aeris were listed with each others names but next to Cloud's was...

Rain Strife.

Aeris' and Zack's listed their lover, each other, so... was she... Tifa shook her head, refusing to finish that thought. The slight foreign twinge of jealousy was enough to convince her not to pry. Instead, she looked over the list again and, while selfish, she let out her breath as it became clear her name wasn't included. The fact that she was alive and within the ranks of the Maria Racers seemed to have, for now, been unnoticed. The relief soon passed as she realised what it meant for a member of the Ballas to have gained this information. Cloud, simultaneously, voiced her realisation.

“This changes everything. We thought they had only found one of our most populated residential areas, but now they have the locating of every single member of the gang. They could hit a large group that are close to one another or worse, take us out discretely one by one. This must be why the Ballas have stayed quiet after the last attack. They're planning something else. Probably something big. Shit.”

Cloud typed in several commands before grabbing a CD-ROM from the computer desk and placing it in the drive. He began to transfer the data to the disc, adding more as he found other data on The Racers, Ballas and other gangs around Los Santos. By the looks of the data, the Ballas were looking to wipe out each gang throughout Los Santos, and even San Fierro and Las Venturas. They were going to gain control of all of San Andreas. There was no telling what they had planned for after they got control. Tifa knew they had to be stopped at all costs, and felt nervousness rise as it sunk in just how dangerous it would be. She looked at Cloud who was reading through various e-mails on the computer.

He would lead this fight, there was no doubt about it. But she understood that it wouldn't be simply a shoot-out between the gangs. Already it was clear there was a traitor among the Maria Racers, maybe more than one, and their numbers were depleted from the last attack. They couldn't beat the Ballas on their own. Cloud couldn't do it on his own. She just hoped that she would survive to see it through with him. She owed him that much.

The data transfer complete, Cloud removed the CD-ROM and placed it in a random case before handing it to Tifa.

“Keep that safe.” he said quietly, “We need to search what's on it, see if we can find out what they have planned.”

Tifa nodded as Cloud returned the screen to its original state. Just as he finished shots resounded through the building from the floor above. Cloud instantly ran from the room, grabbing his sword as he bolted past. Tifa followed, barely keeping up as they sprinted to the stairwell. Both drew and loaded their pistols as they reached the top. Entering the corridor, Tifa heard the sounds of a struggle in the furthest room. Cloud got to the room first, opening fire as soon as he moved through the door frame. Two yells of pain sounded just as Tifa arrived in the room. Zack was holding up a Ballas member by the throat against the wall, blood trickling down his left arm, while Cloud was crouched over Aeris who lay motionless on the floor. Tifa scanned the room, noticing two bodies of the floor, bullet holes in their temples, their gun lying next to their bodies. As she stepped through Zack suddenly released the man's neck and he crumpled to the floor, gasping for air.

Zack dragged his captive along the floor by his leg to a chair in the corner. He roughly lifted the man onto the chair and punched him across the cheek. The man's head rolled on his shoulders, dizzily. Zack's expression was filled with rage as he noticeably struggled to hold back the temptation to kill him. He leaned over the stunned man and whispered aggressively in his ear. Tifa figured he was trying to gain information but she knew it wouldn't be easy.

Tifa rushed to Aeris' side beside Cloud and looked her over. Blood ran down the side of her face and pooled the floor from a gunshot through her shoulder, her face pale from significant blood loss, her eye bruised from a blow that most likely knocked her out. Her knuckles were bleeding and her gun lay across the floor, showing that she'd put up a good fight, most likely before Zack arrived to help her. Cloud pulled off his jacket and then removed his shirt before turning Aeris onto her back and tying his shirt around her shoulder to cover the wound. Her body jerked as he tightened the makeshift bandage but she didn't wake.

“We need to get her medical attention before she losses too much blood. She should be okay for now, though.”

He grabbed his jacket before standing, Tifa doing the same, and as he swung his jacket back on Tifa couldn't help but watch his movements intensely. His thin frame was muscled and toned, scars marring his chest and stomach. His biceps and abs flexed as he moved and Tifa quickly turned away, biting her lip. The last thing he needed right now was her practically drooling over him. Instead she turned her attention to Zack's interrogation.

Zack's low whispered sounded like vicious growls as he asked the man questions, occasionally getting a short answer out of him, otherwise staying reasonably silent which led to another blow to the face. By now the man's left eye was red and swollen, blood trickling from a burst lip and from what Tifa could see, several teeth had been knocked out. She was surprised he was still conscious, but was more amazed that he still refused to answer all Zack's questions. She heard Cloud step up behind her before he placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Tifa,” he spoke quietly, so only she could hear, “I'm going to have to press this guy hard. I need to know everything the Ballas have against us. But what Zack has been doing is light... it's not going to be nice to see. You can stay if you want. If not, you can take Aeris out to the corridor and keep watch.”

Tifa didn't even have to think for her answer. She had been told when she joined with the Maria Racers that her life was no longer going to be a cake-walk and some things she endured and witnessed wouldn't be pleasant or agreeable. She knew what that consisted of.

“I'll stay. Just do what you need to.”

Cloud lightly squeezed her shoulder before moving towards the captive. The man raised his head to look at Cloud and sneered.

“The infamous Spike. I can tell I'm going to get that special treatment if you're on the job.”

Cloud stared blankly at him before slowly drawing his gun and laying it on a nearby desk. The man eyes it warily and took a deep breath, tensing himself for what was to come. Tifa stepped away from Aeris and into the man's view. She instantly regretted her choice as a look of stunned realisation crossed the man's battered features. Cloud looked back at her seriously before scowling at the Ballas.

“Don't bother looking shocked that your plans failed. You're not going to be alive long enough to tell your gang she's alive and well. But you will live long enough... to tell me, first off, why you targeted Lockhart and his next of kin.”

The man scowled and laughed. “If you think you can make me talk from a beating then you're sadly mistaken. You're not getting any information from me, you pathetic prick.”

Faster than Tifa could blink, Cloud pulled a retractable blade from his jacket and plunged the extended blade into the man's thigh. He screamed from the unexpected pain and lashed out at Cloud. His fist caught the side of Cloud's jaw, who quickly retaliated, knocking the man off his chair. As he crashed to the floor, Zack stood above him and pinned his arms to the floor. He instantly began to kick out with his good leg, before Cloud grabbed his ankle and drove his blade into his thigh again, twisting it before he pulled back. The man screamed even louder, so loud Tifa had to cover her ears.

She could barely watch. This was a vicious assault that she could never have imagined Cloud participating in. Years of fighting may have helped him develop a thick skin that, quite frankly, Tifa hoped she never developed. She didn't protest or leave, however. She'd chosen to stay and she would, Cloud had told her it wouldn't be pleasant.

The man began to quieten but he still gasped for breath. Cloud wiped the blood soaked knife on his jeans before retracting it and returning it to his jacket.

“I don't know why you're refusing to talk. You won't be leaving here alive and your silence is only prolonging how long and painful dying will be. If you talk, I give you my word that I'll make it quick.”

His captive still refused to talk, shaking his head almost feverishly. He was still gasping from the pain, tears falling down his cheeks. Zack sighed, angry, and shook his head.

“Cloud, this is a waste of time.”

Cloud growled furiously and turned away, breathing deep to keep his emotions in check. Tifa could feel his frustration at the limited time they had to do this. Tifa's shots had already attracted too much attention, the others had made certain that the building would soon be swarming with Ballas. The man's stalling was leaving them in a precarious situation, leave now, with certainty that they would escape, and miss an opportunity to gain valuable information, or interrogate their prisoner and risk being trapped.

Unfortunately, Tifa knew that Cloud would pursue the interrogation, even if it could get him killed.

Cloud was struggling. He knew he should leave. He was exposing Tifa to danger and Aeris would bleed to death if she didn't get help soon. But the information he was pressing for had to be important. It could very well save dozens of lives of the Maria Racers, or at least give them an insight to what the Ballas planned.

Giving into his anger, he snarled, “Enough of this bullshit.”

He spun back round and grabbed his gun. Before anyone could move, he blasted two bullets into the prisoner, one in each shoulder. Zack fell back from the man in surprise, while he screamed far louder than before. The pain had to be overwhelming, even more so when Cloud stepped up to him and pressed his weight onto the man shoulder. Tifa could only stare as she watched the man scream and writhe in pain.

“Tell me what you know!” Cloud roared at him, sending a terrifying chill to Tifa's bones. The same chill she'd gotten when he had destroyed all of the Ballas without a single emotion to show for it. No regret, no anger, no sadness, nothing. Only his anger overwhelmed Tifa and she felt a strong desire to simply crawl from the room to escape.

The man whimpered before he spoke in a weak, tearful voice. He sounded almost pitiful, taking a deep, struggling breath between each sentence.

“Lockhart was a target because he had ways of helped the Maria Racers and the other gangs throughout San Andreas. We couldn't hit them with his backing. They were too strong. They tried to kill the girl because Lockhart's will would pass all the gangs defences to her. They both had to die for the plan to work.”

“What plan? The Ballas are organising a large scale attack aren't they? When? What are they planning?”

“I don't know. We've not been informed yet. We just got told to get ready to see the Maria Racers die and end once and for all.”

Cloud sneered before pressing even more pressure on the man's wound. He screamed again and sobbed. Tifa had never seen a more pitiful looking man.

“Please! Stop! That's all I know I swear! Just kill me, please!”

Cloud stepped back silently and turned to Zack.

“Zack, grab Aeris. Take her to Matt immediately, he'll know where to get her help.”

Zack nodded, silently and moved to Aeris. After lifting her in a bridal fashion, he nodded to Tifa before leaving them. Tifa watched as Cloud silently faced the crippled and sobbing captive on the floor, before he, mercifully, fired a bullet between the man's eyes. Without even a glimpse toward her, Cloud walked past her and headed to his car outside.

Tifa shook as she stared at the broken frame on the floor. Her heart raced as she attempted to calm herself from experiencing the intensity of Cloud's anger. Hearing the engines of Zack and Cloud's cars she dashed to the stairs and ran down them to the exit. She knew it was inevitable, but she still hoped that she never had to see or hear that side of Cloud again.

Tifa awoke from an uneasy sleep. They're return to the villa had been a smooth one, and the exhaustion of the infiltration landed on her as soon as her head hit her pillow. However, despite her tired physical state, her mind was too active to let her settle. The fear of what was to come, what happened occurred, and the fact that one of the Ballas has recognised who she was, was a sign to her that sleep would not be easy for the next few days.

The revealing of the motives behind her fathers murder and the attempt on her life eased her mind. It was no longer a senseless attack to her. It was a scheme she had survived and was alive to get revenge for her father, and for the life that had been destroyed.

But strangely, she found the desire to return to her old life, to normality, diminished as each day passed. She'd been shot at, chased by police, almost strangled to death... and yet, she felt oddly at home with Cloud, Zack and Aeris. They'd welcomed her, protected her and, most of all, they trusted her. She would never be able to repay them for that.

Slipping on a robe that she had borrowed from Aeris, she made her way bare-foot through the carpeted hall to the living-room. She was very surprised to see Cloud, staring intensely at a computer screen, scrolling through, what looked like, the data they'd collected off the Ballas computers. He turned as she entered and gave her a soft smile. She returned it and watched as he turned back to the computer, tense, as he tried to avoid staring at her exposed legs. Tifa resisted the urge to grin, slightly flattered at the attention.

Tifa knew that there was a degree of sexual tension between them. He was very attractive and from some of his actions, she figured he felt the same about her. However, she'd never been the kind to commit to a relationship without a certain backbone to it. She knew that she cared for him, and thought he cared for her also. But she didn't want to push anything until she was sure they were ready for something. Hell, as far as she knew that “Rain” was his girlfriend or wife. She would wait until she was sure of things.

For the moment she moved behind him and hugged him, resting her head against his. He jumped slightly but relaxed, lightly stroking her arm round.

“Can't sleep?” he asked.

Tifa sighed lightly, “Nope. I'm exhausted though. Anyway, how's Aeris doing?”

“She's stable. Some blood loss but she'll be fine. Matt took her to a medical centre at the other side of Los Santos. She's less likely to be in danger there.”

“That's good to hear.”

Cloud nodded before focusing, once again, on the information in from of him.

“You found any clue about what they're planning?” Tifa asked, hopeful.

Cloud shook his head and sighed. “Nothing. Not even a clue about who gave them our information. But from recent activity I can tell they'll be quiet for a while. A few days, a few weeks... I'm not sure. Then something big. And I doubt we'll be prepared for it. They're going to hit us hard and fast.” He turned his head to look at her, his expression serious. But in his eyes Tifa saw... fear.

Well... was it worth the wait? Was it not? Do you feel like gutting me and tossing me to Hannibal? Well feel free to express this in the most imaginable way possible.

I've been working on this solidly for the last 3 days. Half of this was done over that time, at times with me just staring blankly at the screen. Inspiration came in chunks, as well as the ability to properly write it down. But I'm hoping this was up to standard cause I worked hard on it. Biggest chapter to date.

Right, anyway, when it comes to the ideas behind this story I'm not only working through my own. If you have an idea you want to be present, a mission from the game, or simply a character you wish to see, in this fanfiction or any of my others... message it to me, or check my homepage and leave a topic on the related board. I'm always looking for new ways to improve my fanfiction, bring in new ideas to expand them and keep them going for as long as I can without losing the storyline. So feel free to contribute, as it will be you who is reading it.

As for the next update, the next chapter could be a filler, another step in the plot-line, or a leap, depending on how easily ideas come to me. Until then...