Once More, With Feeling... – Chapter 62: Scientific Missions

Summary: A new perspective highlight some new friends, and new problems.

Author: Illusor Meaneld

Rated T: for Descriptive violence and injuries, No Adult Situations, No Cussing.

Disclaimer: I did not create, and do not own the characters from Final Fantasy 7. They are owned by Square-Enix, and I am simply borrowing them for my own (and hopefully your) enjoyment.

SOLDIER Third Class Marcellus Thorn, "Marc" amongst his friends, was certainly enjoying his patrol, ever since the new orders came down from on high that SOLDIERs were never to patrol alone, his enthusiasm for extermination missions had sky rocketed. He was a social person by nature, and generally found solo missions tedious and perhaps a bit depressing. Today however, was setting out to top even his previous new enjoyments, his current squad included another Third Class fresh from the last round of cadet eliminations and fully recovered from his new Mako enhancements, sometimes also known as fresh meat! and the added exceptional bonus of a SECOND Class possibly more extroverted than Thorn himself. He had not had much opportunity to work with SOLDIER's rising star Second before, usually the youth in question was far too busy working with his mentor. Understandable for such a prodigy, he was younger than the other Seconds as far as Marc knew. Today's Mission assignment was fairly simple, in writing at least; clear out an excess of the monsters plaguing the slums. But in practice with all the ambushes, politics and sabotage that had been happening around Shinra and the SOLDIER program it made arranging even a routine extermination mission a headache of paperwork and morass of potential pitfalls. Regardless, the day was going well so far in Thorn's opinion, and he planned to get the most out of his small piece of fortune, no matter the cost!

"Alright everyone! Let's Mosey!" Second Class Fair was saying brightly, leading with more enthusiasm than competence at the moment. "Can't let these creatures pester the good citizens of Midgar!" The young man's exuberance was infectious! These thoughts might have been showing on Thorn's face since he noticed a couple of the other nearby Thirds shuffling nervously while giving him the side-eye. He felt his grin widen in response which had the effect of turning the shuffling, into wary back stepping, and discomforted murmuring.

"Of course not Sir!" Thorn replied with the same bubbling fervor, "SOLDIER should never permit such an atrocity!"
"That's the spirit!" Zack grinned earnestly, "And, of course, always protect your Honor as a SOLDIER! No matter what!"
"I shall protect it as if it were a Maiden Fair, Sir!" The Third returned in a suitably military bark.
Zack blinked and paused briefly, "Uh,… exactly!" He tried with slightly baffled encouragement. Turning to try and hide his confusion with a straight backed pose, ushering his small squad onward to their objective. Thorn's grin over the pun hurried his fellows along far more than the Second Class' leadership skills.

It didn't take long to come up on the first encounter. A larger pack of Hedghog Pies wouldn't hinder even a pair of Third Class SOLDIERs for the most part. Certainly not worthy of their larger squad, but Marcellus eyes quickly alighted on the primary reason for their group. Two sleekly muscled dark shapes prowled out behind the portly amphibious monsters. Snarling and baring long fangs, claws clicking on the broken cement. Thorn blinked for a moment, before realizing they were indeed snarling at his squad. Feral Guard Hounds? The group of SOLDIERs quickly stiffened to attention. Guard Hounds almost never went rogue, they were carefully bred to be fiercely obedient! Eyeing the plethora of small scratches and scars on the dusky coats, rough and matted instead of glossy with health and care. The Guard Hounds he was used to were deep black, with an almost blue sheen on their fur, these looked dark brown in the lighting, though possibly that was simply dirt. The third class settled himself into a ready stance, The grin that had slipped from his face slowly creeping back in. He wouldn't be a SOLDIER if he didn't like a good challenge. As soon as the first sword flashed from its sheath the Hounds attacked, more aggressive than the native monster population. They leaped over the Hedgehog Pies, nearly foaming at the mouth to get their teeth on the small SOLDIER squad. Zack wasted no time ducking into the fray with his SOLDIER issued broad sword.

With a grin and an impulsive battle-cry of "Protect the maidenly Honor!" Thorn lunged right in as well. The other Thirds joined after a moment's bemused hesitation. They weren't well practiced as a group, but they'd all done missions with or without companions before and so laid into the Hedgehog Pies with decent coordination. Zack had immediately targeted the Guard Hounds, as the strongest foes. As for Thorn, avoiding the spinning balls of spikes when they tried to wallop him on the head never got any more fun. A snarl was the only warning he got before one of the Hounds leapt at him from the side. Another third darting in to swipe with a broad sword as Thorne rolled hastily out of the way of slashing fangs, each longer than his hand. A blast of heat brought a yelp from one of his companions as one of the spikey pseudo-amphibians launched a fireball into the fray. Thorne quickly returned in kind with a Fire spell of his own. From there it became much more hectic, the first Materia a SOLDIER Third was ever issued was a Fire, and since Hedgehog Pies could cast the same thing, it effectively became a combustion zone. He quickly lost track of how many opponents they were facing. Were the dang Pies multiplying? The Feral Hounds were impossibly fast, weaving between the squat spikey monsters like furred eels with monstrous teeth and claws, leaving gouges and scratches in their wake, pinning down and mauling any Third not fast enough to dodge their jaws.

"Everything is on fire!" Marcellus Thorn cried redundantly.

"Stop casting then!" another frustrated Third retorted.

Unable to resist his grin even as he slashed another toad-like beast with his blade Marcellus gave his sing-song reply, "Is it friendly fire? Or are we under fire?" a groan came from his closest squad-mate, and he gleefully continued, "Permission to Fire, Zack Fair Sir?" in a louder, carrying voice. To his utter delight an enthusiastic rejoinder came from the black haired Second Class.

"Fire at Will!" Then a sheepish blue eyed gaze darted around the group. "Unless someone's name is Will… then just Fire!" Thorne really wished someone's name in the Squad HAD been Will… just so he could have aimed at them, even for a moment. By the nervous glances from his teammates, they might have guessed his train of thought. One enterprising Third suddenly straightened, and pointed at one of the Guard Hounds,

"That one's name is Will! Get him!" Needing no further encouragement, Thorne dove into the fray with Gusto.

Later that day, as Second Class Zack Fair escorted his scorched and limping form to the Medical Wing, the intrepid Third thought about regretting his life choices, but the unrepentant grin on his face, matching the generally impressed look on his Superior's made all the currently throbbing wounds absolutely worth it.

"Y'know… when I said 'Fire at Will' … I didn't mean you should use all of your mana… maybe save a little for a few cures next time." The lanky teens blue eyes met Marcellus' own, "But that was really cool." He finished with a broad grin of sparkling white teeth.

They both exchanged elated adolescent nudges and smiles for a moment, before the doors to medical slid opened with a quiet hiss. There were a couple cadets inside waiting for attention, but it was surprisingly quiet in the reception area. Thorne blinked a bit, they'd sent another injured SOLDIER on ahead since he'd been more mobile, and there was currently no sign of any SOLDIERs let alone the errant Third Class.

"Hey, Pardon me Ma'am." Zack smiled charmingly at the receptionist as he half-dragged Marcellus forward. "I'm finishing a mission in command of some of the Thirds, and I sent one on ahead. Did he make it alright?" The young woman looked up, and seemed to impulsively smile back at the guileless blue eyes.

"Oh yes, he made it just fine, but Professor Hollander has requested that all SOLDIER personnel report to him for medical treatment, so he should be on his way over there. Would you be able to escort your subordinate over to Science, otherwise he can wait here until the escorting orderly returns."

"Ya only got one orderly?" Thorne found himself blurting, he'd been to Medical before, and they usually had several, on account of all the rowdy SOLDIERS and bratty Cadets. Himself not withstanding he could admit. Though he usually tried not to be too rambunctious with the staff, not only because it wasn't polite to the nurses, who were just trying to help, but also because he'd swear some of those 'orderlies' were Mako enhanced themselves! Currently he was eyeing the receptionist, who stood at least a full head shorter than himself, with some concern.

"Oh, we do have more than one, but we sent a few along with the Cadet Training Expedition, along with some of our Medical Personnel, as per protocol."
A small part of Thorne was sad the current Cadet Expedition hadn't required Third Class Volunteers, messing with the Cadets was one of his absolute favorite pass-times! And the current batch was such a fun mix of gullible and promising, he'd love to put them through a few more paces. But he was also content with the opportunity to learn from one of his own Superiors, hopefully he'd get more chances to team up with Zackary Fair, as so far he'd proved to be incredibly fun, and very different from a lot of the Power Tripping Seconds he'd worked with in the past. The object of his consideration was currently making an odd unhappy noise in the back of his throat, almost a puppy-like 'whine' which made Marcellus blink.

"The Cadets are on an expedition? How come I didn't know?" the other teen seemed to Whimper, the Third-Class Thorne slowly exchanged a baffled look with the receptionist.

"I'm not sure who was supposed to inform you, or why you weren't informed,…" the receptionist began diplomatically,

"I think I could take myself to Science if you need to look into it?" Thorne offered, the suggestion causing the other youth to immediately turn back in his direction.

"No, no… that wouldn't be honorable! I can take you to science right now!" The black-haired Second bounced a little in place for a second before urgently ushering Marcellus back out of the Department, moving at as brisk a pace as the still injured Third could manage. A quick elevator ride, with a surprisingly focused Superior Officer and Thorne found himself waltzing into the Science Department of Shinra. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, maybe like a deep dungeon of chemicals and experiments, but it was surprisingly clean, and perhaps exceedingly sterile at least from the main entrance. There was only whirr of the door sliding closed behind him and the hushed whisper of the every present air filtration and conditioning. Marcellus glanced around curiously, but there wasn't really anything to see. Bland concrete floors, blank stone walls and the familiar bluish lights, that took on a bit of a chilly caste with nothing else to break up the monotony. The wood accents found in the more public areas of Shinra tower, were missing here, replaced by bare metal fixtures. Just as the silence was starting to get unnerving, a feminine voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Good Afternoon Zackary, I was advised that you would be here shortly, do you remember the way to Hollanders offices?"
Zack grinned, puppy-like and waved at the Technician. "I remember the way, but I don't remember you here last time, what's your name?"
The young woman in the white coat raised an unimpressed eyebrow beneath her stern glasses. "Professor Hollander is expecting you." She said crisply.
the black-haired Second Class visibly deflated, obediently leading a still limping Thorne down one of the long hallways. "Maaaan…." The higher ranked SOLDIER moaned quietly, "Why are all the Techs in here so cold?" His glowing gaze met Marcellus' own, "I haven't gotten a smile outta one of them yet!" Then he sighed heavily, his full head of black spiky hair drooping dramatically. Thorne quickly leaned out of the danger zone of a mouthful of styled locks. Then a slow smile split his own face.

"Guess I'm just gonna have to beat you to it." He said slyly.

The other teen's head jerked up, "What?"

"Getting a Tech here to smile, some people are just better at that than others." He winked exaggeratedly, thrilled at the gawping face looking back.

"No way!" The other boy straightened, accidentally pulling Thorne's smaller form into a strained tip-toe for a moment, only relieved when a pained grunt had him readjusting into a proper support. "I'm super good at cheering people up! I'll definitely get a smile first!"

"20 gil says I can." The Third continued brightly,

"Seriously?" Zack whined, "That's dinner right there!"

"Well, …if you insist." Marcellus drawled mischievously.

Young Fair blinked in confusion. "huh?"

"Loser takes the Winner out to Dinner, sounds like a deal." What ensued from that was the most amusing set of baffled noises to come out of a human mouth that Thorne had ever heard, and that included the poor Cadets he messed with at any given opportunity. It was a serious effort not to break down laughing. Keeping it to subtle mouth twitches took all his concentration for several seconds. "I mean, unless you're worried you're going to lose?" The other young man firmed up his position, just as expected.

"I will definitely win!"

"Then it's a date! And a bet!" The following look of complete bewilderment was the last straw, and Thorne almost collapsed into tear jerking guffaws. He was still laughing when they stepped through a new door into Professor Hollander's Offices. The Scientist looked up, a bit startled by their boisterous entrance. The other Third Class who was sitting nearby simply rolled his eyes in exasperation. Visibly shrugging off the bemusement, Hollander focused quickly on the Second Class in charge.

"Zachary, welcome back. Who is this?" A little surprised the Second was on a first name basis with the professor, Thorne almost missed the response.

"This is Marc! He's one of my Thirds, got a bit banged up in the Mission, think you can help Professor?"

The Rotund Scientist's gaze shifted to Third Class Thorne, "Of course, come take a seat ah… Marc?"

"Marc is fine, or SOLDIER Thorne if you prefer, Professor."

"SOLDIER Thorne then." Hollander pushes up his glasses with visible relief. Not a man who liked familiarity then. "Please take a seat over there." He gestured to a set of cushioned chairs against the wall. Zack obligingly helped him limp over to them, settling him in before returning to where Hollander was applying some kind of cream to the nasty claw marks on his fellow Third. Thorne watched with curiosity as SOLDIER Fair hovered over the Scientist's shoulder, bouncing lightly on his feet. As he was finishing up, said researcher's expression went from calmly focused to annoyed. He wrapped a bandage deftly and then turned to the black-haired youth. "Did you also sustain an injury Zackary?"

"Wha? … Oh no, I'm fine Sir!" Fair said brightly,

"If you don't require any assistance from me then…" The professor gamely attempted to shoo the intruding SOLDIER out.

"Well… now that you mention it, I wanted to ask if you'd made any progress? Ya know… with uh…" One pudgy hand was raised to forestall whatever the young man was stammering to hint at.

"SOLDIER Fair, I told you I would send word if there was new information on that subject. Please be patient! Helping the SOLDIERs actually does help that as well, as our database of baselines was damaged as you know." Thorne did recall hearing about some kind of cyber-attack from AVALANCHE, guess it had hit Science somehow as well?

"Awesome!" Zack grinned brightly, "Hey, do you need any help with that part? I can fetch anyone that you need to check out?"
"That's not necessary Zackary, you can head out now. I'm sure you have a lot of missions that still need your attention." The professor ushered him out more urgently this time, and Thorne, who'd been uncharacteristically quiet, pondered this. Most people didn't like going to Science, even he wasn't keen to draw extra attention from the people in charge here… hence his subdued manner in the labs. But Zack seemed oddly familiar… maybe he'd see if he could wheedle some more info from the plucky young man, it could prove entertaining to watch him attempt to be subtle about it at least. He was still making plans as the tall young man bounced out with the strangest and most innocent combination of exuberance and disappointment he'd ever laid eyes on.

Maur, who was often just called "Martial Arts" had been taking a turn checking in on the new security systems being carefully implemented in the Science Department. After the disastrous cyber-attack, despite Shinra generally insisting it must have come from Avalanche. The Turks were still doing their best to find additional clues as to the origin and had yet to find acceptable proof. However, in light of that deficit, Maur was ensuring that the installations went through without any extraneous eyes… With extra attention on that one odd Second Class SOLDIER that always seemed to know more than they should somehow. Why he hadn't been inducted into the Turks Maur didn't know, but scouting new potential wasn't his job anyways. Though on that point, who had scouted that weird blond kid? Martial Arts, really had no idea what they'd been thinking, he'd heard nothing but extremely bizarre stories about the boy. He wore a six foot long wolf pelt or something at home? Hopefully such a young and impulsively story-telling child wouldn't be the next source of leaked information. He hated having to 'deal' with the kids.

His idle musings while he watched the technicians performing their install was interrupted by the gentle hiss of the door, followed an incongruously bright voice echoing into the room. He glanced subtly from the corner of his eye at the interloper, only mildly surprised at the Second Class uniform. Hollander had been working on some project or other that involved new workups for the SOLDIERs. But he frowned a little as he quickly recognized the youth in question. Hadn't that one been in here yesterday? … a perusal of his memory sparked even more familiarity, and the day before? Judging by the look on the face of the Science Tech manning the reception desk, this was also the young man (men?) they'd been complaining about. It was not The-Second-Who-Knows-Too-Much. But it was extremely odd never the less. Who even likes coming to the Science Department? Apparently this unusually jovial young man. Even as Maur watched, he trotted up to the unimpressed Reception Tech, and leaned on the counter with familiarity, only drooping slightly when the subject of his affection shook their heads and gestured firmly to the entrance to Hollander's domain. Martial Arts resisted the urge to shake his own head as the youth gamely, and with a disturbingly genuine smile scampered eagerly into the depths of the Science Department. He'd heard rumors that Mako messed with your head,… but he'd always thought that applied only to the junkies in the slums… now though, well it was hard to argue when the evidence was right in front of your face.

"Nuh-uh! That can't possibly be true!" One cadet was hotly declaring in the mess hall.

"I heard he's going to become a Super-SOLDIER! Maybe better than Sephiroth!" Another chimed in gamely.

"Maybe Fair is going to Science for… you know… other reasons?"

"You think he's sick? That's stupid! Everyone knows SOLDIERs don't get sick!"
And on the debate went. Kunsel quietly sipped his coffee, which had been acquired long before settling himself into a corner of the Cadet Mess, (because the cadet coffee was absolutely terrible) while he listened and occasionally jotted down notes on the current gossip.

"If anyone is going to become the next Sephiroth, it's going to be Genesis!" Another youth retorted smugly.

"That makes sense I guess, I mean Angeal is awesome! But Genesis is just a step up right?"

"Angeal could fold Genesis into a pretzel! Have you seen his arms?" One small group in particular seemed to stiffen over this claim.

"Do NOT Disrespect Lieutenant Rhapsodos!" One brown haired youth stood to snap this back, his whole body quivering… though with fear or anger Kunsel couldn't tell. "He WILL Find out… and he'll come for you!" The last was hissed vehemently, Probably the fear then… The Second decided with a mental nod.

"Besides, Cloud is gonna be the next Sephiroth!" a small almost mousy boy chirped.

"Feh, that Blond Brat 'ain't gonna be anything. 'cept a drop out!" A larger boy snarled with surprising malice. Kunsel made a few more notes in short-hand.

"That's CAPTAIN Cloud to you!" Another youth in the squad countered hotly.

"He's just jealous that Captain Cloud won the last Cadet Games despite him." Another sneered.

"That shrimp just got lucky." Came a growl from deeper in the group than the Second Class could easily see from his corner.

"Ha! You couldn't even win with SOLDIERs on your side!" another hooted. This dissolved into heated bickering. After several more comments pertaining to what "Captain Cloud" could or could not do, or had or had not done, one usually quiet, gangly blond teen finally snidely snapped back.

"Technically it should be Captain Strife, you idiots… You always use the last name with the Rank.

"Like Lieutenant Rhapsodos!" Another agreed,

"Or General Sephiroth!" There was a brief pause after that one, "Isn't Sephiroth his first name?" This sparked a new debate on whether or not Sephiroth had a last name.

"I like Captain Cloud better…" One cadet mulishly declared, "It's an alliteration!"

"Who cares about the blond brat."

"Is Zack really gonna be a Super-SOLDIER though?" The youth in question had been almost vibrating in place since the conversation derailed.

"He's been going into the Science Department like… every day! What else could he be doing?" was the reasoned response.
Kunsel made a few more notes, but this time a slight frown pulled at his lips. He'd been hearing something about that from multiple sources, and he really really did not like the connotations.

"Cloud is getting trained by Genesis though, so surely he's gonna be the next Super-SOLDIER?"

"Lieutenant Rhapsodos! Get it RIGHT!" was snapped back.

"Why are you so scared of him?" An entire squad of cadets seemed to shudder, "He just always knows when people aren't respecting him! He knows!"
"

Well maybe it's because you idiots are all gossiping about him when there's a SOLDIER right there!" the slender blond from before finally snapped back pointing at Kunsel, who sat quietly sipping his coffee, in full uniform, in the far corner of the room. Gamely, the Second Class waved back when all the wide-eyed faces turned to look at him.

"Do you think he's spying on us for Genesis?" One squeaky teen whispered.

"It's Lieutenant Rhapsodos!" Another furiously whispered back.

"He can still hear you." The gangly blond said wryly, not bothering to whisper as he rolled his eyes.
Kunsel's lips were twitching ferociously even as he jotted down a few more notes, one to keep tabs on the gangly blond, and another to check in on his friend.

((Author's Note:

Hello again! I'm not dead, and thankfully neither is this story! I know it's been a BRUTALLY long time for this update. Trying to find a time to settle in and write consistently with my schedule has been a real struggle, I'd been getting it in bits and bobs, but finally finished fleshing this one out. I can't promise the next one will be faster, especially since schedules have been fluctuating a LOT but I'll keep trying! Hope you enjoy!
On a different note, I finally caved and played through Remake, while much of it won't appear in or influence this story, I might include some nods. I actually streamed it live on Twitch, so if you want to see me play any of the sequels, feel free to come on by! I'll be playing as soon as I get the PS5 better set up with my computer!

-Jianre M. A.K.A … Illusor Meaneld.))