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Guilt’s Cost: Part XII

Mission Plot

Vincent followed his brother in silence, slightly nervous about the mission, more anxious about re-entering a lab where Hojo had been.

Tseng sensed his brother’s tension and stopped. "If you have any reservations about this, let me know now. I can’t afford to have a team member distracted on this sort of operation."

Vincent shook his head slightly. "No, I was just going over strategy in my mind."

He knew Vincent was lying, and raised an eyebrow. "Listen, I need you at full ability and if you can’t give me that, then I need to leave you here. I won’t think any less of you for it."

"Tseng, I assure you, I’m capable of doing this." Vincent started walking again.

He decided that his brother wouldn’t back out for the world. He knew that Vincent had always been terribly proud, and would never admit to anything that might be mistaken for cowardice. This had been his brother’s initial downfall in not pleading his fears to Lucretia so many years before, and Tseng was disappointed to see that Vincent still hadn’t learned after all this time.

They finally emerged into the morning light. Vincent squinted as his eyes adjusted, trying to place exactly where he was. After looking around for a moment, he realized that they had come up on an airfield. Looking behind him, he saw that the door they had come out from was mocked up as a service entry at the base of the control tower.

Tseng looked to his brother. "Clever, isn’t it?"

Vincent smiled. "Very nice."

He led his brother toward a helipad, where a large black helicopter sat waiting. When they reached it, the side door slid open and they climbed inside.

As the rotor started, Vincent glanced around the inside of the chopper to see whom his companions for the mission would be. Aside from himself and Tseng, he found Reno, Angel, and two other anonymous men. Reno gave little regard to Vincent’s entry. The high collar of the shirt he was wearing was covering the dark bruises and cuts that adorned his neck.

Angel made her way over and sat between Vincent and Tseng. "Good morning, father."

He put his arm around her and gave her a short hug. "Hello, Angel." At once his paternal instincts arose, and he disliked the thought of his daughter going into danger. "Tseng didn’t tell me that you would be joining us."

She smiled widely. "Don’t worry about it. I’m just in tactics; I don’t actually go in with you. My job is to brief everyone on the mission while we fly."

He was relived to hear this, and it showed.

Angel donned an amused expression. "Were you worried?"

He shrugged, trying to put the comment off. "Shouldn’t your safety be my primary concern as your father?"

She laughed, pleased to hear him say this. "Thanks!"

Tseng leaned over her so that Vincent could hear him over the engines as the helicopter lifted into the air. "She can’t ever go back into that lab. Hojo has placed, shall we say, failsafe devices within her so that if she were ever to return she would be instantly incapacitated, making her second escape very difficult."

Vincent frowned knowing that his daughter was still very much in danger of Hojo. "I see."

Angel rose from her seat and opened a duffel bag. From inside she began distributing communications radio headsets. Once everyone had theirs on and in working order, she too put one on and gave it a test. "Okay, can everyone hear me?"

Everyone in the helicopter nodded, with the exception of Reno who just flipped his hand at her; his universal signal for get on with it.

She motioned toward a diagram of the Shin Ra building that had been hastily taped to the wall. "All right. Our plan is as follows; you will be inserted on the street to the east of the building. You will get into the underground utility conduits and follow them to the building. There you will enter the building on the second subterranean level. Since Shin Ra is run by a bunch of idiots, they have yet to figure out that this is how we always get in."

There was a general snicker from everyone, as this method of entry had now been used with great success over nine times.

She continued. "Specialist Ericson will remain in the conduit, disrupting power to the building. Although the buildings lights and security system will still operate, this will disable their elevators. The team needs to get to the utility lift shaft. This lift is only in use at night by the maintenance crew, so it will be docked on the level you’re on. You will open the doors to the lift, climb up through its roof, and proceed to make your way to the eighth floor where the lab is. The team will have approximately fifteen minutes to make the climb, as Ericson will then restore power to prevent any further disruption to the building’s normal operations. Since Hojo forbids anyone from entering the lab when he isn’t present, it will be vacated, and you will find yourselves free to search for the sample."

She stopped to let everyone absorb what they had already heard. Tseng reached over and nudged Vincent. "I hope you aren’t afraid of heights."

He looked over at his brother. "Why?"

"The great escape, of course." Tseng smiled.

Angel cleared her throat to regain their attention. "Once the vial has been secured, it will be handed to Agent Morris."

The thinner of the two mystery men waved so that everyone would know of whom she spoke.

"The next step is for you to remove one of the windows. They are safety glass, so you will need to remove it from the sill, smashing it won’t work. With the repelling ropes you will be provided with, everyone is to evacuate the building. By now you will have been spotted on the security cameras, and the guards will be on their way from the stairwells and elevators. Morris will be the first out, as he is the fastest. Once everyone is on the ground, make your way to the Garris Bank building one block to the South. The owners of the bank are sympathizers, and will not stop you as you make your way to the roof. Should anyone from Shin Ra be chasing you, the security team for the bank will delay them. Once on the roof, we will be waiting for you in the helicopter. Specialist Ericson will already be on the helicopter with us, and we will be ready to leave."

Reno spoke up for the first time. "Pretty gutsy for us to be pulling this off during the day, don’t ya’ think?"

Angel glanced over to him. "Exactly why we are doing it this way. Their night time security has been tightened, but they would never expect something like this during the day, and their guards on this shift leave something to be desired. I have packs here for each of you, containing what you’ll need for the mission. I suggest you use the remaining flight time to get acquainted with the items inside, and to ask me any questions you might have regarding the raid."