Chapter 39: New Recruits

Vincent led the mother and child to the exit, they exited the sewers and Vincent just carried them like sacks of potatoes. "W-what are you doing?" Ifalna got nervous as they saw the huge drop below. "Being efficient." Vincent jumped and the duo that were being carried screamed.

"You crazy bastard! AHHHHH!" Ifalna cursed Vincent who gave a small smirk, while Aerith slowly got used to it and laughed at the rough ride. They landed on the ground with a crash as Vincent put a physical barrier on them to soften the blow.

"What do you think you were doing!? We could've died right then and there!" Ifalna protested and Vincent snorted. "Well, you're alive and well right?" He had a smug look on his face and Aerith pulled on his cape.

"Hey mister can we do that again? That was fun!" Aerith had stars in her eyes and always wanted to fly. "Ask your mother." Vincent was amused and Ifalna glared at Vincent. "Uhhhh, I'm gonna pretend I didn't see that" Their little interaction got cut short as they saw a woman that was shocked out her mind. (pic)

"Ahhh, sorry about that. What's your name?" Ifalna smiled wryly as they certainly made a scene, falling from the sky and all. "Elmyra?" She was quite confused, but she did introduce herself nonetheless.

"Why did you say it like you weren't sure about it?" Ifalna in turn got confused and Vincent stared at her with glowing red eyes, spooking Elmyra. "Hey, you got a room to spare? Don't worry, I'll pay." Vincent wanted to have some shelter for the mother and child, as they were certainly put through the wringer.

"Vincent, don't look at her like that. You'll scare her away. Sorry about him, he looks scary, but he is certainly not crazy or anything." Ifalna took a jab at him, but Vincent ignored her. "Uhhh, sure thing?" Elmyra wasn't quite sure on who they were, but they had a child with them. That was enough reason to at least give them a place to stay for the night.

"Follow me, I live in a quite hidden place here in sector 5. Hold on to your daughter though, she might trip and fall. The terrain isn't quite friendly for children." Elmyra gestured for them to follow and mistakenly thought that Aerith was their daughter.

Vincent just raised a brow, but he ignored the misunderstanding and didn't correct her as that would be a waste of time. It also worked in their favor, giving them an identity in Elmyra's head that they were a family so she won't get suspicious.

Ifalna was about to tell her that they weren't quite a family, but Vincent put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't correct her, we can't trust her yet. She's basically a stranger, let her make her own conclusions. It will be much safer for you and your daughter that way."

She was quite surprised about Vincent's blatant distrust of others. But she nodded nonetheless, she couldn't risk getting found out by Shinra right away again anyways. "Okay, come on Aerith. Let's go honey. Hold on to your father tightly then." Ifalna decided to tease Vincent and it worked wonders.

"Shut up." Vincent squinted his eyes at Ifalna, but she stared him down fearlessly. She has experience on scary looking people. With Alexandra as a good example, her slit pupils combined with her enormous presence due to the amount of Mako she had made her gaze feel like you were a frog being eyed by a dragon.

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Meanwhile, at Wutai. Lazard was giving reports to Ramiel that Shinra has been attacked by Avalanche and managed to destroy three Mako reactors. "What? I thought that Avalanche is a small time group of terrorists that have been mildly annoying Shinra?" Ramiel was surprised and thought that they weren't as simple as he thought.

"We don't know exactly, but it was mainly because Shinra is highly understaffed right now. Most of the robots have been sent to Wutai and we lost a lot of soldiers due to Wutai's Vajradhara attack in the past." Lazard sighed and thought that Avalanche just upped their dangerousness.

"Are any of our operations damaged?" Ramiel squinted his eyes and would put them in their place if they intentionally damaged one of their projects. "Thankfully, their full focus was the Mako reactors. The people of the slums are also safe, no plates were damaged enough to fall down."

Ramiel nodded in satisfaction at the report. "Oh, by the way. There will be recruits on the way to you after they finished their basic training." Lazard remembered that there were two ambitious recruits that arrived at Shinra to find glory and fame.

"Hoh? SOLDIER?" Ramiel was curious and thought that they must be quite impressive if Lazard mentions them. "Yes, but they're quite different from the normal SOLDIER recruits. They're the result of project G. I believe you know them by now?"

"Project Gillian? Angeal Hewley and Genesis Rhapsodos? I know them, but I thought that they were in a backwater country somewhere? Did Shinra recruit them?" Ramiel thought that the kids got inducted to SOLDIER because of their relation to project G.

"No, they came here to Midgar of their own volition. And Genesis had some pretty strong words for Alexandra, saying that he wanted to surpass the ultimate soldier." Lazard laughed his ass off and Ramiel raised a brow at his words.

"Why Alexandra though? Just her? Why aren't I included?" Ramiel was curious and Lazard stopped his amusement of the boy's dreams. "He says that you are special, the gift of the goddess or something. The kid is weird." Lazard chuckled and Ramiel agreed.

"Well, I'll make a SOLDIER out of them then. That what you want too?" Ramiel smirked and thought that a couple of more sidekicks will be beneficial for them. "Yeah, don't go too overboard though. As far as I know, project G is safer than project binary. So they aren't absolute monsters like you two."

Lazard reminded him that even if they were the same result of project Jenova. They aren't quite equal in strength and effectivity. "Yeah, yeah. Don't worry, when they get out of here they will be the newest SOLDIER 1st class of Shinra." Ramiel cut off the call and Alexandra got curious on what they were talking about.

"So? Lazard will be sending us trainees? What are we? A training facility?" Alexandra snorted and was quite miffed about taking care some kids that were clearly out of their depth. "Now, now, don't be too dismissive. They can be quite good for us; we can now give them jobs!" Ramiel cheered and Alexandra's eyes lit up.

"You're right… We can finally have some chore boys that can do the work for us! Ramiel-nii you're a genius." Alexandra nodded in satisfaction and was happy that she could spend more time in helping Ramiel with his endeavors instead.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.