Reno looked back at him "surprised?" he asked

"Very" Cloud answered "what are you doing here?"

"Long story if you're buying at the bar I'm telling it if not I've got work to do." Reno said looking at the dead body behind Cloud on the floor.

Cloud followed his line of sight to the body and said "ok but what are you going to do wih him until we get back?"

"He's dead." Reno said "he ain't going nowhere."

Cloud walked to the door and stepped outside into the cool night air, no one seemed very surprised to have heard a gun shot, Cloud almost came to the conclusion that it happened all the time, but the fact that the town was so small made him think otherwise. The people probably were too scared to come out of thier houses or something like that.

The town bar was open all night long, the farmers that worked the surrounding feilds usually spent the night there instead of in thier beds. Cloud and Reno sat at the bar and cloud ordered some drinks for them. "Now what's going on" he asked "Why was that guy trying to kill me?"

"That guy was the man that I've been tracking down for the last three months." Cloud cut him off

"you're a bounty hunter then?"

"I was getting to that, yes it was the only job that I could get, Many people in the world were reluctant to hire a former Turk for obvious reasons, so I was forced to find some other kind of work." Reno paused to take a drink from the shot glass in front of him. "Shit that's strong stuff!" he exclaimed "Well that guy that so kindly paid you a visit tonight was some kind of scientist or something like that. he's done s lot of not so legal stuf and that's why I was hired to track him down."

"So what has this got to do with me?" Cloud asked

"how the hell should I know, All I know is that he wanted something that you had pretty badly."

"like What?"

"I don't really know but for a price i could find out for you"

"and why should I hire you instead of someone that has a better record?"

"Hey man look around, it's not like you see many bounty hunters out there any more, and it's obvious that you havn't heard of my work. I am the best."

"fine you're hired."

"Oh it's not that easy, I have things to do, you've got to pay me enough to put off all the other contracts that I've taken on, see the longer I wait on those ones the less money they're worth. I need to be compensated for my work."

"And how much do you want?"

Reno named a large sum and Cloud almost gagged as he was drinking "Hey I'm giving you a break 'cause we used to be buddies."

"Buddies?"

"Well sure I wanted to rip your head off and use it for a door stop but hey we were like this" Reno lifted his hand and crossed his fingers. "Either that or I've had too much to drink already."

"I don't know probably the later."

"you know I never really wanted to be a Turk in the first place. I never had a single thing in common with my father, and I though if maybe I followed in his footsteps and became a Turk like he was maybe he'd finally notice me."

"And you're telling me this . . . why?"

"Hey I just need to talk to someone, do you know how long it's been since I've had a decent conversation with someone? Well like I was saying I never wanted to be a turk I always wanted to be a Soldier like you, were."

"I was never a soldier." Cloud said reluctantly, "I was kicked out of the academy, my hope and dreams broken into thousands of pieces."

"Well I should be getting out of here before that body attracts too much attention, and you should think of finding somewhere safe to hang out, I can't collect my pay from a dead man."

"I have a house in Costa Del Sol if you need to contact me."

"I don't think you should go back there for long, if someone found you here then they'll surely know where you live." Reno stood up and walked out of the bar. His long red-brown hair whipped around in the wind as he opened the door.

Cloud paid the bartender and left also, he couldn't think of any really safe places to go. Then he though of Reeve, after Shin-ra fell and meteor was destroyed he had been elected as the leader of whatever was left, which wasn't much since every Mako reactor on the planet had been destroyed or stopped dead by holy. Reeve had changed the name of the company and now had it based in Junon. They did more scientific now that there was no such thing as Mako power.

If ever there was a safe place on the planet it would be in the middle of an army. It was as good a place as any to go, Reeve had been wanting him to come to Junon ever since he'd gotten the company back on it's feet. Cloud decided to take him up on his offer.

Zack's parents would probably wonder where he disappeared to but he didn't much care all that much, His first concern was to get as far away from Gongagga as possible in as little time as possible.

The man stood in the middle of what had once been his laboratory, but now it was only a ruined shadow of what it used to be. Much like the city of Midgar in which the lab was found. The Shin-ra tower had toppled over during the destruction of Meteor, and the man stood on what had used to be the wall. Small plants were beginning to grow through the large holes that had been smashed it all of the walls the floor and the ceiling.

He ran a hand through his shoulder length blond hair and walked out of the building through a hole in the wall. "This one is unsalvageable" he said to the three armed men that waited for him outside. "We'll have to go to one of the other ones."

"Where are the other ones at professor?" One of the men asked

"There were three labs that contained what I need at the time of my death . . .faked of course, one was here in the Shin-ra tower, another in Nibelheim, and the third was at Junon." The man with the long blond hair said

"Which one are we going to try next?" another of the guards asked

"The lab at Nibelheim was too small to do what I want to do . . . on the scale that I want to do it." The professor answered "It served it's purpose well at the time but now I need something more. We go to Junon."

Another man came running up "professor Gast" the man said "He got away."

"Who?" Gast asked

"The soldier you sent Markus after, Markus is dead and the Soldier disappeared during the night. No one saw him leave."

"Damn it" Gast yelled. In his anger hi grabbed the man by the throat and strangle him to death. Letting the body fall to the ground Gast straightened his white coat and wiped at a spatter of blood. "Assemble everything, boats planes troops we're going to pay The new president a little visit."

Something on Reeve's desk buzzed, he pushed the button and said "yes. What is it?"

"Mr. President sir" His secretary said "There's someone here to see you, he claims to be a friend of yours."

"Did he give a name?"

"Yes sir." The secretary answered "Cloud Strife sir"

"send him in please."

The door opened and cloud walked in. "Cloud you finally took me up on my offer to visit tour the new company."

"Well that and something else." Cloud said "I also came here because of something else."

"Are you in trouble or something?"

"I don't know, but someone tried to kill me the other night, I don't know who or why yet but until I find out I need somewhere to stay and kind of lay low for a while."

"Hey no problem. Have you been to see Cid yet?"

"nope I just got here"

"He hasn't been as anal as he was since we sent him to the moon, He's been dying to tell you about it."

"When did Cid go to the moon?"

"What you didn't hear. Where ya been for the last two years? Dead?"

"Was it that big of a deal?"

"of course, ever since we re-opened the space program we've sent at least twenty rockets to the moon, Cid's been on about five of them, every time we send another one up everyone just goes nuts around here we get hundreds of news reporters and stuff like that."

"Wow. Where's Cid at right now?"

"he's out at the airport he's still trying to rebuild the Highwind after all this time."

"Well I guess I'll go talk to him and let you get back to your work." Cloud turned to leave and then he turned back to Reeve. "Have you heard anything about Reno's reputation as a bounty hunter?" He asked

"Ooh! You don't have him after you do you?" Reeve said looking a little nervous

"No." cloud said " No he's working for me actually, I hired him to find out who wants to kill me. I guess by your expression when I asked about him that he's good?"

"The best. He never come's back empty handed. How did you find him, he's one of the most elusive people on the planet?"

"actually he found me. I wouldn't have even hired him if I hadn't felt guilty for ruining his career but I guess he's worth it then."

"He's worked for us on a number of ocaisions, he always seems to know exactly what is going on and when, We never need to contact him he just finds what we want and comes asking for cash."

"well I guess I'll let you get back to work and go bother Cid for a while."

"Hey Cloud How about dinner tonight in my apartment?"

"OK that sounds good, we can catch up and then you can show me around."

"see you then"

Cloud walked out of the door and headed for the airport.

Reno Watched from a distance as the man with the long blond hair walked back out of the ruined building that had once been his home. The man seemed vaguely familiar but Reno couldn't place his face. He had a listening device planted almost under Long blond's feet and listened to the conversation he was having with his guards.

Anoter man ran up calling Long blond Professor Gast, Reno gasped, no he knew where he had seen the man. He was th scientist that had once worked in the Shin-ra tower. The man must have been Ninty years old when he had died but here he was alive and well looking like he was in his early thirties. He watched as Gast strangled the mesenger, and gave orders to assmble an army on Junon. "God damn it." He swore. That was where Cloud had gone after leaving Gongagga.

Reno waited for the men to leave then he got up and ran to his motorcycle, and raced away towards Junon. He had to make it there before the army did.