Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Immortality ❯ Hacking for Information ( Chapter 8 )

 

Ch. 8

 

Hacking for Information

 

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Three Days Later…

In the Market Place…

 

 

 

Dietrich and Vincent walk side-by-side through the square, a shopping-list in Vincent's hand and bags of groceries in Dietrich's hands, both were wearing civvies; because the washing machine was broken and they had no clean uniforms left.

 

Dietrich was wearing a pair of blue jeans with a black t-shirt and dark-blue denim jacket, and Vincent was wearing a pair of faded black jeans with a faded-blue denim jacket over a white button-up shirt that was tucked into his pants.

 

“What is next on the list?”, Dietrich asks.

 

Vincent glances at the list, “Eggs and milk”.

 

“Okay, let's get them. The sooner we do, the sooner we can get back”.

 

Suddenly, Vincent begins hacking, collapsing to his knees when the coughing became violent, his face becoming flush and his body began to shake.

 

“Vincent, I told you to take it easy, didn't I?”

 

He just tries to catch his breath; ignoring her.

 

“I'm… alright…” he pants when his voice returns, acting as if he just had a mild asthma-attack.

 

“No you're not, you're still sick. Now go back to the mansion and get into bed”, she orders.

 

“Who is the superior-officer here?”, he coldly asks, getting back onto his feet.

 

“You are…”, she growls, staring up at the 6'2” tall older Turk, “When you're not sick!”

 

“Dietrich…”, he hisses behind clenched teeth, as he glares down at the 5'7” high younger Turk, “You're getting on my nerves…”

 

“Good to know you have nerves…”, she retorts.

 

As the two glared at each-other, witness of the argument would probably swear there was sparks clashing somewhere in the middle of their glares.

 

“Oh look, they're just the cutest married-couple!”, an elderly woman says.

 

Dietrich breaks eye-contact with Vincent to angrily glare at the old-woman, while Vincent loses the cold and hateful look on his face to only have it replaced with a stunned and deeply blushing one.

 

“Grandma, come on!”, a five year old male child whines, tugging on the woman's sleeve.

 

“They're not married, Grandma. The guy is in love with the beautiful lady living in the mansion”, the boy's ten year old sister says.

 

“Oh my! Please forgive me, I could have sworn the two of you were a young married couple”, the woman apologizes, being lead away by her grand-children.

 

“The nerve of that old woman…”, Dietrich hisses under her breath.

 

She turns to find Vincent kneeling on the ground, holding his left hand to his head, his breathing was shaky, and his right hand was on the ground to maintain balance, his whole body was shaking.

 

“Vincent?”

 

She sees him rapidly blink, as if trying to clear his vision.

 

“Hey, Vincent… You okay?”

 

“I'm… really… light…headed… right now…”, he responds.

 

“You should sit down”, she says, helping him to his feet, and leads him to a chair and table of a nearby outside café.

 

“You wait here and rest, I'll go get you some orange-juice”, she goes inside the café to order the juice.

 

When she returned a few minutes later with the cup of juice in hand, she found Vincent with his arms leaning on the table and his head resting on top of his crossed arms; completely passed out.

 

`I swear this guy has slept more than he has body-guarding!', she growls in her head, as she places the glass on the table beside his arm, and takes the seat opposite to him, `But he is sick at the moment…', she mentally adds.

 

Vincent slightly shifts his head as he swallows, revealing his face a little more than the position his was in did.

 

Lightly sun-kissed skin glowed in the afternoon sun, his black hair gleamed like pure mid-night onyx, and his face held on look of innocence as pure as snow. Like a dark-haired angel from heaven; Lucrecia's guardian angel.

 

Dietrich could feel a faint blush form on her cheeks, `He looks just like a sleeping angel…', she gasps in her head, as she reaches over to brush a stray hair from his face.

 

He slowly groans, slightly parting his pale sun-kiss pink lips as he softly takes a deep breath. His crimson eyes slowly blink open, before he sits up and yawns.

 

“(I)…must have fallen asleep…”, he yawns, behind his hand, “Dietrich, you're back…”, he states, noticing her sitting there, “How long was I out for?”

 

She mentally shakes herself out of her stupor, “Only a few minutes…”, she replies, the faint blush leaving her cheeks.

 

“I needed that nap…”, he says, stretching as he stood; a little wobbly on his feet, “Let's get the rest of the groceries”.

 

“You sure you're okay to continue shopping?”

 

“Positive”, he answers, smiling.

 

If Dietrich wasn't still sitting down, her knees would have given out underneath her from his smile.

 

`Wha… What is this feeling in my chest…?', she ponders, holding a hand to her chest as she got to her feet, `My heart is pounding… Why did it start pounding so hard when Vincent smiled at me…?'

 

 

 

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Twenty Minutes Later…

At the Mansion…

 

 

 

 

Dietrich's hands completely full of bags and Vincent looked a little worn out from the trip.

 

“How was the shopping?”, Lucrecia asks, when she sees them.

 

“It went well, except Vincent kind-of collapsed in the market-place…”, the female Turk replies, putting the bags onto the kitchen-counter.

 

“I only got a little light-headed, that's all”, he protests.

 

(Ring…ring…), the phone in the front-hall rang.

 

“I'll get it”, Vincent says, leaving the room.

 

“Hello…”, he greets when he picks up the receiver, “Vincent Valentine speaking…”

 

(Vincent, you forgot to report in three-days ago. Is anything wrong?), Verdot's voice questions on the other end.

 

“Everything is fine… And, I apologize for not reporting in, but I had a cold for the past week and Dietrich wouldn't allow me to leave my bed, plus the added problem of that I couldn't talk during my time sickness…”, he replies, actually coughing a little bit to get rid of the scratchy-feeling in his throat.

 

(And how has Dietrich been doing?)

 

“She has been doing extremely well…”

 

(Good… And the Jenova Project?)

 

Vincent cringes, “It is going quite well…”, he replies, hiding the displeasure in his voice.

 

(Good… I'd like to hear a report from you one month from now, Vincent.)

 

“Yes, Verdot-sir”.

 

Verdot hangs up on the other end, causing Vincent to hang up the receiver.

 

Vincent clenches and unclenches his left hand, trying to get rid of the sudden numbness that appeared in it.

 

`Damn it… There is some nerve-damage from when I was shot during my last mission…', he curses in his head, as he puts his right hand to his left shoulder, wincing at the memory of the gun-shot wound that left nothing but a faint scar on his shoulder, `I'd hate to be shot again…', he thought bitterly, as he moved his hand down to his wrist to massage the numbness from his arm and hand.

 

`What is wrong with Vincent?', Dietrich mentally asks herself, watching Vincent continue to massage his arm as she peaks around the doorframe, `Why is his arm hurting?'

 

She watches him briskly walk up the stairs towards his room, still rubbing his wrist.

 

“But I'm willing to find out…”, she mutters, heading upstairs to her own room.

 

 

 

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An Hour Later…

In Dietrich's Room…

 

 

 

“I can't believe it is this easy…!”, she quietly exclaims, after having spent the past 45-minutes hacking, by-passing, and finding backdoors into the system; without being discovered, “Now let's see if I can find Vincent's mission/medical file…”

 

She quickly types on her keyboard, as her eyes scan the screen for any sign of Vincent's files.

 

“Found it…”, she mutters, clicking onto the link.

 

The file opened up, and read,

 

“Name: Vincent Valentine

Age: 27

Hair Color: Black

Eye Color: Red

Height: 6'2” (184 cm)

Blood-type: A

Birthday: October 13

 

Occupation: Turk; Gunman.

Turk Identification #: GAI012

 

History: Joined the Turks at the age of 23, after graduating with high-honors from Midgar Private College.

First mission at 24; body-guarding the governor of Costa del Sol.

Reinstated at 26 and assigned to body-guard the scientists on the Jenova Project.”

 

“Reinstated…? What happened during the two years between his first mission and this one…?”, Dietrich whispers, continuing to read the file.

 

“Medical: June 26, XXXX (Age: 23); perfect health and physical fitness, no history of major illnesses in childhood and teenage years, and all vaccinations are up to date.

 

October 31, XXXX (Age: 24); gunshot wound to the left shoulder, received while protecting the governor from an assassination-attempt. Patient can't move his left arm, nerve-damage is feared.

 

January 15, XXXX (Age: 24); put on medical leave for recovery and the patient has trouble moving his arm and hand, and is in pain every-time he tries to move it. But it is to be expected, as the wound hasn't finished healing.

 

December 20, XXXX (Age: 25); the wound has healed well, leaving only a very faint scar. Nerve-damage is minor, patient's arm goes numb from time to time but is nothing to be concerned about, as he has full usage of his arm and hand. Though the strength in his hand is lower than average, the patient is to be put on extended medical leave for rehabilitation, to strengthen his grip as we don't want to lost such a valuable member of the Turks.

 

November 18, XXXX (Age: 26): his rehabilitation was successful, though nerve-damage is still evident, as the patient's arm still goes numb but not as often as before, and he can hold and fire a gun without dropping the weapon even during the periods of numbness. He is to be taken off medical leave and reinstated to active-mission ready stats.”

 

“Vincent had been shot…?”, she whispers to herself.

 

“What are you doing?”, a male's voice asks from behind her.

 

 

 

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DemonGirl-Setsuna: Well? What did you think? Please review!

 

Dietrich just got caught doing something she shouldn't have been doing!

But by who?

 

Vincent's Turk ID # is taken from the Tutorial Menu on the `Dirge of Cerberus' game.

 

As for Vincent's medical history, I'm just trying to come up with a reason for the gantlet he wears later. And, for not stating the year of the reports, I don't know what year it is/was in Final Fantasy VII, so I'm just covering my butt by not giving a year.

 

Ninka (Muse): You're just lazy.

 

Setsuna: No I'm not. I looked everywhere I could and found no trace of what year it is in Final Fantasy VII at all!

 

Youka (Another Muse): You found a picture of the letter written by Hojo, the group finds in the Mansion to get Vincent in the game.

 

Setsuna: True, but the letter doesn't state a month, a day, OR a year on it!

 

Ninka & Youka: Whatever!

 

Setsuna: Behave you two or I'll turn you both into plushies again!

(A/N: Read my story `Tears of Blood' to find the reference)

 

*Ninka and Youka cower in fear*

 

Good…

 

Join me when I post the next Chapter!

 

Catch you readers next time!