Chapter 6
Wedge volunteered to drive before Barret could say anything. It just made sense, but the reasons were better left unsaid. Wedge had two hands, and he hadn't just said goodbye to his daughter for who knew how long. So he climbed into the driver's seat and turned the key in the ignition. The truck rumbled to life.
Barret didn't say anything the entire way back to Kalm, and Wedge didn't push. He could use the time to sort himself out.
Maybe Wedge could use it, too. It'd been four years since he'd left home. Run away might have been a better way to put it--from the grief, from the responsibility, from getting trapped in one kind of life before he figured out whether he even wanted it. Making it big in the city had been a naive, unrealistic kind of fantasy, and some part of him had always known that. He'd chosen to live in it for a little while, even so.
AVALANCHE had gotten him to open his eyes, and he liked to think he was a different person now from when he'd left. He'd become a part of something, and after losing so much... Barret had offered him an out, but he didn't want it. He wanted to be someone his friends could count on, the person he wasn't able to be for his brother.
When they came in sight of Kalm, he pulled off the side of the road and stopped near where Tifa had chosen to camp.
The campsite was abandoned.
"You think... they moved into town?" Wedge wondered, looking uncertainly to Barret.
Barret frowned and got out of the truck. Wedge followed. He was sure it was the right spot, a patch of level ground beneath an outcropping that hid it from view if you were coming from town. On closer inspection, he could see where Tifa had pulled enough of the dry grass to clear space for a fire, but she'd scattered the ashes afterwards to make it less obvious.
Barret knelt to pick up a large rock left in the middle of the camp. He relaxed as he turned it over and showed Wedge the underside, where chalk traced a crude map.
"Looks like they moved into the hills," he said. "Bettin' there's a story there, but hopefully she's okay."
He smudged the map before dropping the rock, and they returned to the truck. They ran out of road before reaching the spot Tifa had indicated, but it wasn't too far a hike from there. The ground sloped upward towards the seaside cliffs, and Tifa spotted them first, appearing suddenly from behind a rise and waving.
"You're back sooner than I thought," she said. Behind her, Johnny waved at them enthusiastically and nodded towards Elena as if hoping to be recognized for what a good job he'd done watching her. The Turk's ankles were bound now in addition to her wrists, and she shot him a glare.
"Borrowed an old junker from Derek," Barret explained as he surveyed the scene. "Everything okay here?"
Tifa tucked her hair back behind her ear. "Elena made a couple runs for it, but we managed. We moved up here yesterday because there's troops in town now."
"...they lookin' for us?" Barret wondered.
"I'm not sure, but I didn't want to risk it. I figured once you got back, Johnny could go have a look around."
Barret looked skeptical, and Wedge didn't blame him. Johnny wasn't known for being observant.
"I could go," Wedge offered. "I think I'm the only one of us who's been to Kalm, and I mean, people don't really pay attention to the fat guy anyway."
"Wedge..." Tifa said, but he shrugged off her sympathy. He wasn't making a dig at himself, it was just true, the same way she stood out for being pretty and Barret stood out for being upwards of six feet with a gun for an arm.
"Take Johnny with you," was what Barret said. "Guy's basically a rooster, he'll make damn sure nobody's lookin' your way. Just take that bandana off an' make sure nobody thinks you two are together."
"Got it," Wedge said, his shoulders straightening. This was something he could do.
He'd picked up a few old clothes at the farm, and he changed into a shirt that made him look less like he'd come from Midgar. He didn't take any of his fake IDs, because only people who frequented the city had ID. He was just some local farmer, like he used to be.
As he and Johnny hiked down to the town entrance, Wedge impressed on him that they didn't want to be direct. Asking the wrong questions could be suspicious, but people would volunteer information during a casual conversation, especially if it was something to commiserate about, like the sudden appearance of soldiers in a normally peaceful town.
He wasn't sure how much of that Johnny took to heart, but then, nobody was after Johnny.
Wedge let him approach the gate first while he circled around out of sight to approach from the south. But by the time he reached the gate himself, Johnny was still there arguing with the soldiers on guard.
"What's going on?" Wedge asked innocently.
"Kalm is under martial law," one of the soldiers told him. "State your business."
"...farmer? Is that what you mean?"
"What're you doing in Kalm?" asked the other man.
"Man, you should've put it like that the first time around!" Johnny exclaimed. "Business, I don't got a business, I'm here beggin' for work." He looked at Wedge in a way that made him worry Johnny was about to blow their cover already, but instead he added, "...not desperate enough yet to try farming."
The soldiers rolled their eyes at each other and waved him through. Then they returned their attention to Wedge. "If you're a farmer, how come I don't see any vegetables?"
"Oh, it's not market day," Wedge answered easily. "My brother actually sent me out here to talk to the organizers. Someone keeps taking our spot, and we want to make sure that's sorted out for tomorrow."
Wedge had lost track of what day it was, but he was betting the soldiers had no idea when market day was anyway.
"Huh. Well, all right, go on through."
He found Johnny loitering outside a shop not far inside. Wedge stopped briefly to look in the window beside him. "Try to stay in sight, but if we get separated, meet back outside the inn in an hour, okay?"
"The inn?"
"It's on the left as we go up into the square. Can't miss it."
With that, Wedge moved on. Kalm had always been a pretty town, with the kind of architecture you sometimes saw remnants of in the slums where the old towns had been before Midgar overtook them. Maybe back before he was born, people had been able to travel from one to the other and still feel at home amid the stonework and timber-framed houses.
He wound his way through town, gravitating towards any public place where people were chatting. He window-shopped near stationed soldiers, contemplated the menus of outdoor cafes, and poked his head into the general store. A lot of people were talking about President Shinra's murder, but no one expressed any concerns that the terrorists had set their sights on Kalm. The soldiers were alert, but they didn't patrol the streets in a way that suggested they expected to find anything.
It was early in the day for anyone to be drinking, but Wedge stopped in the pub off the square and ordered a coffee. The place was moderately populated with an early lunch crowd, and Wedge sat at the counter where he could watch the news playing on TV. The camera panned over crowds gathered along some topside street, awaiting a procession.
President Shinra's funeral, Wedge realized. So that was today.
Only a few days after Sector 7, and all the news and public outpouring of grief had been redirected to the man who'd given the order. Whatever the state of it, there was probably a body in that coffin that his wife had been able to cry over, if she was that kind of person. She could bury it with certainty and visit his gravesite as often or as rarely as she wanted. Maybe she'd spit on it, because there'd been a lot of rumored affairs, but it'd be there.
What about everyone he'd killed? There'd probably be some private funerals for topside residents. Search and rescue would have made a show of helping the folks whose money supported Shinra. But for everyone who'd been crushed beneath the plate... That was all the burial they were likely to get. One mass grave for all of them.
He wondered if he should bring it up with Barret, if they should have some kind of memorial for Biggs. But he didn't really want to. Maybe he wanted to think there was a chance for Biggs, too, like there was for Jessie. Maybe it just wouldn't be right to have a memorial without her. It wasn't right that they'd have to have one at all.
Wedge watched for a while, nursing his coffee and listening to the newscaster. He couldn't see Johnny, but he heard him at the far end of the counter ordering a burger. This could probably be their last stop.
A bald man and a redhead sat down at the counter a few seats down. A little strange that they were wearing suits, Wedge thought, and then he fought to keep himself from doing a double-take. The suits were a particular shade of dark blue, like Elena's. Despite the hour, they ordered beer.
"One drink," said the bald man.
"I know, then we get back to looking," said his companion. "If she's not in town, she can't be far. Her PHS's still pinging this tower." There was silence for a beat, and then he went on, "What're you so worried about? This is just clean-up."
"She's one of us."
"Barely," said the redhead. "If she got snapped up on her first day, she's not fit for the job." Another pause. "What're you lookin' at?"
"He look familiar to you?"
Wedge stared fixedly at the television. If he glanced over at them, he'd not only let on that he'd been listening but that he had reason to think they might be talking about him. If he didn't react, he was just some guy with one of those faces. He only had a few sips of coffee left, and then he could get up and leave like he'd been planning on doing it anyway.
He heard the scrape of a stool, and he tensed.
"Woah, man!" Johnny exclaimed. "That is an intense red."
"Excuse me?" said the redheaded Turk.
"What hair dye are you usin'? 'cause I feel like I only get that for like a day before it starts washing out, you know?"
Wedge quietly drained the last of his coffee, slid from his seat, and walked to the door. He hesitated for just a second, wondering if Turks would get aggressive with a guy who was just annoying. They wouldn't, right? They weren't supposed to draw unnecessary attention to themselves.
He stepped outside and went only as far as the store across the street, pretending to examine the wares in the window. If Johnny wasn't out in ten minutes, he'd go back in, he told himself.
And do what?
Thankfully, he didn't have to wait out his own ultimatum. Johnny's reflection appeared exiting the pub only a few minutes later, and he made a beeline for Wedge, disregarding that they weren't supposed to be seen together.
"We gotta go, right?" he said. "I mean, those were Turks, right? No desk jockey wears fingerless gloves."
Silently Wedge adjusted his mental assessment of Johnny's observational skills. He at least paid attention to fashion.
"Yeah," said Wedge. "You go ahead back to Barret. I'll follow in a little while."
"Nah, man, you go first. They almost made you!"
Wedge opened his mouth, but decided not to protest. No one was looking for Johnny. Besides, it made more sense with the stories they'd told the guards. Wedge had only come to talk to the market organizers. Johnny could be looking for work all day.
He tried not to hurry as he crossed the square and headed for the gate. A simple farmer had no reason to hurry. The soldiers weren't stopping people heading out, and Wedge gave them a friendly nod that went ignored. That was fine. Maybe they wouldn't even remember him.
He picked up the pace once he was out of sight and hiked to the top of the rise as fast as he could.
"Somethin's wrong," Barret observed at his haste, and glanced behind him. "Where's Johnny?"
"He's coming," said Wedge. "It's not that, and no one's looking for AVALANCHE. They haven't even put our faces out. But the Turks are here looking for Elena."
She was sitting within earshot, and he saw her perk up at the news.
"How do they know she's here if they aren't looking for AVALANCHE?" Tifa wondered.
"The PHS. They can track where the signal goes through."
Tifa froze. Barret looked to her. "You got that thing on you?"
She nodded and handed it over. Barret drew his arm back and hurled it as hard as he could. The PHS sailed over the wall into Kalm.
"...no way that didn't break," said Wedge.
"Fine with me," said Barret. "Maybe they'll think she dropped it there. No good to us anyway, all the messages they were sendin' her were in code, right?"
"Right," Tifa confirmed. "We have a few names from the contacts, but the rest of it was... Well, we'd need Jessie to work it out anyway."
They were all quiet for a moment. Turks would be privy to a lot of intel, but what they wanted most right now was Jessie's location. Needing her to decode that really did make it useless.
"Let's get a move on," said Barret.
"Right then," said Elena, stretching out her legs as Tifa and Wedge moved to break camp. "You're gonna have to untie me if you want me to walk with you."
"Yeah, I bet you'd like that," said Barret. He moved towards her, and Elena shrieked as he hefted her up over his shoulder.
"Put me down!" she shouted, slamming her bound fists against his back.
"Don't think so."
"Come on! I'm not gonna talk, so what good am I to you anyway? Just leave me here."
"Maybe you ain't any good for intel, but we find Jessie, and maybe we trade you," Barret proposed.
Elena snorted. "That's never gonna work."
"Turks are a big deal, aren't ya?"
"We do important work for the Company," Elena said primly, or as primly as she could hanging over his backside. "And part of that works means never, ever putting the Company at risk."
"So you're sayin' if it comes to it, they're just gonna leave you high an' dry?"
"That's pretty cold," said Tifa as she shouldered her bedroll.
Wedge remembered what the redheaded Turk had said. Just clean-up. They weren't looking for Elena to rescue her, but to make sure she hadn't talked. "Why do you wanna give them your loyalty if you don't have theirs?" he asked her.
"You think you're so superior? You let your buddy get caught, and you don't have the first clue how to--" Elena broke off suddenly.
Barret threw a grin over his shoulder. "Thanks for the confirmation," he said. "Brightens my day."
"Oh, screw you."
They'd collected all their gear, and Barret led the way back down the slope. "So," he said, "what're all those troops doin' here then? They can't all be lookin' for blondie."
Wedge shook his head. "Rufus has some kind of inaugural tour planned. Today's the President's funeral, and then Kalm's his first stop."
"So they're just making sure the town's secure before his visit?" said Tifa.
"Yeah," Wedge confirmed.
"Probably mostly for show," Barret reasoned. "Gotta put on a display of strength after whatever happened to his old man."
"And after Kalm, he's supposed to be headed for Junon," Wedge went on, and then he hesitated. "The news said there's some kind of big, special event planned there."
"This all sounds like good news for us," said Barret. "If Rufus's takin' all this security with 'im an' Midgar's still under martial law, they're gonna be spread pretty thin. We head back an' it shouldn't be too hard usin' blondie's ID to scope out a Shinra facility an' find out where they're keepin' Jessie."
Tifa exchanged looks with Wedge. "Barret..." she said gently.
"What?"
Wedge hadn't been sure if he was just reaching, but if Tifa thought so, too... "Junon's where they do public executions," he said.
Barret slowed to a stop. "Fuck," he said.
Tifa stepped up beside him. "We have to go to Junon then," she said. "Right?"
The truck was in sight ahead of them. Barret stared at it, and nodded slowly. "Right," he said. "An' we got a head start. Maybe we even get a shot at Jessie before they get her onto the base."
"We'll get to her," Wedge agreed, because maybe saying it aloud would help it be real.
Johnny caught up to them as they were loading Tifa's gear into the truck.
"Woah, you guys are fast," he observed. "You're heading out, huh?"
"Yeah," Barret confirmed. Elena glared at him as he loaded her into the truck bed like another piece of luggage, but he ignored her to face Johnny. "Which means this's where we part ways, 'less you're lookin' to join up."
Johnny blanched. "Uhhh, I mean, you know I support you guys, but I'm a lover not a fighter."
"We know," said Tifa with a fond smile. "Thanks for your help these past few days. Genuinely."
Color rapidly returned to Johnny's face. "O-of course! And, Tifa, you know..." He cleared his throat. "I don't know if we're ever gonna cross paths again, but if we do, you just say the word. I'll be there to help!"
"I appreciate that. You take care, okay?"
"Yeah! You, too!"
Barret had already leapt into the truck bed with a roll of his eyes. Wedge climbed into the driver's seat, and Tifa got into the passenger seat beside him. He turned the key.
"That guy has the biggest crush on you," Wedge remarked as they drove away.
"He'll get over it," said Tifa. "Right...?"
"Eventually."
Wedge wondered if they ever would see Johnny again. Even among the people who'd survived the plate fall, a lot of that community was going to scatter. There might not be anything familiar at all in returning to Midgar, when they finally got back to it.
Maybe he was dreading that, a little. He'd never been to Junon, but the prospect didn't seem so bad right now.