Kern presses his fingers together impatiently. His cold eyes bore into the messanger that stood in front of him now. The boy squirmed, uncomfortable to have the older man's eyes on him. Kern was not happy, and the boy could tell.

Kern lived for power and controll. He reveled in making people shudder when he entered a room. That was what he enjoyed most about power and controll over others. But now this power was slipping. Things were not going according to plan, and he didn't like it when that happened.

The situation was getting out of hand. If he didn't act soon, it wouldn't be possible to recover from reprocussions. He should have never gotten into this position, but the incompotence of his underlings was unfathomable in this case.

"Sir?" The youth inquired, growing slightly impatient himself. But Kern favoured him with a twisted and cruel smile. Let him squirm, he thought.

Frowning again, he realized, that he might have to take more care with the situation. Because of the blunders of others', a group of children were walking around and causing more trouble than they were worth. He didn't even need them any more.

He would have what he wanted soon. Then he would kill the parents of those annoying brats. Kern did so enjoy torturing people. It was a shame that he couldn't personally do the deed, but he had other things to take care of.

"Tell me, young man," his attention suddenly turning to to boy, "what you think of our situation? Come now, I won't hold anyting you say against you, Sammy."

"Well, sir," Sammy began, "Perhaps you should have taken care of the problem before it got out of controll."

"Indeed." Kern's eyes narrowed. "But what would you do about it now?"

"Send out Sky and Star to take care of it before anything else happens."

"Ah. You are ruthless. There may be a future for you in the Black Cloke, after all." Pause. "Who did Kali send out after them? Beta? Alfa?"

"Theta, sir."

"Oh really? Did she this this problem was so little?" Kern frowned as he thought of his lowest sergent. This was her chance to prove her tallents, but she had failed.

"Do you think Theta won't be able to handle the situation?"

"That's exactly what I think." Kern reached over his desk, and turned the intercom on. "Juli, I want you to relieve Kali of her duties. Send her down to Axis."

Sammy's eyes widdened. Kali had been in Sohca, which was just one level under Alfa. For her to be sent to the lowest level, and not killed, seemed strange. He himself was in Tote, which was just above Axis.

"Now, my boy, tell me what my teams are doing. Start with the lowest please."

"Yes sir. Axis is still doing reconnisance in the old Midgar ruins. Tote is infiltrating Cosmo Canyon's database files. Bali is heading back from Nibelhime after getting the information. Theta is moving to intercept the children. Sohca is maintaining the woman under control and preparing her. Alfa is retrieving the equipment you need. And Beta is about to retrive and process the samples taken."

Kern nodded. "I see that we are progressiong nicely. But bring Theta back. Tell them that they have the week off. I think that I will take your suggestion under advisement and send out Star and Sky. They should take care of the problem."

Sammy nodded and almost felt sorry for those children. Star and Sky were the best. Both very intelligent and smart, and skilled in many arts of killing and torture.

"I want you to tell them to intercept the children right away, they should soon be at the Nibelhiem reactor."

"Yes sir." Sammy began to walk towards the door.

"And one more thing," The boy stopped and turned around. "I like you, and your attitude. When you complete this task, I want you to join Sohca. You see, a position just opened up, and I believe that you may appreciate such a position in my business. What do you say?"

"Yes sir. Thank you sir." Sammy smiled.

"Sammy, your new code name is Genn. And don't dissapoint me. I like you, but if you fail me, I may have to take strong measures to see that it doesn't happen again . . ."

Genn swollowed, and left the room. He felt more uneasy leaving, then he did entering. And because his back was turned, he didn't see the synical smile plastered on Kern's face.

"Nice," Ash breathed looking at the dead Dragon that was lying on the ground.

The entire group was gathered around the monster. Marlene smiled with pride as she put the summon materia away. She wasn't sure if it was strong enough to kill the beast, but it had been more than enough.

"Where did you get that?" Jet asked, pointing to the red orb that was dissapearing into the bag.

"It was a gift from my father. After Meteor and Sephiroth were destroyed, Barret gave this to me as a sort of peace offering." Marlene smiled. "I wouldn't talk to him because he left me behind for so long. I now know why he did, but at the time, I just wanted to be with him. In any case, he didn't need to save the world with it, so I got it."

Ash's eyes sparkled. "Just think about how much gil you could get for that beauty!"

Marlene hugged her bag closer and backed away a step. "Don't even think about it! You shouldn't take things that belong to you. Especially if they can kick the crap out of you."

Ash huffed while everyone else smiled. Suddenly a barking was heard from the entrence.

"What's that?" Marlene asked.

Alan began to move towards the sound. "That's Thunder, my dog. He usually runs free, but always stays close to me. He was probably guarding the entrence. If he's barking now, that probably means that someone is trying to get by him."

"Then we must investigate," Rathena cut in sharply. She began walking towards the entrence at a fairly quick pace.

Travelling at the pace Rathena had set, they reached the entrence of the reactor, in just under a minute. But what they saw was not at all plesant.

Thender had stopped barking, and was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. Standing above him were two people. A man and a woman.

They looked fairly young, and actually quite plesant to look at. The man has blue hair, and green eyes. The woman had platinum blonde hair, and gold eyes. For some strange reason, when Nanaki looked into their faces, he almost thought that he was looking into Sephiroth's face. And despite the grusome site in front of them, they were smiling.

But it was a cold synical smile that made Aeris shudder. Alan, on the other hand, wasn't looking at these two people. He was looking at his dog, and his eyes seemed to glow with anger. He collapsed to his knees, and looked up to the two newcommers.

"Why?" Was all he asked.

"'Why?'" the woman echoed. "Because it was fun! It's not often that a mere animal puts up that kind of a fight. And it was mildly entertaining to watch him die."

"But that is none of our concern," the man said. "What we want, is to watch you die!

Victor narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?" he asked. Aeris thought that she heard an edge in his voice.

The man smiled. "Since you all will be dead in the next few minutes, I see no reason not to tell you our names. I'm Sky."

"And my name is Star," the woman said. "We're members of the Black Cloke. And I'm sure you have heard of the Black Cloke, since they are the one's you are trying to stop."

Marlene gritted her teeth. "You are murderers who deserve to die! But I'll give you a chance to tell us where Barret and the others' are."

"Sky seemed to think it over. "Um, no. But how about I let you all meet Cloud. I'm sure you all miss him."

Victor was about to step forward, when he saw the Certa's ghost appear in front of the two killers. She closed her eyes, and seemed to reach out and touch their foreheads. Suddenly she gasped and withdrew her hands. She looked towards Victor.

"Please tell everyone that they must flee! These two are stronger then you can handle! Please get away from them before any of you get hurt!"

Vincto blinked. "Aer you sure?" he asked. Everyone looked at him, realizing that he was talking to Aeris. Aeris nodded and dissapeared again.

Star leaden over to talk to Sky. "What is that kid doing?"

Sky shrugged. "Beat's me. He's probably just talking to himself. Kinda creepy if you ask me."

Victor turned to his companions. "We must get away from this place. Those two over there are too strong. We won't stand a chance against them."

"Aw, jeeze," Ash said. "If they're so strong, why aren't they attacking?"

Victor shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps they are playing with us."

Nanaki began moving away from the pair, "Then it is probably in our best interests to leave this place."

And everyone began moving away.

"Ahem!" Everyone jumped and looked to where the sound came from. It was Star. She was standing with her arms crossed, not looking very pleased. But where was Sky?

"You're not thinking of leaving are you? The party's just getting started!" Sky's smile had been twisted into a wicked looking expression. He now stood, blocking the exit from the reactor. "It wouldn't be very nice to leave yet!"

Star and Sky began advancing towards the group, who had drawn their weapons. They backed in together, and prepared to fight their way out. Even though they might not stand a chance, they had to try!

Chapter 20