Author:
Vincent Valentine, Cloud Strife, and Sev Visagery
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Date Posted: 22:37:39 07/08/01 Sun
Turks must be able to keep in contact with each other at all times. This is, of course, easy to do when both are within shouting distance of each other. Other times, they employ walkie-talkies. But walkie-talkies can be cumbersome, loud, and staticy, and they do not function very well as homing devices for when one Turk wants to locate another quickly, in case of an emergency. Turks are famous for functioning like a well-tuned, well-oiled machine when on duty. When off-duty, they either hang out together in the Turks' lounge or wander off and visit whorehouses, get soused in bars, and God knows what.
And so, the Turks devised a special sort of watch. Not only does it tell the time, it also functions very well as an alarm, a stopwatch, a homing device, and, in a pinch, works as a walkie-talkie with limited reception. Turks live with that watch on. It's water-proof and shatter-resistant, so they shower with it on, drink with it on, sleep with it on, and fool around with it on. They are not easily replaceable, and are considered more of a uniform than the ubiquitous blue suit. When the Turks execute another Turk, the first thing they do is demand that you remove your watch so that they may smash it in front of you. If you refuse, they simply shoot it while it's still on your wrist.
Vincent has, purely out of habit, kept his watch. It's not as if he needs it to be contacted or to contact others. But it's a good timepiece and pleasing to the eye (silver, with an inverted black and white digital face), and there is no reason for him to discard it. He has kept it well-tuned, and it has never let him down.
Sev is counting on this. The Vincent he knew was a very organized man. He did not let himself become predictable enough to become a liability, but he had his habits and Sev had been close enough to him to know his little idiosyncrasies. He knows that Vincent would not have discarded his watch. And so, as he leaves his cigarette crumpled on the sidewalk, he switches his watch's frequency to detect Vincent's.
Even while running down the stairs in the heat of the moment, Vincent can hardly miss his watch beeping four times (signalling a summons), and then flashing at him. At first he is started, and finds himself waiting for the tinny voice to begin emitting from the watch's tiny speakers, telling him his destination. But then he realizes that there is no voice, because his chief has been long dead and he himself succeeded that chief. Who then, is homing him? Everyone is dead. . .
Except for Sev, he realizes. Sev, who was dead and now is alive. Sev, who stepped out of the elevator in a swift and easy move, all honey-liquid smiles and grace and cunning. He would have become chief of the Turks had not their aging leader decided that Sev was a little too brash, a little too mouthy. He was good and he knew it; he was too confident. Sev did not have the quiet diplomacy that Vincent employed. And so Vincent was the one promoted, and he had done a good job.
Vincent glances down at his watch. Sure enough, the frequency that is homing him is Sev Visagery's.
"We'll deal with that problem when it arises," Vincent replies to Seifer. But perhaps he is really speaking to himself.
Cloud is out of the room in a flash, flattening himself to the wall outside. He takes a few gulps of air, then glances to the left and to the right. No one. So far, so good. He unpeels himself from the wall and makes his way back to Lian, the life-saving vial still clutched in his hand. Once he gets this safely to Lian, he's going to run back and hope that Gabe hasn't been shot to pieces.
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