Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII
Here's part two of the great escape.
Hope you like it! And don't forget to review!
Enjoy!
Chapter 9: Escaping Midgar Part 2
"You're coming with us!" one of the two guards shouted angrily at Tifa and she took another step back while still keeping her gaze fixed on their movements.
They both held up their gun, aimed at her and even though she knew they probably wouldn't kill her, she wasn't going to be foolish and rush this. This was probably her only chance to get out of her there and she couldn't make any mistakes now.
"Move it!" the shorter guard hissed at her and dangerously moved his gun towards her chest.
Tifa stepped back again and when she felt coldness of the wall hit her back, she knew she had to fight back. There was nowhere to run to anymore. Tifa's eyes shot to the shorter guard when he wanted to reach out for Tifa's shoulder with his left hand. That's when she took her chance. In the blink of an eye she had taken hold of the guard's outstretched arm with her left hand and smashed her right fist into his chest, making him fall back against the wall.
"What the-!" she heard the other guard yell.
Tifa quickly moved her body away to avoid getting shot by the other guard and with a high kick she disarmed him, making him step back in shock. With another fierce kick she knocked him over and slammed him against the wall. She jumped after him, grabbing him by the collar and was about to finish it when she felt a cold object press against her back. Her whole body tensed when she realized it was a gun and that she had nowhere to go.
"Get up you little bitch!" a deep voice angrily growled at her and she slowly and carefully started to get up.
"You're gonna pay for this!" the guard behind her hissed and he put more pressure on the gun pressed against her back.
She winced for a moment when the barrel painfully pressed onto her spine. When she got up, she slowly put her hands up in the air and saw the other guard was trying to get back on his feet. He reached for his gun and groaned when he finally got up.
"Move!"
Tifa didn't have a choice but to walk out of the cell. All kinds of thoughts were racing through her mind and she swallowed hard when she couldn't immediately think of a way to escape. She began to curse mentally, asking herself why she didn't take out the first guard before attacking the other one.
"You're gonna scream for mercy when we're done with you." the taller guard suddenly said and both of them started to laugh. Their voices made her shiver in disgust, but Tifa just tried to keep a straight face. She wasn't going to let them have the pleasure of seeing fear in her eyes.
Just when they were about to walk through the hallway, a gun was fired at the back of the poorly lit hallway and Tifa gasped when she felt the bullet rush past her left arm. She immediately turned around and stepped back with widened eyes when the shorter guard fell to the floor. His eyes were wide open and the blood seeping out of his chest quickly formed a crimson, thick puddle next to his body.
"Marvin!" the other guard yelled out in panic and he immediately aimed his gun at the approaching figure in the distance.
Before Tifa could think of attacking the guard, he had grabbed her by her arm and pressed the gun against the side of her head. She let out a short yelp when she felt the cold metal against her skin and she shivered.
"Who the hell is there?!" the guard yelled and Tifa heard him swallow. "I'll kill her!"
Before Tifa had the time to see who was walking towards them, another bullet was fired. Tifa gasped and closed her eyes shut, expecting the worst to happen, but when she felt the grip on her arm loosen she opened her eyes and saw the remaining guard dropping down to the floor. She gulped when she saw the bullet hole in his throat.
Unsure of what to do next, Tifa stepped away from the two bodies in a rush and when she looked to her right her eyes widened in surprise.
"Tifa."
She couldn't hide her smile when she felt Cloud's hand on her shoulder. Relief washed over her and she had to hold back the urge to tackle him with a hug.
"You came back!"
However, Cloud didn't smile at her and immediately grabbed her hand. He started to pull her along and Tifa jogged behind him in confusion. She eyed the gun attached to his belt and also noticed how sweaty his hand was.
"Cloud, what happened?" she asked, but he didn't answer. "Cloud? Hey!"
Then Tifa gasped in surprise when Cloud abruptly stopped and pulled her back with him into an empty cell. He glued them both to the wall and placed his hand on her mouth before she could make any noise of protest. His other hand held her firmly close to his body. Before Tifa could realize what was going on, she heard loud footsteps coming closer. Several guards rushed past them, failing to notice them in the empty cell.
Sweat started to roll down her neck while they waited for the guards to pass them. Tifa could barely breathe in the position she was in. She was so close against Cloud's chest that she could feel his breath on the back of her head. The heat rose up to her cheeks when she awkwardly became aware of how close they were. She cursed herself for thinking about such things in a situation like this, but luckily enough Cloud released his hold on her not long after.
"C'mon!" he hissed quietly and immediately started to run through the hallway.
Tifa was still recovering from the sudden closeness to him, but she managed to shake it off and followed closely after him.
"In here!"
Cloud opened a door to what seemed like a technical support room. There were several monitors showing the images of security cameras and other electronic devices were scattered all over the place. Tifa didn't understand why Cloud had brought them here, there was no way out of here, it was a dead end.
"What now?" she asked confused, still looking around the room, looking for something she could have missed.
Cloud didn't answer immediately, he was frantically looking through several maps on one of the computers.
"Cloud?"
He turned around, not even looking at her and began to search through the desk on the other side of the room. Tifa was getting annoyed and put her hands on her hips.
"Cloud!"
"Keep it down!" he hissed at her and then mumbled something to himself she could barely understand.
"What are you looking for?" she asked and he shook his head. "A key card, but it's not here...dammit!"
Tifa frowned when he cursed out loud and then he started to look around the room. He suddenly walked to the corner of the room and looked up. Tifa followed his gaze and saw an air duct. Tifa noticed it was big enough to fit a person inside and she immediately knew what he was planning to do.
"What? You want to crawl through there?"
A smile tugged at Cloud's lips and Tifa raised an eyebrow when she saw the joy in his eyes.
"Not me, you."
"What?"
Tifa shook her head and folded her arms, but Cloud didn't give her the time to protest.
"Look, we don't have much time. You'll just have to trust me for now."
"But what do you want me to do in there? And what about you?"
"We need to get out of Midgar and there's a storage area for Shinra's vehicles a bit further. This air duct leads there. You can crawl to the other side and open the door from the inside."
Tifa frowned and just when she was about to ask questions, Cloud continued the explanation of his plan.
"I don't have a key card and it's impossible to open the door without it. I can take care of the security down there and then you can let me in." Cloud paused for a moment and Tifa nodded to urge him to continue. "So we should be able to have a clear path for at least a little while."
Tifa still didn't feel too confident about his plan, but decided to go with it. They didn't really have a choice anyway.
"We don't have time to lose. We'll meet in 10 minutes."
"What if you're not there?"
"I will."
"But just what if you're not there?"
"I'll bé there Tifa."
Tifa decided she just had to trust Cloud on this one. She supposed he knew what he was doing, he knew the place and he had come back for her before after all. Without a second thought, Tifa got on one of the tables and pulled away the grill with force. She almost lost her balance when it finally came loose, but managed to stay on her feet.
"10 minutes." Cloud repeated just before he ran out of the room and left Tifa yet again, alone.
Tifa let out a sigh before she hoisted herself up into the air duct. At first she struggled to fit her body into the narrow space, but eventually she found a way to position herself. She coughed when the dust around her flew up and she sighed. She was not going to enjoy this.
Cloud quickly closed the door behind him and when he turned around the corner to make his way to the stairs, he spotted several guards and low ranking SOLDIERS checking the cells. He was about to rush to them to quickly take them out when he heard other footsteps behind him.
"There he is! Seize him!"
Cloud cursed out loud and reached for his sword. He had a hard time dodging the rain of bullets coming from both sides, so he waited until the left side had to reload their guns before he ran over to the right side. He held his sword firmly in front of his face to protect himself and then he struck the first few guards with great force. The impact made them fly back and smack against their comrades.
Cloud took advantage of their weakened position and spun around, holding his sword up above him and gathering the necessary energy for his next attack. He ignored the bullets grazing his skin and thrust his sword forward, sending out a massive beam that easily destroyed the rest of the guards.
With a smirk on his face, he ran through the body mass to the stairs and made his way to floor -2. When he opened the door to the hallway he stepped back in surprise when he suddenly came eye to eye with a gun.
"I knew you would come here."
"Elena..."
The blonde Turk was standing right in front of him with her gun nearly pressed against his forehead. Even though she was threatening him, the slightly confused and sad expression on her face made her seem quite harmless.
"My orders are to stop you..." she softly said and Cloud could have sworn he had heard disappointment in her voice.
He knew Elena well and actually really liked her. She was always friendly and even though she was a bit clumsy, she did her job very well. Cloud considered them friends rather than colleagues and hoped he could talk his way out of this one.
"I had nothing to do with the bombings, Elena. I swear."
He observed Elena's eyes and then she finally sighed and lowered the gun.
"I believe you."
Cloud wasn't really sure what to do next, so he just gazed at Elena, who put her gun away and fixed her dark blue suit and tucked her short hair behind her ear.
"I'll report to the rest that I haven't found you. That should buy you some time." Elena simply said and walked past Cloud, who was still analyzing what she had said.
He turned around to ask questions when Elena interrupted him. "Zack is missing. He's not in Midgar anymore."
"So they got away..." Cloud mumbled to himself and then Elena turned around with a fierce look in her eyes. "Just know that the next time we'll meet. We'll be forced to fight."
Cloud sighed and eventually nodded.
"I know." he muttered and watched Elena disappear behind the door.
When Tifa finally reached the end of the air duct, she let out a sigh of relief. With both hands she pushed against the grill in front of her until it finally came loose. When she crawled a little further she could see into the enormous storage.
"Woah..."
Dozens of motorbikes and cars were neatly parked around the room. Several vehicles were covered by a big cloth, but she could easily recognize the shape of the big trucks underneath. Tifa allowed herself a minute to admire the big collection of vehicles and then also noticed she was very high up. With some difficulty, she turned around in the narrow space and dropped herself down. Once she landed on her feet, she put the grill in her hands away and dusted herself off. When she started to walk through the enormous room she felt so small and vulnerable. She started to look for an entrance and then saw where she needed to go and quickly made her way to two big metallic doors on the right side of the room.
For a short moment she observed the construction at the left side of the doors and then she took hold of the heavy wheel. To her disappointment, she had some trouble moving the sturdy wheel, so she put all her weight into it and then it finally started to rotate.
"Come on!"
When she heard the loud noise of the doors slowly opening, she prayed Cloud was waiting on the other side and not a Shinra army.
To her great relief, Cloud quickly slipped through the doors and turned to her.
"Good job!"
"You're here!" Tifa exclaimed relieved and immediately turned the wheel back around to close the doors.
"Follow me!" Cloud said and Tifa jogged behind him when he swiftly manoeuvred between the motorbikes and cars. She was impressed he knew his way so easily around this place, Tifa had to concentrate to keep herself from bumping into everything.
When Cloud finally stopped, Tifa walked up beside him and gazed at the shiny motorbike in front of her. It was quite big for a bike, yet still sporty and elegant. Tifa watched how a wide smile appeared on Cloud's face and how his gloved hand slid over the saddle. After a while of admiring the Fenrir, Cloud grabbed the keys that were hanging from the steering-wheel and sat down on his bike. When he inserted the keys, Tifa jumped back in surprise when several components sprung open. Cloud casually placed the separate pieces of his sword into the bike and closed everything again.
"Well, get on." Cloud suddenly said, breaking Tifa's fascination with his bike.
She hesitantly placed herself behind him and immediately noticed the bike wasn't meant for two people when she uncomfortably sat down on the hard, cold metal. When she had found a good position, she grabbed the sides of the bike for support. After Cloud had put on his goggles, he started the engine. A loud roar echoed through the entire storage and Cloud slowly moved the bike to the other side. When Tifa saw a security system at the door, she panicked for a moment, but Cloud quickly reassured her.
"I know the code, don't worry." he said when he entered the 10 digits and the door in front of them slowly opened. Tifa squinted her eyes when the bright sunlight hit her face.
"Here we go!" Cloud shouted when he leaned forward, already toying with the engine. Tifa could practically feel he was grinning from ear to ear.
When the bike took off at high speed, Tifa let out a yelp when her hands slipped away and she nearly fell off the bike. She had barely been able to take hold of Cloud's body and when he accelerated even more, she started to cling to him out of fear of falling off. Tifa could feel her heartbeat drumming inside her throat. She had never gone this fast on any kind of vehicle before, but the thrill was amazing.
Cloud steered the bike away from the Headquarters and soon they were driving on the highway leading away from Midgar. Tifa loosened the grip on Cloud's shirt and tried to look behind them. Her hair was violently blowing around and she noticed her eyes were getting teary because of the strong wind.
When she turned her face forward, to get her hair out of her face, she gasped when she heard gunfire. In a reflex she clutched onto Cloud, who tried to steer the bike away from the bullets. Tifa calmed herself down and looked behind her. She swallowed when she saw several SOLDIERS chasing them by bike and they were getting closer and closer.
"We need to go faster!" Tifa yelled, hoping it was loud enough for Cloud to hear it.
When Cloud accelerated, Tifa clutched onto him to keep herself from sliding on the bike. The bullets kept coming their way and Tifa had to control the pain when several bullets grazed her skin and left deep, bloody marks.
"Are you okay?!" Cloud suddenly yelled, but before Tifa could answer, they both looked up to a helicopter above them. T
Tifa widened her eyes when she saw they were going to drop bombs down on them.
"Those are bombs!" she shouted and she could hear Cloud growl as he tried to steer away from the chopper.
When the bombs started to rain down on them, Cloud tried his best to avoid the blasts, but because of the manoeuvres they lost speed. Suddenly Cloud sat up straight and steered the bike with his weight only. He reached for the gun in his belt and fired a few times at the chopper until he hit one of the rotor blades. It wasn't long before the helicopter started to tumble down to the ground.
When Cloud grabbed the steering-wheel again, Tifa was startled when he pushed the gun in her hands.
"Keep them at a distance!" Cloud shouted and Tifa nodded.
She took the gun in her right hand and with her left arm she held onto Cloud while she looked behind them. After taking a deep breath, she dared to slip off the bike a little bit to be able to aim better. It was really hard to keep her aim steady with her arm swaying around because of the strong wind, but she was determined to take some of those SOLDIERS down.
She started to shoot at the first two and shortly smirked when she was able to hit the guy in the shoulder. When suddenly Cloud steered the bike roughly to the left, Tifa barely held on, but quickly repositioned herself and kept shooting at the other SOLDIER following closely behind them. Because she was so focused on that SOLDIER, she never saw the next bullet coming and she let out a short scream when the gun was shot out of her hand.
"No!"
She watched the gun disappear behind them and cursed out loud. Then she sat up straight again and wrapped her arm around Cloud when she noticed he was starting to push the bike to its limits. They were finally starting to gain some distance, but the bullets kept coming their way and Tifa could only hope they wouldn't shoot her in the back.
When they just passed the outer border of the city, Tifa noticed how high up they were driving. The wastelands stretched out in front of them and they were slowly but surely leaving Midgar behind them. Cloud tried to accelerate even more and Tifa pressed herself against his back to shield herself from the wind. She glanced back and saw the SOLDIERS were still chasing them, but they were getting too far behind to shoot at them.
"Hold on!" Cloud suddenly yelled and Tifa immediately looked in front of her and widened her eyes in shock when she saw the highway was coming to an abrupt end. Construction had not yet finished and they were now racing at high speed towards a nonexistent road and a very dangerous fall down.
"Cloud!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, but they had already rushed past the construction signs.
Her heart skipped a beat when the bike hovered in the air for a few seconds before it started to dive towards the ground beneath them. Tifa felt like screaming, but she couldn't produce any sound until they painfully hit the ground. She was quite sure, her nails had left nasty marks on Cloud's body when she loosened her hold on him. She let out a long breath before she looked up behind them and noticed the SOLDIERS weren't following them. She could see several of them standing at the edge of the highway and frowned. It wasn't like Shinra to let them go like that.
"They're not following us!" Tifa shouted and glanced back over his shoulder and slowed the Fenrir down until they came to a stop.
Both of them gazed at the huge city in front of them and Tifa realized she wouldn't be back any time soon. She had to leave her life in Midgar behind and settle with a new life, that of a refugee. And because of all that had happened in the last few hours, she wasn't too sure if she had done the right thing.
So that's it, Tifa and Cloud left Midgar and the real adventure can begin!
Please review this story, it would help me out greatly!
Next chapter: Zack and the rest are back! Tifa and Cloud run into trouble.
