Aeris noticed a new star in the heavens as the sun set that evening. It was little more then a pin-prick of red light in amongst the other stars, but the sight chilled her. It faded from the sky as the sun rose the next morning, but as night fell that evening the star appeared again. She caught sight of it earlier this time and it was noticeably larger now, dwarfing its neighbours. It was Meteor, the Cetra informed them tonelessly, Tifa holding her hand as she confirmed their worst suspicions. The falling star was still visible the next day, now visible during the day. Barret and Vincent escorted Rufus back up to the bridge; his seeming unflappable cool had been greatly diminished by his enforced captivity. His eyes were drawn instantly to the red sphere visible high in the sky. "Is that it?"
"Yes, Mr. Shinra. That is Meteor." Tifa marvelled at Aeris' composure considering whom she was addressing. Even though her words days before had shaken this man, he still stared at her coldly. "It has dramatically increased in size over the last two days."
"So it's getting closer?" She nodded, and Rufus cursed under his breath.
"And what do you expect me to do about it?
"Nothing, Mr. Shinra. You personally cannot stop it. But your company may be able to help."
He looked at her suspiciously. "My... company?"
"The Shinra company is the developer of Mako energy and the engineers of the Mako crystallisation process. Your science division created the SOLDIER program and pioneered the Jenova project. Your father was obsessed with the Cetra, the Ancients."
"Spare me the tedious details of my father's accomplishments and fantasies. I know very little about any of these subjects. Talk to Hojo."
Aeris sighed. "We've tried to. Repeatedly. Quite in contrast to you, Ms Scarlet and Mr. Heidegger, he appears to see no issue with Meteor's approach. He almost seems to be looking forward to it."
"You can't expect me to believe that he's looking forward to the end of the world-" he began.
"But you do, don't you Mr. Shinra?" Aeris asked quietly. "I don't think you've ever been sure about Professor Hojo. Was his resignation from the Shinra company entirely by his choice or did you help push him out? And did you seek him out afterwards or did he approach you?"
Rufus looked uncomfortable. "I don't need to answer that."
"No. No you don't Mr. Shinra. But you need to be aware that the individual best placed to give us the answers we need is refusing to co-operate."
He scowled, "And you want me to co-operate?"
"I think it would be in your best interests..."
The president of Shinra sighed. "If we are truly facing extinction, what do you want from me?"
Reeve cleared his throat and stepped forward from the back of the bridge, Rufus narrowing his eyes at the former City Planner as he spoke. "We need access to the company mainframe; in particular weapons development and the scientific research areas."
"I can't say I'm entirely surprised by your change of allegiance, Tuesti. You've been less then enthused in your role since I took charge."
"With all due respect, sir, it began long before that. Your father ordering the dropping of the Sector Seven plate was almost the last straw."
"And so you've thrown your lot in with these terrorists?"
"Terrorists you've just agreed to help."
Rufus smiled abruptly. "I should paid more attention to those reports you were sending back about these people. Or not let you off quite so easily when you got that robot destroyed."
Reeve stiffened slightly. "I did my job to the best of my abilities. The loss of Cait Sith was unavoidable."
"So you say. What did they tempt you with? Are they going to let you take charge of the company once the threat is neutralised?"
"As difficult as it may be for you to believe, sir, I have been promised nothing in return for my assistance. I..." He swallowed. "I believe in their ideals."
"Their ideals?"
"Does it not concern you that their claims might be correct? No matter what Hojo or your father may have said, when you toured the world, did you not see the lifeless areas that surround all the Mako reactors?" Rufus was silent and just held his gaze. "Rufus... It's not too late to save the Planet. Not just from Sephiroth, but from us too."
Rufus sighed, exasperated. "Spare me the environmental speeches. In the interest living past Meteor I will give you your access, but I promise nothing on the company's business practices."
"Thank you, Mr. Shinra. That is all we can ask for at the moment." Tifa caught Barret start as Aeris spoke, but he settled, understanding that this was not the time for Avalanche's concerns.
"Just one more thing, Reeve." Rufus was grinning now. "If we live through this, you're fired."
"I was already planning to tender my resignation if we do."
Tifa's breath caught in her throat as the Highwind crested the mountain range of the Eastern continent and Midgar became visible in the distance. She had never truly expected to return to the city, though she remembered there would have been one benefit in a return to the city; the chance to visit the flower girl's second garden. Frustratingly she suspected that the current circumstances would not lend themselves to such a visit. Her eyes sought and found the damaged bulk of the reactor that sat nearly on top of the Church in Sector Five, neatly marking where Aeris' second home resided. She tried, futilely not to look, but her eyes were inevitably drawn to the breaks in the upper plates; the unfinished Sector Six and the missing Sector Seven. She dragged her eyes away. From this distance she knew she would not be able to see anything, and the word damage would be beneath the fallen section, but she did not feel she could cope with more reminders of the fate of her former home.
"Are you sure about this Cid? Is there even anywhere to put this thing down here?" Barret muttered as they sped over the black desert.
"Don't have a lot of choice. Unless you really want to dock at Junon and find some other way back over here. Risky as it is, I'm in favour of doing things as quickly as possible." He ducked slightly, looking up from the Highwind almost on reflex. The red star of Meteor was behind them, and he could see nothing through the smoke-filled and now darkening skies above Midgar. The tangle of electrical lights and flares from the still operational Mako reactors glowed below them.
"The Shinra building is our best bet of finding what we want. There are backups held in Junon, but the mainframes are here and certain systems aren't copied to remote locations," Reeve put in.
"I'm guessing the science division is one of those?" Tifa didn't move her eyes from the nearing city.
"Quite. Hojo hoards information. Cid; there's a landing platform on the top floor of the Shinra building. Do you think we can dock there?"
The pilot smiled, "If I can't put us down, you guys'll just have to jump for it." He laughed as the colour drained from Reeve's face.
"Still not used to being actually here," he muttered.
The comparative opulence of the upper plates passed below them; the tall signs advertising 'Loveless', the roads crammed with vehicles and strolling couples, all open to the air above them. Cid began slowing the Highwind as they approached Sector Zero and the Shinra building. He guided the airship towards the painfully small landing platform that the building boasted outside of the President's office. Avalanche were dispatched up onto the deck with grappling hooks and anchor cables.
Hooks arced through the air onto the building's many protrusions; none ever intended for something the scale of the Highwind to anchor itself to. Painfully slowly, the Highwind sank towards the platform, the assembled group on deck keeping the cables taut as the Highwind slowly sank as low as it could. The craft tilted and the ropes groaned alarmingly in the shifting winds high up in Midgar, but thankfully did not break free.
"Don't want to leave her for long like this..." Cid muttered as he threw a rope ladder over the side. At least, Tifa thought, they would be free of their prisoners soon; while Rufus had been successfully reasoned with, nothing seemed to get through to either Heidegger or Scarlet. They were both blood-thirsty tyrants adamant they had the capability to destroy Meteor, and exhibiting nothing but scorn and disdain for their captors. And as for Hojo...
Tifa shivered. They'd stopped trying to even communicate with Hojo. The man hadn't seemingly moved in days and sat crouched on his bunk. He'd been laughing maniacally at first; this had quietened, but disturbingly not stopped. His hunched shoulders still shook with a silent laughter that gleamed in his eyes. Aeris had noted that despite his apparent lack of movement, he always faced towards the North, towards Sephiroth, the crater, the Black Materia, and Jenova. They did not feel comfortable with his presence on the Highwind and Rufus flippantly offered the answer; secure the scientist in one of his own specimen containers in his lab. They'd clear the floor of his assistants; though none seemed to swear any kind of loyalty for the man and his turn over in staff was absurdly high. A nice, neat solution to the man.
She and Aeris had struggled down the rope ladder first, expecting some response from within the Shinra building. Oddly no one approached, either to receive the returning president or demand some explanation for the Highwind's unexpected presence. Tifa frowned, uneasy. There was no way that the Highwind docking here had passed without comment. She peered in through the windows at the President's gigantic office. Nothing. She wanted to be relieved, to think that they would be given a easier time to research and plan, but this was too easy. Something was wrong.
A call above distracted her. Barret had loosened Rufus' bonds and with Vincent covering him from a vantage point further along the deck he was struggling down the rope ladder himself. Was that a movement behind her? She whirled, but saw nothing out of place. She was feeling anxious; there were too many unknowns here... A thought struck her.
"Yuffie!" The ninja's head appeared over the side of the airship. "Can you come down next?"
"Uh... sure. If you want." Some muttered conversation drifted over the side and then the Wutainese girl perched on the rail, waiting until Rufus set foot on the platform.
"Thank you for your co-operation so far," the martial artist spoke as Rufus stepped off of the rope ladder.
"It's surprisingly easy to co-operate when someone has a gun pointed at you," he responded, jerking his head back to the ever watchful Vincent. Tifa began retying his hands. "Is that really necessary?"
"I wish it weren't. But we're taking no chances. While you might have the same vested interest in living through this the rest of us do, I'm not sure we want to do so on your family's terms."
He signed resignedly. "Suit yourself."
Yuffie had reached the platform now, and Tifa murmured cautiously in her ear as Scarlet clambered awkwardly over the side. The ninja vanished off around the side of the office, the martial artist feeling slightly better for this extra precaution. The ninja hurried back once they had Heidegger restrained on the platform and Reeve began climbing down the ladder.
"There's definitely someone in there. Not sure how many, and I haven't spotted them directly."
"Someone at least knows we're here," the raven-haired girl murmured back. There was a thud beside her as Nanaki awkwardly jumped down from the Highwind, his nostrils flaring slightly as he inhaled. "...The Turks are here," he murmured. Hojo descended the rope ladder, his body still convulsing with his maddening silent laughter and a shiver of revulsion rippled through Tifa as she retied his arms behind him.
"We can access the files we want from the President's desk. I suggest half of us take Hojo and the other two down to his lab, while the other keeps an eye on Rufus." Reeve kept an eye on the shaking scientist as he spoke.
Tifa nodded. "Sounds fine. Assuming the Turks don't give us any trouble."
Despite having evaded Yuffie's inquisitive eyes so superbly before, the Turks made no effort to remain hidden when Avalanche and their prisoners entered the office. Tseng stood with his hands behind his back facing the group as they entered, while Reno was lent lazily against the President's desk with his typical grin. Rude and Elena quite moved to take position just behind their leader.
"Tseng! I order you to rescue us at once. Rufus has been compromised by Avalanche and I will be assuming command of the company to deal with the impending threat," Heidegger bellowed.
"Belay that order," scowled Rufus. "I am still in charge of this company. Take Heidegger and Scarlet to the cells and lock them in. Put Hojo in specimen storage."
"He's been brainwashed. Look he's been restrained and now he's ordering you to imprison the section heads," hissed Scarlet, eyes narrowing at the assorted Turks. Elena's head whipped to Reno and then Rude before looking questioningly at Tseng.
"Brainwashed!?" Barret exclaimed. "What yo' talkin' about?"
Tseng's eyes caught Aeris' and Tifa noticed her give the Turk an almost imperceptible nod.
"Reno. Rude," Tseng spoke suddenly. "Take Heidegger and Scarlet. I'll handle Hojo."
"This is an outrage!" yelled Heidegger, his face flushing. Scarlet opened her mouth to respond and trailed off, her gaze tugged round by the figure beside her. Hojo's breath had become ragged and his skin was turning a horribly familiar mottled shade.
"What..." gasped Scarlet as Hojo's convulsions brought his hands from behind his back, severing the rope.
"Jenova?" Tifa stumbled backwards away from the changing scientist.
"Yes..." The altering form hissed. "I resisted Reunion in order to assist my son."
"Your... son?" gasped Rufus, struggling to take in the altering form as the scientist's legs twisted together into a tendril, and the body floated up from the floor as the creature transformed.
"...Sephiroth..." The voice was like some alien imitation of Hojo. The creature flicked a limb at the closest person, Scarlet, the thick tentacle encircling her neck and drawing her up towards it. Whatever he had become, the former scientist still seemed to embody his cold scrutiny; organs that might be the creature's eyes stared unblinkingly at its new found specimen. Vincent was carefully circling the creature looking for a clean shot while Nanaki kept a close eye on Rufus.
The creature seemed to grow bored with its scrutiny and the limb flicked Scarlet with horrific force, smashing her awkwardly into a support column with the sickening snap of broken bones. As soon as Scarlet had left its grip, Vincent began firing up at the creature, bullets digging uselessly into flesh which then healed over. Yuffie's shuriken whipped through the air and cut a long slash across its torso, but the same healing effect closed the wound up with barely any loss of the thick noxious fluids that spilled from it.
Barret raked the creature with gunfire. "We ain't even scratching it," he yelled. "The hell are we going to do?" Out of the corner of her eye, Tifa saw Yuffie digging through her materia pouch.
"Magic," she breathed. Barret swore.
"All mine's on the Highwind!"
Hojo noticed the ninja's actions and whipped a tentacle towards her before she could even raise her head. Cid deflected it, just barely, with his spear. The creature barely paused, ripping the spear from his hands and flinging it across the room. With sickening speed, the tentacle whipped back and into the space the pilot had just vacated. He'd pushed Yuffie backwards as she'd fumbled the materia pouch leaving it lying where she'd stood. The creature sent the bag flying down to the lower level with a flick of its tentacle. The Turks had backed Rufus back behind his desk, content to leave Avalanche to do the fighting
"Reeve," the martial artist yelled to the man nearest the door. "Get back to the Highwind and get us some materia!" He immediately rushed from the room with a nervous backward glance. Each of them tensed ready for the creature's next move, surprised when it stop moving and remained floating in the centre of the room. Yuffie made a break for the stairs down to retrieve the fallen pouch.
"It's... waiting for something?" murmured Aeris as the distant sound of metal twisting and splitting reached them; something was approaching from below. With a scream of tearing metal, an organic mass erupted from the floor, metal plating curling back like withered petals in the wake of the thing's movements. Tifa scarcely had time to process the clumps of mottled flesh before they connected and merged into the hovering creature.
"Yuffie..." she shouted. "Where is that materia?"
"Got it!" came the shout from below as a black wing burst from the back of the hovering creature accompanied by a shower of dark feathers. She dimly registered Reeve clambering the rope ladder back to the Highwind and the thump of Yuffie's boots on the stairs. Feathers continued to fall away from the extended wing, the bat-like skin underneath gradually becoming visible. This creature's whose gaze settled on the one moving object in the room; Heidegger made a desperate spring for the lower level. In a moment the creature was on him, claws extending from tentacle limbs to hook into him. He was drawn up into the air, his face a mixture of terror and pain as he struggled futilely.
A terrible maw formed on the creature's chest, a gaping wound that revealed rows of yellowing fangs. Vincent opened fired again, but nothing could stop the inevitable as the aperture closed on Heidegger's head severing it from his body. The crumpled remnants were left to drop to the floor as the creature surveyed the room once more.
"Yuffie..." Tifa began as a spark of electricity arced across the room and punched into the creature. It span hissing towards the source as Yuffie's face fell. "Oh no." The creature advanced on her and the ninja desperately flung the bag towards Barret as she shot another lightning bolt at the creature. The charge crackled against it, knocking the monster back slightly, but it quickly recovered. Cid's spear abruptly plunged into the creature's back, drawing its attention away from the materia collector.
"Let's try some fire," murmured Barret as he flung the pouch back towards Yuffie and then engulfed the floating monstrosity in a torrent of flame
"Magic's hurting it," observed Aeris as they scrambled out of the way of a burning limb as the creature lunged for the Avalanche leader.
"Not enough," shot back Tifa. "This one's stronger somehow."
Yuffie reached the materia bag. "Guess we've got no choice." She drew two spheres from the bag, throwing a green towards the flower girl and clutching a red sphere tightly. The burst of white fire and energy that emerged from her right hand tore a path straight up through the ceiling as the sphere in her left grew brighter. The creature noticed the summon commencing and flew towards the defenceless ninja.
A rain of ice-crystals hurtled through the air from the Cetra, bringing a blast of frigid air with them. They delayed the creature for just long enough; with a roar, taloned hands ripped through the roof above them, peeling the metal back and exposing the creature to the dragon Yuffie had summoned. Fire leapt from its mouth, rippling over what had once been Hojo as Avalanche scrambled away from the fight. Reeve's descent from the Highwind was arrested by the staggering sight of summoned dragon perched on the roof of the office.
The creature was not defeated yet. Snake like tendrils sought out the dragon's neck, coiling and squeezing around it; Yuffie looked uncomfortable as it tightened its hold, but then the dragon leapt forward, pinning the writhing creature to the office floor. Its mouth yawned wide as energy built up and the blue glow from within its jaws was blinding. The energy burst out of the dragon, vaporising the thing that had been Hojo; it cut straight through the floor, gouging a chunk from the outer wall of the Shinra building and finally dispersing into the air just above the upper plate. Yuffie heaved a sigh of relief as the dragon dispersed back into coiling blue energy and flopping onto her back, one hand still clutching the red orb while the other rubbed at her temples.