I know it's getting repetitive, sorry. More interesting from here on, I promise.

The Revival of AVALANCHE

The seventh day after Meteor started out like the last few. However, this soon changed as a medic reported that Tifa was showing signs of life. Heidegger knew the soldiers needed R&R, so the garrison wasn't put on red alert just yet, but they were...encouraged...to stay close to home. Since he had nowhere to go anyway, Evan was more or less happy to oblige. But the decision was taken away from him, because, in accordance with the Evan Shinra Theory of the Nature of Unfairness (if the worst can happen, it'll usually happen to him), he was assigned guard duty to the Doctor's office. It was something he could've done without. Barrett was not a gracious prisoner. The straw that broke the camel's back was a string of abuse followed by a suddenly surprisingly polite "Hey, you, she's waking up. Could I get a meal in here?"

"I'm a guard, not a fucking waiter. Could you please shut the fuck up?"

When he turned, Rufus Shinra and Heidegger were standing behind him.

I don't believe this...

He straightened up and saluted.

"Sir!"

Rufus sighed, his eyes flicking to the serial number printed on his armour.

"You again. Be aware ...Evan..., that you have caused me a substantial amount of trouble in recent weeks. The Honey Bee Inn is howling for your head. You have proven to be an exceptional soldier; else you would already be rotting in an unmarked grave at Fort Condor. But even so, you are walking on a knife edge, and if you expect me to continue ensuring your survival, you will not step a toe out of line or you will be deemed no longer worth my effort. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Heidegger?"

Rufus, whose father had forced him to go through the SOLDIER training program, saw Evan's eyes flicking to Heidegger's oncoming fist, and the split second decision to let it connect. He was impressed. This guy might be unlucky, but he was definitely not stupid. He might be worth keeping an eye on.

"Guys, help him up, will you?"

His two 1st class SOLDIER bodyguards (since his father had been murdered he wasn't taking chances) glanced at each other uncertainly.

"Are you sure that's wise, sir?"

"Barrett and Tifa are in a small room with one door, and a window overlooking a sheer drop. If they kill me, they will have to fight their way out through the entire Junon garrison. That is not going to happen."

Shrugging, the two bodyguards picked up Evan and carried him into a corner, where he woke up five seconds later, slightly unsteady but okay. The techs nearby were surprisingly understanding and caring, many of them apparently having been hit by Heidegger before. Now fully recovered, he walked out the door...and was immediately apprehended by an officer and told to stand between the Press Room and the Command centre of Junon, so Barrett had nowhere to go. After some time, Tifa, now fully awake, walked past, followed by a Shinra soldier followed by Barrett, who for and instant looked as though he was about to attack, but changed his mind and stalked into the Press Room, famous for the door to the Execution Chamber tucked unobtrusively in a corner, reminding the Press that awkward questions were not advised. The door cut off sound, so they didn't have any idea what was going on inside. Except for once, when Barrett's voice was faintly heard screaming "If you've gotta do it...Do me first!" Knowing Scarlet, he wouldn't be obliged.

Losing interest, Evan stared into space for a while, wishing he'd brought his headphones today. Then the alarms went off.

"Emergency! Emergency! Weapon is approaching! Attention all military personnel: Take your positions!"

Grateful that for once a difficult decision wasn't his, Evan looked to the man across the corridor, who thankfully, outranked him. He sighed and said "You heard. 'All military personnel.' That's us. The prisoners are secure."

"Gotcha. Thanks." Thanks because if AVALANCHE escaped, that man would be responsible.

Evan reached the street just ahead of the flood from the press room of civilians who had had enough, and just as Sister Ray fired. He assumed his place silently, picking up the rocket launcher assigned to him. There were no jokes about Midgar garrison rats always being late. That was how tense it was.

Beyond the horizon, there was an explosion. Stock still, everyone waited, silence spreading out like a blanket as the alarms abruptly shut off. Nobody started cheering or sat down. They just stood there, waiting again. Then the alarms resumed. It was almost more relaxing than the uncertainty of not knowing whether it was dead or alive. Nic, dressed in her new green Commander uniform, spoke up. Interestingly, not in her drill sarge voice. This was a new voice, soft and scared.

"Okay guys, you know the drill. This is a new Weapon, not one we've met before, so nobody really knows what to expect. Do your best. Good luck."

They waited as the normal artillery doors opened and the smaller cannons began to fire as Weapon came into range.

"Wait for it..."Nic said, just loudly enough to be heard over the alarms. Then "Fuck, it's moving fast." Seconds ago it had been a speck on the horizon, but now, it was close enough to make out details, and getting more distinct all the time.

As it came into range, Nic dropped her hand. "Now!" The volley of shells cruised down into the docks, locked on, and exploded on contact with Weapon's armour, doing little or no damage. But the monster wasn't immortal –its armour was cracking and buckling under the fire from the entire town. Of course, if they could see that, it was far too close for comfort. "Brace yourselves!" somebody –not Nicole-screamed just before the impact. Then the full force of the creature's charge hit the town. All the soldiers were knocked off their feet. Dropped rocket launchers rolled across the street. Some soldiers got up, retrieved their weapons and fired on the monster point blank. With the heavy artillery also firing, Weapon's armour began to crumble under the strain, and, it had no choice but to submerge to shield itself from the deluge. Rolling rocket launchers back to their owners, those few soldiers brave enough to advance to the railing called back "There's people firing on it from the docks! Two or three are firing on it! And there's submarines firing from behind! It's just cut one of them in half, but they're not giving up!" A pause, then "Look out, it's coming up!" Crouching, they reloaded as the Weapon was flushed out from underwater. It rose, then dived again, causing a tsunami to sweep away the submarines and the attackers on the docks. It worked, and Weapon repeated the action several times to keep the submarines swept away as they tried to turn.

Now free of underwater assault, it lashed out at the support pillars to Junon town...and was almost electrocuted. Furious, it rose up and glared at the town, the armoured plate across its face retracting. The beam from its mouth struck suddenly, burning a hole in the steel plate on the face of Junon. Eyes now fixed on Rufus' command window, having somehow realized this was where the threat was coming from. Just as it was just about to fire, Sister Ray roared, and Weapon's head exploded. Shards of red hot armour scattered all over the street. A particularly large shard hit Jareth in the throat, punching completely through him and bouncing off the road behind him. He was dead before he hit the ground. The other soldiers escaped mostly unharmed, their own armour protecting them from deep punctures, although Emma did go down with an armour shard embedded in her knee. The unharmed soldiers ran forward, except for Emma and the two tending to her. Jareth was left with a brief look over to confirm that, yes, he was dead, and no, a Phoenix Down couldn't repair that much damage. All soldiers within eyeshot advanced to the railing and began pounding Weapon's headless corpse with rockets to avenge their fallen friend, until it sank beyond view. Then everyone collapsed, exhausted yet again by the tension of the battle. Strange, really...they should be used to it by now. But they weren't. Some were crouched next the red ash that had been Jareth, clearly devastated. Nobody moved for some time.

After a while, Emma, now fully recovered thanks to a Restore Materia carried by one of the smarter soldiers, looked up and blinked. "Isn't that Tifa?" The squad turned their eyes upward. Sure enough, a white speck was slowly descending the side of Junon, Command Tower, somehow maintaining her grip despite climbing down a sheer metal plate.

"Scarlet's gonna be gutted. That must be the execution chamber that Weapon hit."

"Funny...when you think of all the places it could have hit, it hit the one place that would not really damage the town. It's managed to really scare everyone without doing that much damage."

"Speaking of Scarlet...Isn't that her there, standing at the hole in Junon? Sending those two soldiers climbing after Tifa. They can't possibly expect to-" Nic cut off as a soldier chasing Tifa lost his grip and plummeted down the side of the town, landing a short distance off. He got up instantly and walked to a place where he could see Tifa and her pursuers, apparently unharmed. A soldier Evan didn't know the name of took out a rifle.

"I can take her from here, ma'am, just say the word."

"No!" Tifa's former pursuer whipcracked, sprinting over and knocking the weapon.gun from his hand. "Scarlet wants her alive, or we'd have shot her ourselves! Let her be!"

"Suit yourself." The man was one of Scarlet's Executive Guard, so outranked anyone there even though he was only a Marine.

Tifa was still holding on, somehow, moving slowly but not stopping. But even a spider couldn't hold on to that surface forever, and eventually Tifa's grip slipped and she fell, landing at the base of the cannon below her. Cautiously, and hence more slowly, Scarlet and two Attack Squads followed. The Attack Squad on the street started climbing the wall to the cannon, for some reason. He was succeeding, too somehow. Dismissing this idiot as insane, Evan began gathering armfuls of the smaller shards of Weapon armour. Tifa had nowhere to go, except out along the cannon, so there was no need to pay attention.

"Hey, what're you doing?"

"Well, the way I see it, there isn't that many Weapons around. Assuming Meteor doesn't hit us, these pieces of armour could be worth a lot in a couple of years. With my enemies, I'll need resources."

James laughed. "And here was me thinking you were going to have them made into a suit of armour."

Evan froze. "Hmmm...never thought of that. Thanks!"

"Maybe it'd be a good idea for us all to do that." Nic mused, frowning. "There's gonna be a lot of people dead before Meteor hits, and we'll need any advantage we can get if we're not going to be among them."

After a suitable amount of Weapon Armour had been collected, they decided to get off the streets so angry civilians didn't attack them when they had the opportunity. Not that any civilians would be stupid enough to be on the streets for at least another few hours, but it was better not to take risks.

"Who exactly are your enemies, Evan? I know you came here in a hurry from Midgar, but I've never asked." The rest of the squad had such blank faces they had to be listening intently.

"His ex-girlfriend was pissed at him for leaving and hired assassins." James put in helpfully, apparently still confused.

"Um...Actually, no. Long story short, I made a bad decision and pissed off a guy who then tried to kill me. I returned the favour. But he was the number one customer of the local brothel, which was upset that he wouldn't be paying them anymore. Hence, here I am."

"So that's enemy, not enemies."

"Well, kinda...I was sentenced to Fort Condor for murder, and accidentally blew up a Condor, so they're not too pleased with me either. But they can't really get to me."

"Anyone else?"

"Well, Rufus did tell me this morning that I was causing him trouble by having an irritating habit of surviving..."

"Is there anyone you've met who hasn't tried to kill you and/or threatened to do so?"

"Well, I bumped into a guy in the street the other day who merely robbed me. Does that count?"

"Ha! I was right! Your girlfriend has tried to kill you at some point!"

"...Is that the Highwind?"

They were briefly distracted as Cid's airship skimmed overhead. Not heading for the airport, oddly. Unfortunately, they weren't distracted enough, and kept mocking him the whole evening. The fact that they were just letting off steam to recover from the death of a comrade took the sting out of it, so he didn't pay much heed, but spreading rumours could be annoying, especially if Ree somehow got to hear about it. They only stopped when they got an order summoning most of the garrison to another Executive Assembly. Given the contents of the last one they'd attended, this was understandably worrying.

I'm doubtful about that last bit, from 'Who are your enemies' on. Maybe I should've left it out. Is anyone still reading this?