Chapter 47: Submarine
Cloud awoke in a very unfamiliar place. His body was no longer freezing and wet. His mind was no longer clouded with horrible recollections of his past. As dazed as he was, no place would truly seem familiar to him at the moment, but this place was especially unusual. He looked around and saw that he was in a bed in what appeared to be a large machine.
A ship maybe? Gears were clunking in the distance, but a nearby window showed him no signs of sea or land. Clouds rushed past him and the occasional distant sight of a far off (and far below) island. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Tifa sitting in a chair next to him.
"Tifa?" Cloud asked.
"Cloud," she smiled. "How are you feeling?"
He rubbed his head. "Difficult to say at the moment. But I'm talking and conscious so that's certainly a start."
And then it came to him. He remembered what had happened between him and Tifa in the Lifestream current. He remembered the details of his past and the truth behind his life's façade. He got out of bed and tried to walk. It had been a while since he walked and he stumbled as he moved away from his bed. Tifa caught him each time he slipped and slowly he was able to walk without needing her help.
He walked with Tifa to the Operations room of the Highwind, a large conference room. Vincent was already sitting in a chair and Barret stood near an elaborate window in the back.
"You okay spikey?" Barret asked. "Didn't think you'd be coming out of that one the way you went into it."
"I'm doing much better, Barret," Cloud nodded. "Thank you."
"Shall I call the others?" Vincent asked.
"Yes please," Tifa nodded.
Vincent slowly stood up and paced casually out of the room towards the bridge.
"So," Barret shrugged. "I guess you're back in charge, huh?"
"It's not my place to decide whether or not I'm leading anybody," Cloud replied, somewhat stiffly.
Barret seemed to kick himself internally and looked away from Cloud, his attention now fixed on the passing clouds.
"Well, you got my vote. You're the only one crazy enough to think we have a chance against Sephiroth," Barret couldn't help himself; he burst out laughing. "Hahahaha! All this time we spent tryin' to find you and you just as cold as ever!"
He walked up to Cloud and patted his shoulder affectionately. He raised his gun-arm in a sort of half-salute and sat down in one of the chairs.
The others walked in and took seats around the table. Cloud didn't bother to sit and Tifa stood beside him.
"Glad to see you're feeling better Cloud!" Cait Sith cheered.
"You survived what should not have been possible to survive," Red added. "You have either some extraordinary luck or friends in high places."
"I can't explain how I survived everything that happened to me," Cloud began. "But I know now who I am and the truth of what happened to me those five years ago."
"The truth?" Yuffie asked. "You mean you made some of that stuff up before?"
"Nah, he just forgot it. Happens when you get older," Cid offered.
"Oh quit your jesting!" Cait Sith hissed.
"Actually Cid's closer to right than he thinks," Cloud replied. "Please allow me to explain."
And Cloud explained the truth of his past. How he'd never made it to SOLDIER. How he'd almost died trying to fend off Sephiroth. How he would have died if it had not been for Hojo's twisted curiosity. How he would have died again if it had not been for Zack's sacrifice.
"Man, that's quite a story," Yuffie said, folding her arms.
"I know now that I wasn't driven to face Sephiroth out of revenge, but I was called to him because of the parts of JENOVA that were implanted in both me and Zack. I don't know if I'll always be able to control myself around him, but knowing the truth has not changed what I plan to do," Cloud said. "I plan on defeating Sephiroth and saving our planet from Meteor if I can."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Cid nodded. "A damn stupid and crazy plan, but hell they're the best kind!"
"I'm with you too," Yuffie smiled.
"Wouldn't dream of leaving you now, friend!" Cait Sith nodded.
"I've learned so much already on this strange adventure, I can't leave yet," Red nodded.
Vincent simply nodded his approval.
"Okay then," Cloud nodded. "It's like Barret said so long ago. 'Ain't no getting off of this train we're on.'"
"And the train don't make no stops either," Barret smirked. "Okay then, spikey. Lemme catch you up on battle strategy. Cid, you know where to go!"
"Gotcha," Cid waved out of the room towards the bridge. "Yo, pilot! Set a course for Junon!"
"Junon?" Cloud asked.
"We've got a lot to catch you up on," Barret replied.
Sneaking back into Junon was surprisingly easy. While the Highwind crew hid her as best as one can hide an enormous airship in grassy plains, the members of AVALANCHE entered the low-town of Junon to find nothing waiting for them.
No guards, no sentries- well to be fair a single sentry was waiting beside the elevator to high-town, but he seemed to have no concern whatsoever of the random appearance of this group and simply charged them 10 gil to get on the elevator. Tifa felt suddenly sympathetic to how poorly Shinra soldiers must be paid.
Once in high-town the task of getting around was slightly more difficult as the high-town guard was still on high alert from the WEAPON raid. Creeping through alleys and ducking down side-streets, it took them a while to notice the obvious.
"Hey," Yuffie said to the others. "Didn't there use to be an enormous cannon here?!"
She pointed up to where the cannon had been and sure enough, it was gone.
"The Sapphire WEAPON didn't break it did it?" Cloud asked.
"No, it was firing fine. The thing tore its head off," Barret explained.
With the arrival of the grey weapon in Mideel, Cid had begun to codename and classify the WEAPONs that they had encountered. The deceased WEAPON because of its blue hue was called Sapphire WEAPON. They had seen reports of a red WEAPON, so-named Ruby WEAPON, a green one floating through the ocean which they named Emerald WEAPON and a white one that took lodging near the Bone Village; they called it Diamond WEAPON.
The grey one was not named after a stone, but as mantle was similar to the hilt of a blade, it was named after a mythical weapon that Cloud had once heard of; Ultima WEAPON. These names were only meant to help them identify the WEAPONs that they came across, and Barret found the concept ridiculous.
"Why the hell do you gotta name them?" He had said. "They're not pets, they're something we need to be damn sure to avoid!"
"Now's not a time to worry about that," Tifa said. And she was quite right. The patrols were leaving the entrance to the elevator that lead to the Underwater Reactor. Now was their only reasonable chance, without trying to force their way in.
As the patrols left, they rushed at the tunnel and into the elevator. It slowly descended into the depths. Now at the best of times, motion made Yuffie sick. Combine that with the claustrophobia of being in an elevator, crammed in with 7 other people, one of whom was an enormous Mog and the other who took up a great deal of horizontal space by his very being and Yuffie was at her edge. The fact that they were descending into an underwater area and the pressure change was making her ears pop repeatedly did not help anything.
"Are you okay Yuffie?" Tifa asked.
"Please… don't talk to me right now?" Yuffie insisted.
When the elevator finally stopped Yuffie stumbled over Red, who was unfortunately in front of the door, in her haste to get out. Her fortunes did not improve much. The exterior of the elevator was a small and narrow glass tunnel on the ocean floor. All manner of sea creature swam by, illuminated by the lights of the reactor in the distance. And while this would have been very beautiful if Yuffie had not already been so ill, the cramped and enclosed space was the final straw for her. She keeled over in a corner and was not able to be roused for several minutes.
When she came to, Tifa tried to be supportive.
"Look at how amazing this is. You'll probably never get a view like this again," Tifa said trying to cheer her up.
"When you live on a diet of seafood you get pretty sick of fish," Yuffie pouted.
"Does anybody else notice the apparent lack of guards in this place?" Cloud asked. "This is their Underwater Reactor. How can they have such lax security?"
"It will get more strict once we're in the reactor," Vincent explained. "I've heard about this. This tunnel used to be opened to tourists. Before the WEAPON incident I presume."
"Heh, more like before Rufus took over," Barret explained. "They weren't letting nobody near this place even during the inauguration ceremony."
At the end of the long glass tunnel stood the reactor. It was enormous, but as the lights only shone near the bottom to keep the sea creatures at bay, Cloud could only guess at its true height. The doors to the reactor opened slowly and a small trickle of seawater poured out as it did so.
"I guess this chamber acts as a sort of airlock," Red suggested.
"Leaky reactor," Yuffie grunted. "I'm never gonna forgive you guys for making me come down here."
"You've got to pick yourself up Yuffie," Cait Sith said. "We're about to have to fight, you know."
"Maybe not," Cid said. "I'm wondering if maybe they cleared out of the reactor because of the fact that Emerald WEAPON keeps swimming around these parts."
"No way," Cait Sith replied. "They need the Huge Materia that's here and Rufus Shinra has no problem ordering his soldiers to their certain doom to get it."
"Come on, let's just get inside and see what happens," Cloud said.
They walked into the reactor which was unlike any Mako Reactor they'd ever seen before. It was at least four times as large as the Corel Reactor, but it was a large open space. The most interesting component was that the majority of this space was dedicated to a very large submarine dry dock.
"They export the material by sub," Red noted. "It makes sense. Must be much faster than trying to use the cargo elevator."
"Safer too," came a voice from the landing below them. Cloud looked down and saw Reno standing there, looking up at him.
"Reno!" Cloud shouted. "The Turks. So that explains the lax security. It's a trap."
Reno chuckled and shrugged. "We keep setting obvious traps and you keep on coming. But seriously, good to see you're alive Cloud. I was hoping I'd be the one to catch you."
"With the world about the end you're still the same," Tifa scoffed. "Just looking out for yourself and paying no mind to the big picture."
Reno glared at Tifa and his cocky smirk faded somewhat. "I've lost sight of the big picture? What the hell do you think you are all doing? Do you really think you're heroes? You really think that you're going to find some way to magically save us all? Shinra has a plan to stop the Meteor by using this Huge Materia and you're stealing it for yourselves. And I'm damned if you actually know what you're going to do with it. So tell me, darling, what is the big picture I'm missing?"
Despite herself, Tifa could not immediately think of an answer. Barret answered for her. "You think that a big enough explosion is gonna save you?! Blowing stuff up won't solve the problem."
"Well spoken you hypocrite!" Reno shouted, jabbing his finger up at Barret. "How many people did you kill in the explosions that you set off at the reactors in Midgar, eh? How many innocent bystanders did you trample over in the name of some sick idea of justice? Where do you get off assuming that your hands are any cleaner than mine?!"
There was a truth in Reno's words. Barret too was now rendered silent. The reference to clean hands had been the trigger. It brought back memories of Dyne and his last words with him.
"No," Reno said. "I don't see the big picture. I don't see how this ends well for any of us. I'll keep doing what I believe to be the best path for myself and you'll keep doing what you believe to be the best path for yourself. We'll be crossing blades even as Meteor kills us all. And I'm perfectly content with that. Because sitting around just waiting to die is too god damn boring."
A crane carrying the Huge Materia rolled along and loaded it into a large Red submarine.
"Sorry to spoil your illusion folks," Reno said. He ran down a catwalk towards another submarine and was gone.
"Damn him!" Barret shouted, smashing his gunarm against the wall. "Come on! There's another sub in the dry dock!"
"You want to steal a sub now?" Cloud asked. "Getting a little carried away aren't we?"
"We gotta catch that red sub and get back the Huge Materia!" Cid shouted.
And before Cloud knew what was going on, that's exactly what they were doing. They leapt over the catwalk as the red sub departed through a large hangar door that opened, flooding the entire area slowly.
"That's why the door was leaky," Cait Sith grunted as his Mog waded through the rising water.
"Come on, before we all drown!" Cid barked.
They managed to open the hatch to the lone submarine and climb inside, sealing it before the water reached their level.
"You ever pilot one of these things before?" Cloud asked.
"Nope," Cid replied. "Water's not my friend. But it can't be too different from an airship I suppose."
It was. With the first feeble attempts at steering Cid managed to back the sub into the reactor further, slamming it against the catwalk they had just been on and then when he managed to get the sub to move forward, he missed the hangar door by a good foot or so resulting in a deafening scrape as the outer hull was banged up.
A slow, steady drip, about the pace of a sink faucet, began to pour into the sub.
"Uh, Vincent, be a dear and try to patch that hole would you?" Cid asked.
As Vincent looked around for a tool of some kind to patch the leak Cid finally got the hang of controlling the submarine and got them close to the red command sub that carried the Huge Materia.
"Okay, now where are the torpedoes on this baby?" Cid asked.
"You're going to blow the submarine up?" Yuffie asked. "What about the Huge Materia?"
"What about the people onboard?" Tifa asked, still deeply shaken by Reno's words.
"Well what the hell else do you propose we do?" Cid asked.
"I have a thought," Cloud suggested. "Where are they taking these Huge Materia?"
"They plan on using the Shinra 26 rocket as a missile," Cait Sith explained.
"So Rocket Town," Cloud nodded. "Would it be so bad to let them take it there?"
"Don't tell me you're going soft on me too?" Cid asked.
"No. I say we let them think they've won this round. Then we sneak about the Shinra 26 while they're loading the Huge Materia and take it back," Cloud explained.
Cid didn't seem convinced.
"There is logic to a sneak attack," Red offered.
"Fine," Cid grunted. "Let's head ashore and meet up with the Highwind. Hey Vincent, you plug that hole up yet?"
"I jammed a spanner in the hole," Vincent explained. "It's the best I could do under the circumstances."
"No arguments here," Cid nodded. "Let's take this baby up. "
The submarine slowly rose to the surface. While the temporary solution eventually gave way, they were only ten feet from the surface when the water started flowing back in and thus managed to dock in a nearby cove.
"Okay, I gave up firing torpedoes on a submarine for this," Cid began. "So tell me your brilliant plan."
