"Vincent!" Cloud turned to locate him.
The red cloak whooshed out of the shadows. His gun was already drawn. He aimed and fired at a monster that almost snuck up behind the blonde. Cloud didn't even flinch at the almost possibility that Vincent had aimed at him instead.
"Change of plans we need to evacuate. But the people come first so we're their last line of defense."
"Have Reno inform them and we'll make a slow retreat." Vincent suggested. It was a sound plan and the most reasonable.
Cloud had someone look over their supplies. They had enough healing items to keep them all for now. He hoped they would all escape safely. Cloud gave the orders. His men nodded, keeping themselves together because of how calm he was.
Internally the blonde wasn't calm. He was in a panic. But he wasn't the only one out here. These men depended on his leadership. They had families, mates, and children or expecting. Cloud wasn't going to let them experience what he did when his father disappeared.
"People of Kalm! Evacuate to Midgar immediately. This is not a drill. Evacuate to Midgar immediately." Reno's circled above, his microphone speaker set to the loudest safe decibel so everyone has the chance to hear.
Panic swept over the town and Cloud made a sour face. He breathed in to calm himself. When his lungs burned for air he slowly let it out and turned to his men.
"Okay, change of formation! Best swordsmen, with me as first line of defense. Those of you with guns, follow Vincent's lead to be our back up. We need four healers to spread throughout all of us. Get to it, men!"
His men scrambled to formation. The smell of fear was strong in the air. Even so Cloud kept the brave face. In doing so he sensed the boost of morale among the others. During the way over he sensed their dismay at him being an omega leading them, but now he earned their respects and loyalty.
Above Reno kept an eye over the whole operation. He watched as townsfolk scrambled into vehicles and chocobos and raced towards Midgar. So far the evacuation is mostly going smoothly, but even so he radioed in HQ.
"What's the situation."
"Bad. Really bad, boss. We lost most of Cloud's team. He's lining up the last of them as last defense for the people to evacuate. We need back up ASAP."
"What of Vincent?"
"He's working to help Cloud. But I'm not sure if this last group can pull it on their own." Reno grit his teeth. He knew he would be in for it if Sephiroth hears news of this. If he allowed Cloud to perish with the last of the men in defense, so internally he came up with a plan to rescue the remaining few once the people evacuated.
"Copy. Sending back up." Tseng cut off his end to began preparations.
Due to the situation at hand Reno was sure that Tseng would lead the back up operation himself. He hoped so, for that meant Tseng would act fast and arrive within a shorter time than others. This situation called for his experience and quick thinking skills and ability to remain calm. Reno was having a hard time following that example.
He focused on watching the whole town below. As the townsfolk moved out a certain distance, some still scrambled at the edges of the town. He informed Cloud over the radio, and slowly they began to retreat. Reno gunned down a few that got around the defense to attack the screaming citizens.
He was saving his missiles for Cloud's cover when they could finally escape themselves. It was so tempting to let them go now, but instead the Turk used regular bullets. The waiting paid off as they progressed slowly towards the outskirts of Kalm.
Cloud assessed his men. So far they were doing better than he thought. He noticed that somehow the monsters were increased in numbers, however. Where did they all come from?
Suddenly another wave rushed towards them. The swordsmen line was broken within minutes. Monsters breached them and continued to the second line of the gunslingers. A healer was taken down who stepped forward in an attempt to heal the fallen warriors of the front line.
"We aid second line!" Cloud turned to slash at a monster attacking a gunman who was reloading. He didn't have time to access how many of his men went down, too focused on saving everyone he could of his entire unit.
Reno opened fire at Cloud's back to hold off the monsters swarming at the swordsmens backs. A stray bullet grazed Cloud's cheek, but he didn't care. He moved forward to attack another monster so he was out of range of the rain of bullets.
Even as they took care of the immediate threats within their formation the monsters weren't stopping. Wave after wave came at then relentlessly. Cloud could feel the exhaustion taking over, and he knew his men were worse off. He glanced over at them. Healers were scrambling to help the wounded, while those better off guarded them with clear determination.
Finding the bravery within his chest Cloud whirled around, removing a second blade and unleashed a flurry of slashes. With both blades he was a whirlwind of steel. Behind him he heard Vincent taking calculative shots, leaping around for the best angle then taking the opportunity when he had it.
"All right! All townsfolk have evacuated!" Reno announced above. He took to firing missiles at a safe distance from the SOLDIERs to reduce the waves of the threat.
Cloud turned to give the order of a full retreat when he stopped. They were all completely surrounded.
"Reno! When will back up be here?" Cloud urged through his ear piece.
"Oh, shit." Reno saw why the blonde was panicking. He turned the chopper around to clear a path with two missiles. He watched as the group bolted.
Cloud and Vincent hung in the back of the pack. The gunslinger aimed at any monsters that made an attempt of their vulnerability. The blonde slashed away at any that got too close. Reno continued to support from above.
"Tseng! We're barely hanging in here!" He panicked. The redhead had a better view of how massive the swarm of monsters were. There was so many. This would require more choppers and both Sephiroth and Zack.
"Hang tight we're almost there." Tseng assured.
Suddenly a monster tackled Cloud. He screamed as it bit his arm below the shoulder guard. He tried to twist around to have a better chance of stabbing through it when his unit turned back. A swordsman sent the monster flying and guns fired at it. Someone pulled Cloud up, tossing him a potion.
"We're surrounded again." Cloud commented on vain.
"We're not leaving you behind, Sir." A Third Class SOLDIER addressed. "And it's not because of who you're mated to."
"You're our leader, Sir!" Someone else yelled with enthusiasm as he shot at an incoming monster.
"Thanks." Cloud nods, feeling grateful for them.
However this time even with Reno's help they couldn't get a break through the monsters for a clear path. More and more became wounded. Potions were running low. Some resorted to casting Cura. This left a few precious seconds of the healers standing around being more vulnerable than usual and doubled the work for everyone else to cover for them.
Just as things started to look grim, there was a lot of yelling. Everyone looked up to see Group B running towards them at full speed. Almost the entire group had survived. They charged and broke through the monsters to rejoin the dwindling Group A. Their chances were looking a little bit better.
"The cavalry is here!" Reno announced at the sight of three choppers flying fast towards them.
They were still a few miles off, but they were in sight. With renewed hope the men on the ground let out another war cry as they fought with more vigor. However the hope quickly turned to fear as the Bahamut, which had been still as a statue in the middle of Kalm finally awakened and let out a terrifying roar.
"Everyone, continue to retreat!" Cloud ordered as he ran towards the Bahamut. Vincent almost followed, but knew that someone had to keep these men together so they could survive. So he took it upon himself to assign as their second in command.
"He'll be fine. Let's get going." Vincent said, and they all nodded their heads.
Meanwhile Cloud felt that this was the worst decision he ever made. He knew his chances were low. He was already slightly wounded, no means to heal, and by himself. But he knew that if Bahamut wasn't dealt with then everyone would die.
"Sephiroth, lend me your strength." He muttered to himself. The effect was instantaneous.
Through their mated bond he felt coldness sweep through him. It made him feel sluggish at first. Then soon as it came it left, leaving him with renewed strength and courage. Cloud felt something within him change. He couldn't place what it was, only that he had his own power within him so he didn't have to borrow from Sephiroth.
Cloud leaped to the air and sliced at the legs and tail of the beast. Instantly the beast focused on him. Reno resisted backing up the blonde, but he would leave it for one of the other three choppers. He turned to see Tseng piloting one of them and speeding towards the beast.
"Reno, collect the stragglers and take them home." Tseng instructed.
"Got it, boss. You take care of goldilocks, ya hear?" He knew it was pointless to say but he couldn't help it.
"You know I will. Now do your job."
"Yeah, yeah." Reno lowered to the ground away from the horde of monsters for the ground unit to come aboard. Some got inside one of the big trucks, but the wounded were brought to his chopper.
Meanwhile Tseng closed in to support Cloud. Rude and Elena were busy holding off monsters to give the truck and Reno time to escape. He studied the blonde curiously. He could see that he was wounded, and yet he carried on like it was nothing.
"How is he doing?" Zack asked from the back.
"Could use your help." Tseng admitted. Cloud was doing fine on his own, but he was inexperienced against a Bahamut.
"Then see ya later." Zack opened the side door and leaped to join.
"Zack?" Cloud took a surprised glance. The First Class SOLDIER paused when he looked into the blonde's eyes.
"Mako?" Zack muttered in confusion.
"We are in the midst of battle, gentlemen." Tseng reminded as he fired missiles at the beast.
"We'll talk later. For now, watch how a First Class SOLDIER handles this thing." Zack winked before taking the lead to defeat Bahamut. Wordlessly Cloud became his back up.
Within a shorter amount of time than Cloud expected Bahamut was dealt with. And with it the monsters dispersed, running with their tails between their legs. Tseng lowered for the two SOLDIERs to hop aboard. He offered pills for Cloud's motion sickness.
"Your eyes." Tseng studied the changes cautiously.
"What about them?" Cloud swallowed the pills dry.
"You're being tested soon as we get back. You have mako eyes when you didn't before you left for your mission." The Turk informed. He remembered when he briefed Cloud for this mission and his eyes were normal.
"What?" Cloud didn't know what to think.