Chapter Twelve: Debriefing
The group got back to base and found men celebrating.
A few questions rapidly revealed they'd won a great victory. New Wark had been seized by an onslaught of marines. At the same time, half a dozen other battles had been fought and won. Though there had been one defeat, where an officer had led his men into zerg territory. Trapped in a narrow ravine, they'd been ambushed and destroyed.
None, however, had been quite so successful as Tifa's operations. And Tifa met them personally inside a command tent. She smiled as she saw Cloud, and he felt strange. However, he remembered what Sephiroth had said.
He'd been programmed to love her.
"Nice work, everyone," said Tifa. "Your actions destroyed a significant portion of the hive cluster. It also threw the xenomorph forces throughout the planet into disarray. The hive minds contact with the Mako must have caused a chain reaction of some kind. Thanks to your actions, we were able to seize control of the city with minimal casualties. Our newly experienced recruits will go a long way to holding ground."
"I've heard about enough about you and Shinra. I'm not interested in you plotting against each other," said Barret, unimpressed. "I just want to head home and see my little girl."
Tifa leaned forward and smiled, and Cloud really liked the way she looked. "Well, in any case, I'll see if I can get you and your men the recognition you deserve.
"I will, however, be expecting you to do another mission tomorrow."
"Another one?" asked Biggs. "You're kidding me? After that."
"Well, of course," said Tifa. "With New Wark retaken, we now have to move south to the town of Santo. There is another Mako Reactor there we need to destroy before we assault.
"My success is going to encourage other officers to be more aggressive. I've got to stay ahead of them if I'm to ensure we're properly recognized."
"How long are we going to do this?" asked Jessie. "One or two missions like this, and we're going to make a mistake."
Tifa moved forward to Jessie, so their faces were close. Jessie stiffened as Tifa put a hand to cup her cheek. Cloud couldn't help but eye both their ample busts and how near they were. "As long as we can maintain our momentum, of course. I intend to win here at Chau Sara."
"And what about the evacuation transports to get everybody out of here?" asked Jessie blushing.
"Don't worry, Jessie," said Tifa, turning away with swaying hips. "They're on standby.
"We won't need them, however. If we can continue this level of efficiency, the zerg should be fully purged." Tifa brushed her dark hair out of her face and smiled at Cloud. "Our victories are already giving the Old Families a great deal of good publicity. They won't want to sabotage this while they have a good thing going."
"Sounds pretty typical Old Families," said Barret. "Fine, let's head to the bar.
"I need a drink."
Barret, Biggs, and Wedge moved out. Jessie looked to Cloud, and they both moved to follow as Tifa moved over to a table with maps on it. "Cloud, please stay for a moment," said Tifa.
Cloud nodded to Jessie, who gave Tifa a look then quickly left. As she did, Tifa moved over to a counter and drew out a bottle of alcohol. The sort that was heavily aged and which you'd imagine gentlemen remarking on the age of.
"So, did you fight with Barret?" asked Tifa, opening it.
"No," said Cloud. "We didn't have time to do it." He wondered if she was trying to pick up where they'd left off. Everything he'd done, he'd done for her.
But that was part of the problem now, wasn't it?
"Right, well, that's a nice change," said Tifa, drawing out two glasses. "I remember you used to get into fights with the other kids a lot when we were young. Do you remember those days?"
"Not really," admitted Cloud. They were a blur, a few visions, and memories about a promise. Nothing concrete, though.
"Well, in any case, do you want a drink?" asked Tifa.
Cloud sighed. "...Give me something hard."
Tifa poured two drinks and offered one to Cloud, who sipped it. "So, how did things go in Alpha Squadron? I heard you made a name for yourself there-"
"I know, Tifa," said Cloud.
Tifa's face fell. "Ah, right.
"Well, I suppose the question is what you know?"
"Sephiroth told me that I was a product," said Cloud. "A puppet on strings. Custom-tailored and programmed to be your bodyguard.
"Is it true?"
Serena remained silent for a long, long time. "...I had nothing to do with the commissioning or making it.
"I thought you were genuinely my friend when we were growing up. At least, I thought of you like that after you saved me from that fall. When I found out the real reason, well, your entire existence already revolved around me. So I refused the gift.
"I wanted to get you deprogrammed, but the idea of destroying so expensive a product was heresy to my family. So instead, I sent you to Alpha Squadron under General Duke in exchange for a favor. I figured that if you were far away from me, you might be able to develop your own personality.
"If I'd turned you loose on the street, you'd... well, you'd probably be dead if you were lucky."
"How nice of you," said Cloud. "I'm guessing this favor was you getting a command on Chau Sara."
"What's wrong with that?" asked Tifa, drinking more. "We've done serious damage to a clear and present enemy. Do you think these things are going to stop after they crush Chau Sara? I'm doing the best I can in a bad situation."
"Cry me a river," said Cloud with a shrug. "Do you even know what happened to Sephiroth?"
"They assassinated him," said Tifa with a shrug. "I was told about the decision right before the order was given."
Cloud went cold, remembering the sight of Sephiroth being shot in the chest. Then he thought of watching him fall into the abyss. "And you did nothing?"
Tifa shrugged. "He killed my Father, Cloud.
"Brian Calabas was trying to release information about certain projects. It would have made the Old Families look even worse if it had gotten out and could have inspired action.
"They also didn't like how he'd come down in favor of labor unions. It was viewed as the Calabas family overstepping their bounds.
"So President Shinra ordered him murdered. Not that there's any proof he did it. Sephiroth was sent in and murdered him. Sephiroth was a killer, through and through. And according to my reports, he was making grand speeches of feeding Chau Sara to the xenomorphs. Could we really afford to have a one-man army like that walking around?"
Cloud put the drink down hard, and the liquid almost spilled out of it. "Sephiroth did his job, Tifa!
"The Old Families ordered him to kill your Father. Then they had him murdered when he outlived his usefulness. Why should the hitman get prosecuted while the guy who ordered the murder gets off scot-free?"
"I'm going after President Shinra next," said Tifa flatly, and her voice was cold then. "House Calabas has never forgiven or forgotten what they did. Why do you think my strategy is blowing up Mako Reactors? The footage of that explosion sent Shinras stock dropping massively."
"Yeah, and I'm sure all the people who are unemployed are really grateful," said Cloud. "I'll bet the economic recession is going to be a time of celebration."
"If you join up with a monster, you have no one to blame but yourself when you go down with him," said Tifa. "Besides, it's a military target that is saving my soldier's lives. I'm sure some people will get very rich on the repairs.
"And the Calabas family is going to get very rich bettering against the Mako market."
"And where does that leave you?" asked Cloud.
"I'm trying to head off an alien invasion, Cloud," said Tifa, finishing her drink. "I can't get let internal squabbling get in the way of ensuring an alien hive mind doesn't eat us.
"I'm using this war to hurt Shinra." Then she stretched outward, sending her immense bust bouncing. Cloud suddenly felt the desire to hold her, but he didn't because he was not a slave to his programming.
"Yeah, you're a real hero," said Cloud, voice sarcastic.
"What exactly do you want from me?" asked Tifa. "Should I give up all the money and resources I was born with instead of using them to try and fix this mess?"
"You could start by not orchestrating hits on mentally ill war heroes," said Cloud flatly.
"Welcome to the Confederacy of Man; you must be new here," said Tifa angrily. "You know, I had to pull strings to keep you off the hit list. Don't think that people didn't notice your growing awareness of what was going on. A lot of people wanted to murder you just in case. If Duke and I hadn't vouched for you, Duran would have shot you too.
"No one would have ever known.
"Do you really think I could have saved both of you?"
Cloud felt a pure sense of gratitude and guilt for angering her. Tifa knew better, and he ought to love and obey her. But he wasn't going to do that right now. "I guess we'll never find out.
"I'm going to meet the others." He took the drink and finished it. "Thanks for the drink."
Tifa resealed the bottle as Cloud walked out. He didn't look back, even though he wanted to. "Whatever you want," he heard her say.
Cloud made his way out into the town, feeling bad about it. Business seemed to have returned to a semblance of normality. Though there were marines on every corner. People were talking about the recent battles. Some people cheered when he walked by.
Was he getting a reputation as a hero?
It didn't matter much to Cloud as he entered the bar. Within, he saw Jessie, Wedge, and Biggs playing cards. Barret was playing with a young, brown-haired girl with white skin. "One moment, Marlene, I've got to talk with an officer from the mean old Confederacy."
"Okay, Daddy," said Marlene.
Barret turned over to Cloud. "Cloud, we've got word from Duke.
"Turns out we've got whole lotta transport being put aside. Should be able to save a lot of people. Duke has also been setting up potential refugee camps on Mar Sara as well, in some of the wastelands.
"Should have a place to run to if things get really bad."
"That's good news," said Cloud. "What about the xenomorphs? What is the word on them?"
"Well, a lot of people are calling them 'zerg' now. I guess 'xenomorphs' is a bit hard to say," said Barret.
"But what are our scouting reports?" asked Cloud.
"Well..." Wedge looked up from his cards as Cloud sat down across from him. "A lot of sightings. A lot more. They've been appearing all over, and their numbers are growing. At this rate, even if we take back all the cities we lost, we'll have to defend them nonstop."
"That must be why Tifa is so deadset on blowing up Mako Reactors," said Jessie, who was sitting next to Cloud. "She must want to be as efficient with our forces as possible, so the zerg take much worse losses.
"Pretty smart."
"My boys have been helping train up some of the newbies," said Barret. "I'm gonna have to coordinate some training camps, actually. Many of them hardly knew anything about soldiering; they were just handed a suit and told them how to pull the trigger. We're having to train them up on the fly."
"I guess that's why Tifa doesn't want to have them actually lead a direct assault," mused Biggs. "They'd probably get slaughtered without any motivation or training. Maybe that was the idea?"
"So what's our plan to deal with the zerg in the outskirts?" asked Cloud, reflecting the word 'zerg' seemed to fit.
"Well, the Commander has been setting up fortifications at strategic locations," said Jessie. As she spoke, she nudged her chair closer to Cloud. Soon they were side by side. "We've also been scanning for any signs of the enemy strongholds wherever we find them."
"So what do we do now?" asked Wedge.
"Now?" asked Barret. "Well, we eat, drink and get merry because we're probably all gonna die at the end of this."
"Sounds good to me," said Jessie, before kissing Cloud on the lips. She broke away. "Wouldn't you say, Cloud?"
Cloud shifted, his thoughts turning between Tifa and Jessie. Then he thought of their earlier proximity and settled on a third option. "Right."
He kissed her back. It was the end of the world anyway. Why hold back?