By a Fraction of a Degree
A FFVII Fanfiction work by findthetiger129
Rated T for Violence and Language.
I do not own Final Fantasy VII, or any of the characters, trademarks or likenesses from Final Fantasy VII or its spin-offs That honor goes to Square-Enix.
Part III: Demons
Chapter 62, Simplifying the Equation?
June 19th [ ν ] – εуλ 0008, 9:00 AM
The sky was beginning to sweep away the cloud cover and the sky was starting to become more visible as Aerith stood on one of Kalm's city walls. Midgar was barely visible as a dark speck on the horizon from here, but even so, she didn't want to take her eyes off of it. The Planet's whispers were fainter than what she was used to here, but she could still detect hints. A short while after waking up to find the spot where her husband had been sleeping to be vacant, she had heard the vague indications that his group had infiltrated and that something was happening there. She had searched for any news of the restrictors and had quickly heard of their deaths.
With luck it would be over, as soon as Hojo was dealt with. Maybe then, the denizens of Deepground could find a way to rebuild what Shinra had denied them. Zack had wanted to believe that too, but at this point, there was still no way of knowing. It was still uncertain what the Tsviets would do once they were freed, and that made everyone uneasy.
"Aerith?" She looked across the walk along the top of the wall and was surprised to see Tseng there. "It's been a little while," the man commented, and she saw that his expression remained calm and collected, as it always did.
"It has," she agreed.
"I trust you have been well?" he asked.
"Considering we've been at war, I'd guess so," she replied stiffly.
"Things do change, don't they?" The Turk approached her and stood next to her, looking over the city wall. "When we parted ways, your last name was still Gainsborough."
"What brings you here, Tseng?" she asked.
The Wutaian looked out over the wastes that lay out before them. "Perhaps I just wanted to congratulate you, and tell you… that they'll be all right…"
She smiled at him, probably for the first time ever. This man who had been trying for years to take her back to the Shinra company, but not by force, who had actually been there when Zack and Cloud had been taken by Hojo, but not by choice, and in spite of it all had managed to help bring Zack back to her, and had probably been the only person to truly know her in her youth. It was hard to pin down her feelings about him even now, but at least for the moment, they weren't enemies. Not friends, because she doubted they'd ever been considered that, but still not enemies.
"Thank you."
A short while later, Cait Sith had led them out of the sewers and through the back door of a small house, and they soon found themselves in the kitchen. The living room was through another door and almost as soon as Tifa opened it, she saw Cloud lift his head from where he'd been resting in a chair. Vincent leaned against the wall nearby while Shalua was on a couch. But Tifa's eyes were only for the blonde swordsman in the corner. "Cloud!" she hurried over to see that he was all right, and he stood to look her over.
"Did they hurt you?" they asked in unison and then paused and Cloud looked at the floor a little embarrassed at her concern before saying "You first. What happened?"
"We made it, I'm fine and so are Cissnei and Freya. What about you?"
"I'm all right," he said at last. "Shalua and Cait Sith got us out…" he looked up and saw Zack and Kunsel behind her. "Do you know about the Professor?" he asked.
"Yeah," Zack said folding his arms, and Tifa could tell he too was looking Cloud over for any sign that he was at anything less than the pinnacle of health. "We got some inside information, and then Rufus confirmed it."
"Rufus?" Cloud looked at him in surprise.
"A lot of things have changed since you guys snuck in," Kunsel said. "Rufus decided a temporary alliance was better than having everything he owned blown off the map by Deepground. It's kind of hard to rule the world if there's nothing left to rule."
"You don't trust him?" Cloud asked.
Zack grinned and shook his head. "I only trust he'll act like Rufus Shinra. That's about as far as I'm willing to go. Reeve and Aerith are there to keep an eye on things for us, and Cid, Barret, and Nanaki'll be in Kalm soon to help them with that."
"A wise decision," Vincent agreed. "I presume you have a plan for coming into this dragon's mouth?"
"Glad you asked," Zack said. "The rescue mission seems to have been taken care of for us," he looked over at Shalua. "You have no idea how happy I am right now."
"Don't mention it," the woman replied. "But there is one thing."
"And that is?" Zack asked.
"When you go to kill Hojo, I want you to help me get my sister back," Shalua said seriously.
"And how did you know that was our plan?" Tifa asked.
Shalua chuckled. "Since before GUARDIAN's inception, it's been obvious that man has been something of an obsession for the vast majority of the people in this room. That vendetta Zack and Cloud have with the professor is almost common knowledge now, and while Mr. Valentine here doesn't talk about things nearly as much as Zack does, the fact that he's insinuated on various occasions there's a bullet in his gun with Hojo's name on it rather speaks for itself, I think."
Vincent spoke at that moment, "I hope you are also aware of the consequences that will likely result once Shelke's full part in this becomes known."
Shalua gave him an uncomfortable look and Tifa. "I know," she said. "But it's just so cruel… She's my only sister. I know she's done some terrible things for them, but they hurt her too… I'm not going to just give up on her, no matter what…" She glared at the others in the room, daring them to try and make her do otherwise.
Zack looked equally uncomfortable but he asked the question as gently as he could "So she is Shelke the Transparent then?"
Kunsel stared at him for a moment. "The one Luxiere was going on about…"
"The same," Vincent confirmed. "And she may have succeeded in locating the Black Materia, though we haven't confirmed it."
"That's definitely bad news," Zack agreed.
"How is he?" Shalua asked.
Kunsel sighed. "Luxiere's gone…"
"I'm sorry…" Shalua looked down at the floor.
"So am I," the swordsman replied. "This is exactly the kind of thing that was so wrong about Shinra in the first place."
"But," Shalua added. "The least we can do is stop her from being used like this."
No one seemed to disagree on that point. Zack checked the clock on his PHS. "We should get going soon. Do you want a piece of the action or do you want to wait here?"
Cloud stepped away from Tifa and gathered up his swords as the others quickly made their own preparations. "Did you even have to ask?"
Zack chuckled. "Good enough for me. Let's go pay the Professor a visit."
June 19th [ ν ] – εуλ 0008, 9:45 AM
Navigating through the upper plate sewers, it didn't take them long before the six of them were climbing out at the side of the Shinra building, not very far, Cloud realized, from the door they had used to enable Tifa, Barret, and Nanaki's escape a few months ago. It seemed they might get in without an issue, but right when they went through the door, they walked headlong into a Deepground soldier. Cloud brought out his switchblades and quickly dispatched him even as Vincent came in last, his attention still on the alley outside in case they'd been spotted. Cait bid them farewell before crawling into another ventilation shaft, saying he was going to scout ahead. Once the satellite was operational, he thought he should be able to transmit his information directly back to Reeve.
Shalua took point, since she remembered the way she and Freya had taken, her pistol at the ready. "All right," she murmured. "The easiest access point to the elevator we hacked last time should be on the fourth floor." Everyone followed after her as they started climbing the stairs and were soon at the level she indicated. Cloud watched as Zack took the lead, allowing Kunsel to get the door for him so he could keep his good hand for his sword, but as the door swung open, he almost immediately brought it up without drawing his weapon, telling the other swordsman to stop.
After pulling it to again, everyone looked at him, silently asking him what was wrong and he gestured that they keep going further up a ways. Once they had gotten about five floors higher, he finally told them, "There were too many of them," he said at last. "There's no way we would have gotten through that without attracting attention."
"Then the only way to proceed far enough to still have the element of surprise is to continue going up," Vincent observed.
"Afraid so," Zack agreed. Cloud looked up to see the spiraling stairs and steeled himself for the long climb. There was no one here who wasn't up to the challenge, but this would probably take a little while.
June 19th [ ν ] – εуλ 0008, 10:00 AM
Freya was nesting on top of a building in Sector 8, looking through the scope of a sniper rifle. Tanjuu knelt next to her, watching the satellite feed on his PHS for any sign of a change, but it looked like the target was headed in their direction with an entourage of Deepground SOLDIERS. Mao and Yuffie stood guard nearby, looking out for any sign that they'd been spotted, but thanks to their unlikely location, no one had apparently discovered evidence of their presence yet.
After a moment, she adjusted her tripod, finally seeing the vehicle with her target pulling into view. In several other places across the city, Legend, Lou, and Allen were with their teams in similar locations within their designated sectors, waiting for the right moment…
The vehicle came closer, and finally she could make out the black helmet. Freya knew her rifle could easily penetrate the face shield. She'd start with that, then go for his heart just to be sure, as soon as she had a clear shot. She couldn't allow them to react in time to get him to safety and possibly cast a Cure. The bullet would probably still render him a vegetable in that instance, but it was best not to take chances.
Time ticked away, but she knew she needed to be patient. She was hunting in the hills of Mideel, and this was simply another target. She was just aiming from a longer range, and her bullets were designed for armor penetration on a scale few in the world possessed. The sniper rifles had been provided from Rufus's own weapons stores in Junon. The only way she'd miss this target would be if he had been sheltering in a tank. After all… she was the best hunter on the Planet.
She gritted her teeth as the open vehicle came closer to their location, factoring in wind and other variables to have the best possible opportunity to ensure a kill. Finally, the moment came. She focused all of her concentration and pulled the trigger. The effect was nearly instantaneous. The restrictor known as Keter dropped out of the vehicle, lying dead on the ground, a bullet wound directly through his skull. Another bullet went through his chest barely a moment later.
The renegades and the ninja had left the building long before the Deepground soldiers even figured out the location of the sniper nest.
At three other locations throughout the city, and some would later say almost simultaneously, the satellite data given to the renegades and active Turks, allowed them to know exactly where each of the four members of the Lost Force were located, and with lethal accuracy, the last vestiges of true control over Deepground were sent back to the Planet.
June 19th [ ν ] – εуλ 0008, 10:15 AM
Zack had to admit he was more than a bit relieved when they finally reached level 51. Fortunately everyone had been professional enough not to grumble about the stairs, but 51 floors of them was enough to test the stubbornness of a Dual Horn. As before, Kunsel opened the door so he could keep his hand free for his sword. They had chosen this floor because it had once contained the SOLDIER offices, and Kunsel had confirmed that up until he'd left, Shinra had kept them vacant. All of SOLDIER's affairs had been relegated to Heidegger. As a result, when the door opened, he wasn't surprised to find the area seemed to be empty.
"All clear," he murmured, and stealthily walked out into the hallway. From here, they hurried to the elevator and after calling it and getting in, Shalua knelt by the control panel, pulling out her tools and getting to work.
"I should be able to hotwire it so we can get to the Science Department pretty quickly," she said. "It doesn't look like they've added any safeguards over what Shinra had."
"Perfect," Zack confirmed. He just hoped no one would call this elevator before they could do it. He shouldn't have worried. They were hardly there for five minutes before Shalua stood, a look of triumph on her face as the elevator started moving upward.
It was only at the moment when the doors opened that it truly hit Zack what they were about to do, and he said softly, "So this is it, huh? We're gonna take out Hojo… It's hard to believe it's actually happening."
Cloud stepped up next to him. "Yeah. It is."
Zack gave his friend a solemn look. "Well then, let's do this right," he said.
Everyone gave a nod of agreement, and then they started towards the entrance to the Science Department's lower level, Zack, Cloud, and Vincent in the lead. It wasn't until they reached the end of the hall that they saw a contingent of Deepground regulars, flanked by several humanoid creatures that, in spite of their appearance were moving around on all fours like Guard Hounds. They looked up and almost immediately raised their weapons to attack, but Zack ran at them, his broadsword in hand, with Cloud next to him.
After leading the charge, taking out three soldiers at once, Zack ducked low while Cloud fended off one of the mutants. Two more fell to Shalua and Vincent's bullets and Kunsel raced forward taking out one of the others. A couple more of them had run up behind Tifa but she'd heard them coming and quickly spun around, before sinking into a lunge and delivering two punches to each of them quicker than the blink of an eye. When one of them looked like he still had not gone down, she followed with a low kick to his knee and then a downward elbow to the back of his head as he dropped.
She picked herself up dusting off her hands as she rejoined them. "Nice," Zack commented, and then he turned and led the way through the door.
They raced across the lower portion of the lab with no resistance and soon they had reached some stairs up to the next level. It was almost a race to see who would get to the top first, and when they reached the next level, their efforts were rewarded. There in front of them, continuing to work with a woman Zack guessed was probably Argento, who was sitting in a chair, stood the man who had haunted his dreams for the last few years.
"Professor Hojo! It's time to answer for what you've done! Your restrictors are dead, and all that's left to deal with, is you!" Zack held his broad sword in front of him as Vincent did with Cerberus, Shalua with her pistol, and Cloud and Kunsel with their swords. Tifa took stance next to Cloud, ready to go when the word was given.
The Professor looked up from what he was doing. "Oh, you're both back, and I see you've brought Specimen Z with you." He looked around and it was quite plain there were no Deepground soldiers in sight. Shelke and Argento were the only ones present and Shelke had simply paused to watch the goings on from her place at the computer. "Excuse me, but if I don't finish my research, hehe, then my experiment won't be complete."
"As if we care," Cloud murmured.
"My sentiments exactly," Argento said. In a movement as quick as a snake's she reached up, grabbing Hojo by his neck and tossing him across the room as she stood from the chair. The man flew across the room to land against the wall. The swordswoman leapt after him, going for her sword as she went, but Vincent had already appeared by the Professor's side, having folded into his cape to reappear there.
"Do you have any last words?" The ex-Turk hissed.
"My, my," the Professor crooned. "It seems you've forgotten what I told you Vincent. You can't stop progress. My death will only prolong the inevitable. It's a shame I'll just have to watch from inside of him. I would have appreciated the view Omega could have provided, but… no matter…"
He reached into the pocket of his lab coat producing a couple of capsules and threw them at the gunman who only backed off a step before folding into his cloak again to go after his quarry as the Professor headed for the stairs leading to the upper catwalks. The capsules burst open revealing two horribly mutated beings, one of which looked like a squid… thing and the other resembling a half-starved cutting of Beachplug. Argento quickly dispatched one of the abominations with a single swing of her sword before racing after Vincent. Cloud too was headed in that direction and Zack wasn't far behind him.
He heard a couple of gunshots as Shalua and Kunsel quickly dealt with the last of the mutants before, up ahead he heard a third as Vincent rematerialized at the top of the stairs and brought up Cerberus, shooting a bullet directly into the Professor's chest. Everyone paused at that moment see what would happen, but, inexplicably, the man was still up. Hojo laughed. "I wonder how the Mako Juice is working here…" To Zack's surprise along with everyone else's, the scientist's body started warping, transforming itself into a hideously misshapen new form. If Zack didn't know any better, he would have said it almost looked like one of the angelic Jenova fragments had been put through a garbage compactor and then given teeth and a straggly black wig.
He visibly grimaced. As if he didn't have enough nightmares about the Professor already.
He raised his broadsword, and he and Cloud charged in to take a slash at him, each of them taking one of the arms as Argento brought her sword up for a strike down the center of their opponent. At that point, a stream of poisonous gas emitted from one of the tentacle like appendages on Hojo's body and everyone scattered as the abomination the Professor had become started to thrash wildly at his attackers.
Kunsel fired a couple of bullets at it from his gunblade while the others backed away. Once the gas had cleared, Zack caught sight of Tifa running in to slide under one of the tentacles to deliver a powerful uppercut.
The Professor seemed to realize he was quickly being overpowered as the head looked around for a moment and then one of the tentacle arms made to grab at Tifa's leg. That was a mistake, because not only did Tifa pick that moment to follow up with a powerful roundhouse kick but Cloud jumped in to cover her, slicing Hojo's left arm clean off. Zack made a final slash with his broadsword at the trident like appendage that was Hojo's right arm, and it looked like it would be over when Vincent brought Cerberus to bear on him once more, firing two more precise shots at the orb-like thing on Hojo's midsection, however, everyone drew back once more as the thing that had once been Shinra's top scientist began transforming again!
This time, he had taken on the form of a floating legless humanoid creature with a long tentacle extending out of the back of his head. He lifted into the air near the ceiling and immediately dived towards Shelke. Zack watched as first Shalua shot at the floating thing which then promptly changed course to dive at her. At the last possible second, he felt a limit channel and he saw Kunsel standing in front of her, his sword in a guard position. The tentacle was deflected and the ex-SOLDIER brought his gunblade in for a swing, but Hojo fled to the upper reaches of the ceiling, out of line of the attack.
"Don't let him fly off!" Zack cried, charging up a Firaga. Vincent was the first at the upper door, locking it firmly, while Tifa jumped down to the lower level below to shut the door they had entered the lab through. She barely made it in time as the Professor flew after her trying to depart, and she had to duck as it embedded its head tentacle into the door she had just secured. Zack leapt down after them, his broadsword at the ready and landed a slash along Hojo's side before the mutated scientist fled back up and away from his blade.
He sheathed his sword and ran up the lower half of the specimen cage to use his good hand to grab purchase on the catwalk and pull himself up after the man, but that was when, almost at the same time, he saw Cloud leap into the air, slicing through the Professor's body with both blades before landing in a crouch. Hojo dropped on the upper level and Zack could just see that Vincent had materialized in front of him. He raised Cerberus and fired the last three shots directly into the monster's head.
The room was silent for a moment as everyone took in what had just happened and then they heard Vincent speak grimly. "Hojo… Rest in peace…
For several moments the lab was deathly quiet as everyone convened on the upper floor. It felt odd, Zack thought. Somehow, Hojo actually being gone seemed like an impossibility. A shadow that would never be avoided. Now, they stood, shoulder to shoulder with two of the Tsviets who he had made their enemy, watching as Hojo's remains dissipated into the Lifestream.
Finally, he cleared his throat. "It's finally over, right? He won't trouble anyone else again."
Vincent nodded. "It is done."
"But… what does that mean for Midgar…?" Tifa asked.
Zack looked over at Argento, "Well, what does that mean?"
She looked like she might be about to answer when suddenly they noticed a buzzing sound from a nearby console connected to a holoprojector. Shelke wordlessly walked over and hit the button. When the screen phased into existence, he saw the image of a man about his age with wild white hair, standing shirtless and backlit by a green mako glow. Behind him stood a man in a black jumpsuit with his hands bound to his shoulders and a pair of wing-like appendages on his back. The strange headgear that obscured his mouth was a little odd, he had to admit.
It looked like they were standing inside a Mako reactor, and in the background, he could see a seat centered at its core, with chains around it that had clearly just been demolished.
That was when white-haired man spoke. "So you must be the famous GUARDIAN that madman was always raving about, it's truly an honor to finally speak with you, General Zack Fair, and of course, Cloud Strife. We would like to thank you for letting us off the Professor's leash." He grinned ferally. "We both know how inconvenient his hobbies were."
"I'd say so," Zack said. He could feel the eyes of the others on him and he regarded this person warily. Even though Hojo was gone, and he was happy to have had a part in it, it was still uncertain what side everyone was on at this point in time. Perhaps being double-crossed after Nibelheim was making him cautious, but something about the way this man spoke… it was already making his hair stand on end. "I don't believe I got your name?" He added.
"Forgive my manners," the man said smoothly. "I am Weiss the Immaculate, and this is my brother, Nero the Sable." The man in black nodded wordlessly in confirmation behind him.
"Well, in that case," Zack said after a moment, "Maybe you can shed some light on just what the Professor was doing here?"
"Well, I should think that part was obvious," Weiss responded. "He wanted to bring back Sephiroth so the man could destroy the Planet."
"What do you know of the Protomateria?" Vincent asked.
Weiss shrugged. "That would have been left to Shelke. Hojo did not say much."
"It's true," Shelke added. "Hojo uploaded a significant amount of Dr. Crescent's data onto my network in hopes that I would be able to locate those objects for him. Much of the data was fragmented, causing several errors that have been affecting my mind somewhat. Hojo was unconcerned by this since he had a fairly good idea of where the Protomateria was located. Of course, as soon as he gave himself the Jenova cells, the Black Materia became his prime directive."
"But that shouldn't matter now, since Hojo is dead, right?" Zack asked. "Now that we've accomplished what you wanted us to do, what's your next step?"
"Well, General Fair, that depends on you, and President Shinra," Weiss replied. "There is still a lot that's wrong out there in the world, wouldn't you agree? I think my friends and I would like to take some time to make it better."
Zack was a little taken aback by this. "I suppose so… but… how do you plan on doing that? If you don't mind my asking?" He tried not to visibly wince. Not that long ago, Godo had asked him the same thing.
Weiss smiled knowingly. "I can understand why you would ask that question. But being a SOLDIER, I think you can understand, in fact if what I am about to offer is agreeable to you, you would not be unwelcome in our fold. Strife and Valentine too, and any others from GUARDIAN who would wish to follow."
"You still haven't told us your plan," Kunsel interjected.
"True," Weiss replied. "We the Tsviets were trained and some us were bred specifically for our power. That power is something Shinra sought to use against the world, and it seems to me, a complete shame that our talents would be wasted after all that work, when we could use that power to rule."
"In essence, you are talking about using Deepground as a means to dominate the Planet," Vincent said softly.
"And why not? They bred us in order to consolidate their rule, so why not carry out their will, as our own? You could keep your own territory under us. All you have to do is join us," Nero said softly.
"Just another strongman…" Zack murmured, almost wanting to laugh at Godo's words, echoing in his thoughts. "No thanks, I think I'll pass."
"In that case, I'm afraid you won't be permitted to leave alive." Weiss turned his attention to Argento and Shelke. "I think you know what to do."
Shelke almost immediately went for her weapons, but paused when she saw that Argento continued to rest her hands on the pommel of her blade as it rested on the floor. "What are you doing?" the Transparent Tsviet asked.
"Actually, world domination doesn't interest me," Argento said. "The soldiers I looked after below were tiresome enough without having an entire planet to see to."
Weiss seemed only slightly disappointed by that. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. But have it your way…" He pressed a button on the control console. "Elliminate them, and retrieve the Protomateria."
At that point, several things happened. The transmission ended and both the upper and lower doors of the lab opened revealing a contingent of Deepground soldiers, just as Zack and the others began casting Walls and Vincent promptly cast Stop on the Transparent Tsviet before she would have the chance to be a threat. "I think it's time we left," he said.
"But what about…?" Shalua began. Out of the corner of his eye, as he himself had moved to fend off the Deepgrounders, Zack saw Cloud knock the Transparent Tsviet unconscious with a single blow from one of his fists before picking her up, effectively silencing the hacker's protests. Everyone was soon taking cover behind some computers while Kunsel, Shalua, and Vincent fired their guns and the rest covered them with spells. Zack let off a Firaga before discovering that he was right next to Argento, who still seemed as calm as ever.
"It seems to me, you have a problem," she observed over the hail of bullets pelting off everyone's Wall spells. "Even if you do get out of here, it's highly likely you'll be overrun by the soldiers patrolling the streets."
Zack fired off a Thundara spell almost at the same time Cloud cast a Fire3 and then gave the Tsviet a glare. "You have a better idea?"
"I might if we can get to Rufus's office," the Tsviet supplied.
"And what guarantee do we have that's not some kind of trick?" Kunsel asked, firing another round from his gunblade before ducking to avoid another hail of gunfire from the advancing enemies.
"Believe it or not, I actually do care about living." Argento stood and held her sword horizontally in front of her, focusing her energy, and for the first time Zack noticed a summon materia glowing in a slot on the blade. To his surprise, a few moments later a huge red dragon appeared in the room, lifting the soldiers up on an illusory platform of earth before unleashing a devastating blast of energy. The soldiers dropped to the ground many of them horribly injured from the blast. The few that remained were easily dispatched by Cloud, with a single casting from his mastered Fire.
"What was that?" Tifa asked as everyone stood and headed towards the upper door.
"Neo-Bahamut," Argento said over her shoulder. "Shall we go?"
Zack nodded, and after signaling that Shalua and Vincent cover the rear, he leapt over their barricade, sword in hand. Cloud followed him with Shelke over his shoulder, one of his switchblades in hand, while Tifa and Kunsel backed him up. The seven of them raced through the throng, Zack lunging and bringing his broadsword down on the closest soldier as spells flew around them, bouncing off Walls and Barriers and their attackers.
Soon, they were through the door and upon seeing five or six Deepgrounders, Argento charged, bringing her sword around quickly and efficiently, felling two of their opponents as Zack slashed through another one and then another. Cloud leapt to the right, quickly stabbing another opponent before he could try and get Zack from behind.
"Thanks buddy!" Zack called as he started up the stairs.
Cloud said nothing but simply answered with a fireball that conflagrated another gunman at the first landing.
Zack stole a glance behind him at that point to see that Shalua and Vincent were backing up the steps both their guns trained on the door, and it was a good thing too, as one of the heavy gunmen entered the stairwell, firing a missile. Seeing where it was going, he jumped forward, knocking Argento to the ground, right after she had sliced another soldier through. Cloud dove against the wall, shielding Tifa and Shelke from the blast while Kunsel pulled Shalua back and Vincent sheltered behind a Wall.
The missile exploded above them, and Zack could see a hole had been knocked through the stairs they had been climbing. He took a flying leap over the hole, casting a Wall on Cloud since his had been extinguished from the blast. The blonde swordsman leapt over the gap, quickly followed by Tifa. He grabbed the martial artist by the hand to steady her as her feet touched the other side. Kunsel and Vincent turned to shoot at the giant man with the mounted cannon and he dropped almost as soon as Shalua made the jump. Though they needed to hurry. Several other soldiers were already climbing over the corpse to come after them.
Argento had made it to the door by that point, and Zack heard it opening behind him. He waited as everyone else passed him before going in after them, casting Odin and backing down the hall a ways. The summon on his mount seemed surprised at what Zack wished him to do, but the giant man on the six-legged horse drew his lance and charged at the doors, unleashing his fury on them without relent. By the time Zack had rejoined everyone sprinting up the stairs to the president's office, the doors behind them had been reduced to a pile of nearly impassible rubble.
"What did you do back there?" Tifa asked.
"Bought us a little time," Zack replied.
"So what now?" Vincent's question was directed at Argento.
"Shelke was exploring the net some time ago when she happened across something rather interesting about this building," the Tsviet replied, hurrying to the side of the desk where the President's chair awaited and started looking around the console for something.
"You're talking about the escape slide?" Kunsel asked.
Argento looked up at him curiously. "You knew?"
"It wasn't that hard to find. I spotted it in some blue-prints I stumbled on a few years ago. Compared to the info on Hojo's work, that kind of information was kid stuff." Kunsel walked over to where she stood thinking about it for a moment and then, making a point to stand to the side of the chair, he pressed what seemed to be a button and they heard the sound of a panel in the floor opening up.
"I'm impressed," Argento said. "It's a wonder Deepground didn't snatch you up."
"I'm glad they didn't," Kunsel said coldly. "Let's go."
There was no need to argue, and Argento went first, followed by Zack, as Kunsel had decided to be their rear guard this time. Being careful to hold his swords so they wouldn't catch on anything on the way down, he descended for quite some time before he finally came out in what appeared to be a small room with wall length closet on one side and a bed on the other. Argento sat there waiting for him.
Curiously, he walked over to the closet and found that it contained a first aid kit with 'For L.' engraved on it.
"Who's L?" he wondered. Argento said nothing as Tifa came down the chute with Shelke in her arms.
Once everyone else was there, Kunsel followed after. "Seems the chute closes up a few seconds after the button's released," he said. "We might have a little time before they find it."
"In that case," Zack turned to Argento, "What is this place?"
"It is an escape hatch the President installed, though I'm not quite sure why. He always struck me as being too arrogant to run if he was in danger." the silver Tsviet explained. "It has access to a hidden wall panel on the main floor. From there, you have two options. I expect whatever you do, you'll be wanting to leave the city, correct?"
"Sounds right," Kunsel agreed.
"Well then, you can try to fight your way out of the Shinra building, which I don't recommend. Shelke will probably try to fight you, as soon as she comes to and that will only draw attention. Or, there is an elevator leading to the secondary entrance to Deepground. Through this, you can enter a series of caverns that can also take you to another exit near the sewers in Sector 5. From there, I think you'll have a much better chance,"
"And what do you plan on doing?" Cloud asked.
Argento's expression remained bored as she spoke. "Now that I am free, I am only interested in leaving Midgar. Once I've accomplished that, we'll see."
"I guess that's the best we can expect," Zack said. At that point he saw that everyone was looking to him to make a decision. "All right, caves it is."
Argento nodded and walked to the door, slicing it open with two deft slashes of her sword. "Let's hurry. I doubt our path will be open for long."
Well, here's an unexpected reversal. If you'll pardon my use of TV Trope terminology, instead of Hojo pulling a Grand Theft Me on Weiss, Weiss pulled a Dragon With An Agenda on him! Well, at the very least, Hojo's dead. A few others too now that I think about it.
In other news, on account of a promotion happening on Amazon, the Kindle version of my novel will be available for free all through this Saturday. The links are on my profile, if you're interested.
Next time... Alliances are formed and a new character appears! I wonder who it is... ^^
See ya soon!