A/N: Been a while, but I've got at least a couple chapters for you and wanted to share - drum up some enthusiasm and see if I can't get cracking on this one again. Thanks for your patience, guys! And as always, thank you so, so much for your support. 💜
There were two problems going up against Shelke, as far as Nikolas could see. The first and most immediate problem had been finding her. She wasn't the power beacon the other Tsviets were, you couldn't just reach out and Sense energy, either organically or with the materia. She wasn't that powerful to stand out. But, due to that same fact it also meant she had to fight differently. He wasn't going to find her vulnerable out in the open.
Shelke's power was literally in her mind. Her intelligence and her SND powers were what she would rely on first: take him out before he ever got the chance to go at her with superior strength one on one. It was just logic.
Which meant she had to be somewhere she could take advantage of technology in the environment and the most tech heavy place in Sector 4 by far was the Reactor. There was a hell of a lot of damage she could do there, both to anyone inside and, if she timed it right, anyone for miles around.
And that brought him to the second problem that was now the main and most deadly one: he was going to have to play mind games with a chess master who already had a solid upper hand and complete control of the environment. Not great odds.
He was a SOLDIER, though. That was sort of their thing.
It was far too easy to enter the Reactor - the guards let him walk right in. Which made sense. Outside the Reactor, he had space. Inside, a man of his build especially was immediately handicapped; you couldn't swing a sword in many of the halls. Literally, the sword and his reach together were too much without even going into the danger of cutting into random things in there. He palmed a long hunting knife from the sheath at his hip, grateful he'd had it, and paused.
It was entirely too quiet in here.
He'd been in reactors before, there was still the familiar background noises of the systems running. The buzz of lights and electricity. The distant hissing and chugging of mako processing. The distant, faint metallic sounds of equipment moving. But there were no people walking around or talking. And while that was apparently the norm for the really old reactors, all the ones in Midgar were fully staffed.
The first thought was that they'd been killed. Shelke would have come through, and they would have resisted. There should have even been some troopers, but either she would have been able to handle them herself, or smart enough to bring someone to do the hands on work while she made a beeline for the controls. No matter how it happened, it was in no way good. He had to assume anyone he did run into here was an enemy affiliated with Deepground.
Big man though he was, Nikolas was light on his feet. His boot steps still made sound on the metal floors. Why not? She had to have control of the cameras by now. She knew where he was. Surprise would not work from that angle.
'Aye, Nikolas, this is Cait Sith, I work with Reeve,' his earpiece crackled to life so suddenly he almost jolted in surprise. 'Listen, the lass has full control of the Reactor.'
"I figured," he murmured. "She's had time to make herself at home."
'I'm gonna upload the layout to your phone, if ye can make out the picture.'
Not likely on his little screen, but he stopped to look at it anyway, ears pricked for anyone approaching. Whatever traps lay ahead, he hadn't sprung any - yet.
Hopefully.
After a moment of scrolling through it, he hit a note from Reeve, and paused. Read it a second time. And he smiled.
Pocketing his phone and adjusting his grip on his knife, he continued forward slowly through the silent entry and past the heavy doors that should have been shut. Definitely walking into some sort of trap soon… nothing for it but to trigger it and deal with the fallout.
Knowing something was coming, he couldn't help but get more tense as he slowly walked through more of the reactor without meeting the slightest resistance. And he knew she was trying to get in his head with it, reinforcing the point that things were happening on her terms instead of his. But he couldn't help the reflexive anxiety, the feeling akin to being stalked. Being prey never sat well with anyone, but especially not with a trained predator. But really, what choice did he have? For now, he had to play her game.
Despite his hypervigilance, he had not expected the sudden activation of the sprinkler system. It was mostly an annoyance, the water was tepid but clean, and he wasn't harmed by it. His mind, however, was immediately distracted trying to see the strategic value in the change of the environment.
That, in itself, had value. He didn't miss the door bursting open from the inside and letting in 'troopers' but he was still a second slower than he might have been.
He didn't believe for one moment that these were legitimately ShinRa troops, and shifted to a combat stance.
Wisely, they didn't let him get close. Electricity arced through the air and went straight for his waterlogged self with devastating precision. Had he had Genesis' prowess with magic or Benji's experience with lightning, he might have been able to redirect it, somehow. Unfortunately, this was not in his skillset. But he was a SOLDIER First, and he took it and kept moving with little more than a shudder. He was on the first trooper in a heartbeat, plowing one into the other, taking them both down and keeping them down with quick, deep cuts from his blade. It wasn't as clean as he'd have liked, but it was fast and it meant they wouldn't be coming after him later.
He rose slowly after wiping his blade roughly clean on one of the now-still troops' shirts, looking around. He was wasting time here, and that wouldn't do. Every moment he spent walking around, she had more time to plan and set things in motion. He had to move, had to be decisive and swift about his actions.
Hard to do, when you were going blind.
He shook his tingling arms out a second, then his legs, looking around. "Cait Sith?"
A beat where he wasn't sure he'd get a reply, and then - 'I'm still here, lad. Just tryin'a figure out what I can do to be helpful to ye.'
"Actually, about that… you're completely disconnected from the reactor?" He checked.
'…aye…'
"Right. So it's totally independent of Midgar's systems right now, then?"
'For security purposes we -'
"Yes or no, please, I'm short on time."
'Yes. Why?'
"Were you able to do any lockdowns before you lost control?" He asked.
Another moment's pause, then,'Aye, Reeve says he was able to dismantle a few things. Could say the reactor's in 'manual' mode right now. Still chuggin' along but it's not acceptin' any commands from the system. Twas the best we could do, on such short notice, short of killin' it completely.'
"Understood. Tell him I'm sorry for the damages," he said, checking the layout one more time and listening hard. There was no scent, sound, or feel of mako in this section, nor did the blueprints he'd been sent say there would be. Great.
Nikolas eyed the security camera, giving a wave with a grim smile. "I'm coming for you, Shelke."
There was a time honored SOLDIER tradition, when going around something was too long, hazardous, or even tedious. A tradition that had applied to everything from armies to actual buildings. If you couldn't go around something, you went through.
Almost casually, right where the camera could see, Nikolas reached high and tore a foothold into the wall. These buildings were built thick, tough - reinforced, even. But they weren't built with someone ever having thought "we need to stop someone from bypassing security by manually cutting through the walls and floor both." That thought, he'd suspect, had never entered anyone's mind. People didn't do that. Couldn't, back when this was built. So much of the world wasn't built with SOLDIERs in mind, and this time it came in handy.
'Ye cannae be serious,' Cait Sith said, sounding a little strangled.
"I am so serious," he agreed. "Going to help a SOLDIER out, or should I keep cutting until my senses do the work?"
Cait Sith was silent long enough that Nikolas raised his blade again. The poor thing was going to be dull as a skipping stone when he was done, but he'd manage.
'W-wait!' He was interrupted before he could cut again. '…ye need ta go leftish.'
"Leftish?" He repeated.
'I'm gonna send another picture. Hang on.'
Nikolas waited several beats for his phone to ding, checking it. And he smiled, faintly, pleased. "I see. Alright, then. Thanks."
Shelke knew he was coming. She probably knew how he was coming too, at least enough to be planning. But she was going to have to recalculate all her carefully laid plans, and thanks to Cait Sith she had much less time to do it with.
She wasn't as far as he'd expected. He got himself to the next floor and booked it from there. Distantly, he could hear the whir of automated guards - Scarlet's work, they weren't SOLDIER friendly to begin with - but they weren't gaining at the speed that said they'd get to him any time soon. And with Cait Sith's guidance, he could feel a bright point of energy, bright enough to say enhanced, even if it was nowhere near First Class level. Maybe 'really talented Third Class'? Regardless, it had to be Shelke.
'Detour right ahead, lad, we need a minute,' Cait Sith said.
"Literally right?" He checked, taking a turn when Cait hummed in agreement. "Dead end. If I get caught by those sentries, we're going to lose any advantage I'd gotten."
'Hate to be the one to tell ye, but that's exactly what ye need to do,' Cait Sith said.
"What? How is - put Reeve on," he demanded. "You said you work with him, and I should have had you prove it from the start, that you're not a Deepground plant that got ahold of our signal."
Cait Sith made an offended little noise. 'Why I never -'
'It's fine, Cait,' Reeve's voice cut in smoothly. 'We're asking you for a lot of trust, Nikolas, and I can appreciate you being uncomfortable with the risk. Allow me to explain.'