The Breakout
"He's dead," Barrett said, voice coated in shock. "The President of Shinra is dead."
Tifa went around to the back of the desk, closer to the body. I saw in her eyes a flash of horror, fear, and as much surprise as everyone else. More importantly, she and Cloud recognised the weapon.
"Cloud... this weapon must be..."
"It's Sephiroth's," Cloud confirmed to her. It did nothing to calm her nerves. If anything it worsened them.
"Sephiroth is alive?" She sounded in disbelief, shaking her head.
"He has to be. Only Sephiroth can use that sword," Cloud crossed his arms, going to the desk as well. "Why would he leave his sword?"
"Who cares why, this is the end of Shinra," Barrett said.
"It's not," Angel said in response. "There's a chain of command. Someone will take over."
"Aren't you full of optimism?" Barrett scoffed. Angel just glared at him and folded her arms.
From across the room we heard someone stumble and gasp, a larger man in a brown suit started trying to get away down the stairs but Angel, being closest to him, got hold od his arm and Nanaki stood in front of him, snarling. Barret got a better grip of the guy as we al approached him.
"Please, please don't kill me!" He begged.
"What happened?" Cloud asked.
"It... it was Sephiroth," the man said. "It really was him! He spoke to the President! Sephiroth told him that he wouldn't let us have the Promised Land. Then he, he just killed the President!"
"So does that mean the Promised Land really exists?" Tifa asked. "And that Sephiroth is here to save it from Shinra?" She sounded sceptical, but hopeful, as she looked at Cloud.
"So he's a good guy, then?" Barrett added in.
"Save the Promised Land? No way," Cloud answered. "It's not that simple. I know Sephiroth; his mission is different."
The man suddenly burst free from Barrett and Angel's grasps as we were caught off guard for a moment, and started running outside to the balconies. We watched him, hearing the faint humming of a helicopter flying in. We couldn't see who was inside until it landed. Out stepped a young blond man in a white suit. The sight of him was enough to make Barrett curse aloud.
"Fuck! It's Rufus! I forgot about the bastard!"
"Rufus?" I asked.
"The President's son. The Vice President of Shinra," Barrett explained. "Ain't no person who's ever seen him bleed or cry. Been away of some extended business trip, until now."
"Now he's the new President of Shinra," I finished, watching two men speak to one another. "Maybe he's different from his dad?"
"Doubt it, all of Shinra are bad seeds," Barrett replied.
"Well, then how about Avalanche welcome him in," I said and started to head outside. I took the helm as everyone followed me out. The helicopter was still active, the blades circling and causing a gust of wind to kick up. The men continued talking and Rufus eyed us as we came into his eyesight. He dismissed the other man, who ran into the helicopter, and watched us stoically. I had my eyes locked with his. He didn't move, it barely looked like he was breathing. He definitely was not intimidated by our appearance.
"Just who are you?" He asked slowly.
"We're Avalanche," I said before anyone else could speak. We kept eyes with one another, his briefly scanning the rest of the team. His mouth curled into a smirk ever so slightly, and ever so briefly, before pushing hair from his face nonchalantly.
"What a crew," he said. He took a few steps forward, standing directly in front of me. We still kept our eyes on one another. His face gave nothing away. "I'm Rufus. The President of Shinra."
"You're only the President because your old man died," Barrett sneered. Rufus quickly side glanced him in silence before settling his eyes back on me.
"Correct. I'll let you hear my inauguration speech," he said and started to walk through our group. "Father liked to control the world with money. And that worked for him... for a time. The people believed Shinra would protect them." He continued walking through the group, probably trying to intimidate us, or analyse us, or both. "Work for Shinra, get your pay. If terrorists attack, the Shinra army will protect you. It looked perfect on the outside." He walked on the outer part of the group, purposefully passing Barrett as he said that last sentence. "But I prefer to do things differently. Why spend so much time, effort, and money on the common people when all you need is a little fear. There's no reason to waste all that on them when fear will sway them into doing whatever you please." He ended where he started, standing in front of me.
"He likes to make speeches, just like his father," Tifa frowned.
"So are you done?" I asked Rufus. He gave a small, smug, smirk.
"Are you waiting for something?"
"I'm waiting to see if you can an ally or not," I eyed him, my voice even. I knew this kind of game. "So far you're not doing yourself any favours."
"I didn't realise I was here to impress you."
"I didn't realise you were trying to scare me," I countered. I looked him up and down, only turning away when Cloud put a hand on my shoulder.
"Get Aerith and the others out of the building," he said. I glanced at the others then at him. "Go. This is bigger than Shinra. I'll explain later." I shook my head, but put a hand on his shoulder and let him deal with Rufus ad I motioned the others to come with me.
We took the elevator down to the ground floor lobby, hoping the front door would be the easiest way for escape. That plan went down the drain as soon as we reached the front doors. There was already what looked like a large portion of the Shinra army standing waiting for us. They raised their guns when we were in their line of sight and we all ran for cover, the glass doors shattering and the gunfire ringing in our ears. Barrett was firing back at them periodically, while Angel flung a few fireballs at them.
"There's no way we can take them all!" Angel called across from her cover. "We need a better plan!"
"All of you get out while you can," Aerith insisted. "It's me their after, you can all still get away."
"Aerith I told you, we're all leaving here," I said and peered over the cover, seeing some soldiers throw something at us. "Grenades! Move back!"
We just missed the explosions, getting back to behind a stone mural. Fuck we were surrounded and there was no way back to the elevators without being shot at. I looked around for any other way. Wait, there were elevators at the back of the lobby as well that could take us back up and we could maybe take a stairwell back down to get away. At the very least it would funnel the soldiers coming at us.
"Barret! Christie!" We looked up and saw Tifa on the floor above us. She ran down the stairs and vaulted over the bannister to reach us. "Hurry! This way!"
"Where's Cloud?" Barrett asked as Tifa ran to a truck displayed in front of us, getting the door open with no problem.
"He's coming, just hurry and get in the truck," she said breathlessly as she began to hotwire the truck. Aerith got into the passenger's side, while the rest of us loaded into the back. In a couple of moments the truck roared to life and Tifa got in, and soon we were accompanied by Cloud riding a motorcycle.
He motioned his head to follow him and Tifa started driving, somehow forcing the truck up the flight of stairs and positioning it across from the windows. Cloud started revving, as did Tifa, and we didn't even need to be told to hold onto something.
Through some sheer stroke of luck both the motorcycle and the truck crashed through the glass and onto the motorway. Tifa's foot pressed right down on the accelerator as we drove to escape the Shinra building. Cloud had slowed down a little behind us, checking behind for any sort of pursuit. It didn't take long for some Shinra troops to be on our trail.
"Spiky! Watch your ass out there!" Barrett yelled, unloading his gun at some troops further back. Cloud was already locking his sword into the bikes of those that got too close but there was a lot of them. A couple broke past Cloud and through Barrett's gunfire to reach our truck. On one side Angel threw a fireball into the face of one, while I grabbed the gun from a soldier's hand and shot him point blank. I didn't have as much range as Barrett, nor nearly as much ammo, but I'd make do.
It was hard to line shots up so I waited in case any of them got too close, firing at them when I knew I'd get a hit. Thankfully there only seemed to be a handful of the squad in total so once we had gained enough distance from the Shinra building and taken them out it looked like we were in the clear.
Tifa had the truck come to a stop when we reached the end of the motorway. It was partway through construction, probably to outside Midgar or they were planning on expanding the Plate, I didn't know. The sky was getting lighter as the sun rose up, it was odd that I hadn't even kept track of the time. And it'd been so long since I'd even seen the sky, now that I thought about it. We all stared out to the empty wastelands that surrounded Midgar. Everything was so quiet but... peaceful, almost. We were finally able to stop and take a breath.
"Well, what do we do now?" Barrett asked, turning to look at Cloud. I remembered what he had said in the Shinra building: that whatever this Sephiroth character was involved in, it was far bigger than the company.
"Sephiroth is alive..." Cloud spokealmost as though he was thinking to himself as he walked closer to the edge of the motorway. He then looked over to us. "I have to settle the score."
"Will that save the planet?" Barrett asked.
"Looks like it," Cloud shrugged, not really knowing the answer.
"Well, then I'm going," Barrett told him.
"Me too," Aerith said, joining the two men as the rest of us walked to join them. "There are things I need to know."
"About the Ancients?" Cloud asked. Aerith paused, looked at Cloud, then looked into the distance to the wastelands.
"Many things," was the cryptic reply. She then looked at me. "What about you, Christie?"
"I'm in the same boat as you," I told her. "Saving the world doesn't sound like too hard of a job." I heard Angel scoff slightly and I turned my gaze to her. "What are going to do?" She was silent, glanced around, then folded her arms.
"If you're intent on finding Sephiroth, there's a high possibility you'll be going to Nibelheim," she answered, getting quick looks from Tifa and Cloud. "I'll go as far as that."
"And I'll go with you as far as Cosmo Canyon," Nanaki added in. I looked at him with a small, questioning look. "It's my home; I wish to return."
"Well, I guess this is goodbye Midgar," Tifa spoke as we stood at the edge of the construction site. There was a crane nearby, a chain dangling right now. Tifa went over to it and peered over the edge. "I think we can get down with this."
"Easy for you to say," Nanaki grumbled.
"I'll go first," I said, not bothering about behind the one to check if it was safe enough. I took a running leap and grabbed the chain, starting to clamber my way down carefully. It was definitely a long way down but as long as kept a firm grip we'd be fine.
I warned them about the bit of a drop at the very bottom as I grabbed the hook then let go, dropping onto the dusty ground outside of Midgar. Everyone eventually followed, with a little difficulty with Nanaki but he was surprisingly dexterous for being a quadroped. Cloud was the last of us to drop down and we all sort of... stood about with no aim as to where to go. Where would we even start looking for Sephiroth? I didn't even know what the world beyond Midgar was like. This felt like Spira all over again.
"Where do we go from here?" I asked, directing the question at Cloud.
"Hey, what you asking him for? You forgetting who leads Avalanche?" Barrett asked, getting a little defensive. I wasn't in the mood.
"Cloud's the reason we're going after Sephiroth, by all means he should take the lead," I reasoned. Tifa put a hand under her chin and hummed quietly.
"She's not wrong, Barrett," she said. Barrett let out a huge sigh and gave in.
"Well fuck it then, looks like you're leading spiky," he said. "But you gotta explain what connects Sephiroth and the crisis of the planet. Makes no sense from where I'm standing."
"I will, once we're safe," Cloud nodded. "There's a town not far from hear, across the wastelands, near the shores."
"Yeah, Kalm," Barrett said. "Looks like we're headed there then. Shouldn't take us more than a day to get there by foot, if we're lucky."
With our course set, we headed for the next town over. The town called Kalm, where Cloud would explain just who Sephiroth was.
