Disclaimer: All Final Fantasy 7 characters, places and things all belong to Squaresoft and other involved companies. I own none of them. This fanfic is purely for the fun and enjoyment of others and myself. I make no money from it.
SHARDS COLLIDE
CHAPTER 8
Zack looked around in awe as he studied the vast interior of the underground base currently used by the renegade group Avalanche. Zack had been mildly surprised by the fact that one of the display area's of the bar was really used as an elevator. He had to give credit to whoever came up with that idea. The new area was completely different from the bar. It was much larger and almost took on the appearance of a gym rather then a command area. There were three lounge couches and to his right was a huge vid-screen broadcasting all the news reports and radio waves. The actual parts that marked the base as professional took Zack by surprise. Everything was organized so simply but at the same time it also had its elements of advancement that put it above regular command areas.
Zack let out a soft whistle to express his surprise at the layouts. Tifa gave him a quick backwards glance. "This is our base." She said simply. "Come with me."
Zack nodded his head and followed her as they began to walk down into the room.
Tifa walked up to a tall dark man and tapped him on the shoulder. The man promptly turned around then looked at Zack.
"Oh. So he made it huh?"
Tifa nodded with a smile on her face. "Zack, this is our leader, Barret Wallace. Barret, this is the mercenary I was telling you about."
"It's a pleasure to meet ya" Zack said in a friendly voice and held out his hand. Barret looked at the offered hand and let out a deep grunt, bringing his right arm up so that the dark haired mercenary could get a good look. Zack gasped suddenly and retracted his hand just as fast.
"Eh, sorry." He mutter apologetically as he stared at the dark man's right arm. Instead of seeing a roughly chiseled hand like the one on the left, he saw a silver plated, highly polished machine gun. Zack unconsciously swallowed the lump in his throat.
"So are you gonna stare at my hand all day or are we actually going to talk business." Barret said with a touch of irritation in his voice.
Zack quickly put on a smile and nervously scratched the back of his head. "Heh heh err sorry. I didn't mean to stare. It was very unprofessional of me. So Tifa said you had a job offer for me?"
Barret nodded slowly then took a seat in a nearby chair. He motioned his left arm out, signaling that Zack should do the same.
The dark haired mercenary quickly complied and plopped down on the crate next to him.
Barret messaged the bridge between his nose, trying to collect his thoughts. "First off, Zack exactly how much do you know about Shinra?"
Zack raised an eyebrow in curiosity at the question. "Uh not much really. I know that they are trying to monopolize all the major towns on the continent, Probably the whole world by now. They thrive on mako, which is used to fuel materia. And I also know that everything they touch, they destroy."
Barret nodded his head, apparently satisfied with his response. "Pretty good. With that sort of mindset, it'll make your job easier."
Zack rubbed his chin in thought. "So… then you're not just some freelance Shinra group trying to round up rebels?"
Barret seemed to be furious at this. "What the fu#k gave you that idea?"
Zack shrugged innocently. "Hey, you never know! This is Shinra we're talking about here. I wouldn't put it past them!"
Barret nodded sagely. "Yeah you're right about that. However, I don't have the same assumptions about you. No offense but you don't look like Shinra material. At least that's what I hear from Tifa and I'm beginning to believe it myself. That's why you've seen this much already. Anyway, from what I hear, you've got pretty good skills. Right now I'm in need of skill. In fact, desperately so. We're planning a very important operation and we could use all the help we can get."
Zack leaned in closer. "Well I work with my partners. So whatever mission I accept, I have to settle it with them first but considering what you're all about, I don't think they would object. I still have one question that's bugging me though."
"And that is?"
"Why just us? If you need help so badly, why didn't you hire more people then just us."
Barret leaned back. "There's an old saying, If a cat spots a spec of cheese and a lump of cheese, he always goes for the lump, meanwhile, underestimating the spec which could actually be far more rewarding. Lets just say I'd like to continue being that spec for a while. When we attack Shinra, I believe our hits will hurt the most because they won't be able to spot us due to our drastically small numbers."
Zack nodded his head. "Now I understand. Makes sense I guess."
Suddenly, there was a loud beeping noise coming from the other end of the room. Barret promptly got up from his seat and rushed over to it.
"Biggs, that's the communication frequency from Jessie! Patch it through."
"You got it!" Biggs replied as he meticulously ran his fingers across the keyboard punching in all sorts of commands.
Zack knitted his brow slightly at mention of the name Jessie. It sounded familiar but he couldn't place it off hand.
Suddenly the main screen came to life and Jessie's face was clear on the screen. The recognition hit Zack like a train. 'So that's how they found out about us.' He thought to himself in understanding. 'She was a spy the whole time then. Very clever.'
"What's up Jessie?" Barret asked, leaning against the screen.
"Trouble boss. I've just spotted one of Shinra's Turks. He's beating up on one of our mecenaries pretty bad. He's one of the contacts I was telling you about."
"What?" Zack immediately rushed towards the screen. "What does this guy look like? Does he have blonde hair and a big sword?" He asked anxiously.
Jessie nodded. "Yes that's him. He looks like he's in pretty bad shape."
"Where is the location?" Zack pressed.
"In the Waste area between sectors 5 and 6. Should we intervene?"
Barret rubbed his beard in thought. "This could just be some Shinra ploy to get us out in the open…"
"I don't care!" Zack interrupted suddenly. He ran towards the lift which had previously brought him down. "That's my partner out there and he needs my help!"
"Wait!" Barret called. "We have to devise some kind of a strategy!"
"The hell with that!" Zack shot back. "I don't give a damn what Shinra finds out. If my friend is in danger then they better watch the hell out because I'm coming after them!"
The lift began to rise before Barret could get to it. He leaned sagely against one of the pillars.
"Tifa…" He began softly. "Go after him. Make sure he doesn't get in over his head."
Tifa bobbed her head promptly. "You got it."
Once the elevator stopped, she quickly pressed the button to send it back down to her. She stepped on the base of the elevator when it got close enough. Barret rested an arm on her shoulder.
"Hey, if it gets too rough for you to handle out there, just give us a signal. We'll be there in a flash to assist you."
"Ok." Tifa said then activated the lift, sending her back up.
****
Zack pushed himself to the limit as he raced down the worn out streets of sector seven. He quickly jumped atop a slanted building dashing across all sorts of obstacles. He ran along curved and jagged ends taking all the shortcuts he could. Fortunately, he was familiar with these sectors so he knew exactly where Cloud was and he knew the exact fastest way to get there.
After running for roughly 5 minutes, he heard the sounds of fighting ahead. He quickened his pace and jumped down to ground level. He quickly dodged behind a jagged edge as he neared the scene ahead of him. Once he saw what was going on, he clenched his fists in barely suppressed fury. Aeris was hysterical and the Turk was standing over the Unconscious form of Cloud, kicking him ruthlessly.
****
Reno laughed cruelly as he kicked Cloud's unconscious form yet another time. He was rewarded by the slight trail of blood that began to seep from the blonde man's mouth and the agonizing wail Aeris gave from the other end of the street. Reno smiled wickedly. No one ever touched him and lived afterwards. He held up his nightstick once again.
"I think I've tortured him enough." He said amusedly. "It's about time I put him out of his misery."
He quickly arched his arm up, preparing to deliver the final blow, when suddenly he just barely caught the flash of movement from the corner of his eye. He jumped back with amazing speed as a blazing circular ark of silver swooped before him.
He shot his head up in anger and glared at the new intruder. Recognition assaulted him and his expression quickly became one of insuppressible hate and rage.
"It's you!" He spat in the most venomous voice he could get out.
Zack was unmoving as he glared back at the red haired man who had hurt his friend. His huge buster sword was still embedded in the ground where he had first intended to strike the him. An uncomfortable silence suddenly passed over the group. Each man glared at the other.
Suddenly Aeris broke out of her temporary trance. "Zack!" She yelled happily. He couldn't have shown up at a better time.
This seemed to lighten the mood for Reno. An arrogant grin took the place of the spiteful expression of hate he wore earlier. "Heh, I had no idea I would be seeing you so soon. I thought you would have been smarter then to come back here of all places after what you've done!"
Zack narrowed his eyes, slightly lifting his sword up out of the dirt. "It's been a long time Reno. Still assaulting innocent people for Shinra I see."
Reno shrugged uncaringly and lit a cigarette. "And I see you're still protecting the weak. That always was your biggest fault wasn't it?"
Aeris looked on from one man to the other in total confusion. "Y- you two… know each other…?"
Zack didn't turn his head to look at her but kept his eyes dead center on the red haired Turk as he answered. "A long time ago Aeris."
"Not long enough." Reno grumbled, assuming a quick fighting stance. "So what do ya say Zack, ol' pal. Are we gonna make a fight of this or are we gonna let bygones be bygones for old time's sake and let me do my job?"
This only enraged Zack more. "You already know the answer to that question Reno. I don't have to spell it out for you."
"Good!" Reno smirked. "I've been wanting to take a piece out of you for a long time! Get ready for a big ass kicking!"
Zack grinned slightly. The scene shifted into an almost static atmosphere. Neither man moved as each sized up the other. Aeris was too scared even to breathe as she looked at the dreadful seriousness of each man.
Suddenly, a soft light gleamed of the surface of Zack's blade and in no time at all, the two men where in a flurry of movements. They moved so fast, Aeris couldn't keep track of any of the moves they made. All she saw was a blur of steel and blue cloth.
Zack swung down quickly then curved his blade left, tracking Reno's swift movements. On Reno's part, he bobbed in and out, trying to get an opening but whenever he got close enough, he was deterred by the dangerous sword strokes of Zack's blade. Reno shifted in low then came up with a quick strike of his nightstick aiming for Zack's shoulder blade. Zack quickly moved out of the way, performing a 360 degrees spin then swinging up in a horizontal ark. A flash of blood sprayed the ground and Reno quickly darted back, clutching his arm tightly.
Zack also took a few steps back to gain distance. Aeris was amazed at the outcome but held her breath and clinched her fists nervously.
Reno was once again looking at Zack with hateful eyes. In response, Zack displayed a dangerous grin. "You're getting soft Reno. I've never known you to be that easy to hit before."
Reno's hateful expression slowly became arrogant, now wearing a mask of indifference and slight amusement. "Pretty good Zack, I've gotta hand it to you. You've gotten much better. I guess you win for today but mark my words! You're in Shinra territory now boy! If you even think for a second that Shinra will just ignore the fact that two of their most wanted runaways are roaming free in the city then you're dumber then I thought. You better believe we'll meet again. Count on it!"
In response, Zack quickly dashed towards the chuckling turk only to hit air as the man swiftly darted up onto one of the building rafters. "Better luck next time!" Reno taunted then darted away into the shadows.
Zack Looked towards where the man had disappeared a while longer then he turned towards Cloud's unconscious form. Aeris was already leaning over him, caressing his blood stained face. Zack quickly ran over to his two partners.
"How is he?" he asked worriedly.
Aeris regarded Zack with a scarred expression. She simply shook her head as she looked back down at the unconscious man. Zack leaned in closer to get a better look. He pulled out a Cure 3 materia from his pouch and used it on Cloud. He saw that some of the wounds began to heal properly but Cloud was still in bad shape.
Suddenly Zack's eyes caught sight of something on the side of Cloud's neck. He plucked it out and examined it.
"What is it?" Aeris asked, noticing what Zack had found.
"This is bad…" Zack replied in a grim voice.
"Are you both ok?" a voice suddenly asked from the distance. Both Aeris and Zack looked up to see Tifa running towards them.
"Tifa!" Zack hollered. "Over here! We need to move him out of here, he's been poisoned!"
Tifa ran up along side Zack to examine his injured partner. Zack felt Tifa's hand go stiff. Zack looked up to see Tifa staring wide-eyed at Cloud as if she had just seen a ghost.
"Uh Tifa? Are you ok? What's wrong?"
Tifa said nothing, only continued to stare at Cloud's unconscious form. Zack stood up and grasped the woman's shoulder briskly. "Hey! Tifa are you ok?"
Once she realized someone was talking to her, Tifa broke out of her slight stupor. She looked at Zack with a confused expression on her face, then promptly passed out into his arms.
Zack looked wide-eyed at Tifa's unconscious form then back at Cloud's then to Aeris who was silently cradling the unconscious man. Only one sentence summed it all up for the flustered mercenary.
"What the hell?!?"
::::::::::To Be Continued::::::::::
Authors note: Thanks for reading and please stay tuned for chapter 9.