Written by Benoit Goudreault-Emond
13. Incident in Kalm
When Tifa woke up, Cloud was nowhere to be found, and Aeris was still sleeping peacefully, obviously exhausted by the ordeal. Annoyed and puzzled by the young man's absence, Tifa walked into the nearby tunnel. She came to the fork in the tunnel when she felt someone tap her left shoulder. She whirled, lifting her hands in battle stance, then relaxed and smiled as she recognized Barret's wide grin. The large man picked her up in an affectionate and rather tight hug.
"I'm glad to see you too, Barret," said Tifa. "But please--let me down!"
Barret complied, his grin still impossibly wide. Behind him, Tifa made out Cid, Nanaki and Yuffie. Cid came forward, his expression serious.
"Is Aeris..." the pilot asked, not daring to complete his sentence.
Tifa shook her head. "Aeris is fine. I got there just in time. She's sane again, too."
"That's... more than I thought possible," said Nanaki slowly. He sounded immensely relieved. "What made her do those things in the first place?"
Tifa hesitated. Then, "Perhaps you better ask her," she said. "She's back in there." Tifa looked around. "I'm glad you showed up, Yuffie. But where's everybody else?"
"Vincent and Reeve stayed behind to do other things," said Cid. He carefully avoided to say why they had had to leave some of their teammates behind; the loss of the Highwind was still too recent, still painful. "We haven't seen Spike."
Oh, God, did he take off again out of misplaced guilt? worried Tifa. But as those thoughts formed in her mind, a voice was heard from behind Cid.
"Maybe turning around would help," the voice said with a slightly mocking tone.
Everyone turned to the voice, startled, and they all saw the one who had said those words, Cloud Strife, come out of the shadows. In one hand, he was carrying his massive sword. Its edge was painted with some goo from some monster that had obviously lost its life a short while ago. In his other hand, he held a plastic bag.
Cid recovered quickly. "You son of a..." he began. "You're damn lucky Tifa got there in time, mister! Why'd you take off like that, you jackass?"
Cloud did not answer. He only looked down, blushing in shame. Tifa walked between the two men. "Cid, lay off!" she snapped. "Everything turned out all right, hasn't it? And I'm sure Cloud's lack of sleep the days before didn't help him much. Cut him some slack, will you?"
Cloud put his hand on Tifa's shoulder.
"Cid's right, Tifa. I don't know what got into me, but it wasn't fatigue. I just felt I had to strike, and..." Cloud shook his head, unable to find the words to explain how he had felt. He presented the bag to Tifa. "Anyways--words aren't enough to thank you for what you did. I hope this will do, at least as part of my gratitude."
Tifa took the bag and looked inside. The bag contained a set of clothes: a mini skirt, suspenders, a white T-shirt and a heavy belt. She smiled. "You actually went all the way to Mideel just to get me a new set of clothes?"
Cloud looked slightly flustered. "Well, I couldn't let you walk around in a half-shredded shirt and a wet, muddy cape, could I? Besides, Vincent will want his cape back, eventually."
Barret gave Cloud a silent, knowing glance.
"What is it?" asked Cloud defensively. "What are friends for, if they can't do a simple thing like that?"
"Same old Cloud," said Cid. "Does something wonderful when you think he has to be the dumbest guy on the Planet!"
"Indeed," added Nanaki. "I wonder if SOLDIER training does that to its every recruit."
"I guess we now know why they canceled it," concluded Yuffie.
Cloud looked at his friends with a puzzled expression. He turned to Tifa, who was looking at her feet, her cheeks crimson.
"Any idea what they're talking about?" Cloud asked her.
"Uh..." was the only thing Tifa managed to say, shuffling her feet while finding them a fascinating thing to look at.
"Never mind," growled Cloud. He started down the tunnel. "I'll go wake Aeris," he yelled over his shoulder. "Let's meet back in Mideel."
The band reached Mideel in the late afternoon. They went back to the inn's charred remains, where the innkeeper's relatives were cleaning the area. Aeris, eyes filled with tears, apologized for her past actions. That did not seem to satisfy the villagers in any way; they almost came to blows, despite Aeris' obvious distress at what she had done. Cloud, Tifa and Barret quickly butted in before things got ugly. They offered some money, admitting that, yes, it was a poor compensation for a lost life. This mollified the family a bit, but they still seemed uncertain. Barret, his cheeks taking a darker shade of brown in anger, finally settled it, bellowing:
"Look, money won't bring the poor fellow back, but neither would lynching this poor girl! She's been through enough! Leave her alone!"
The innkeeper's widow blinked, then simply took the money, mumbling some vague apology.
AVALANCHE assembled in the item shop, which was serving as a temporary bar/inn.
Everyone sat down. Cloud began: "So, what happened to you guys while I was being stupid?"
"Well, it's like this," began Cid. He then told the others of the pursuit in the Highwind, his desperate maneuver of ramming the airship in the WEAPON, the encounter in the Midgar swamp, and Yuffie's last-minute save. "There were only four seats in the chopper, so some had to stay behind. Vincent and Reeve volunteered. We landed in Mideel and started tracking you guys, when Red remembered something about how the cavern was built. He found a passage, and that's that." With that, Cid emptied the can of beer he had ordered.
Cloud turned to Yuffie, eyebrows raised. "Why, Yuffie... I didn't know you cared! I'm impressed! That was a great thing you did back there!"
Yuffie blushed slightly, and said, "Aw, shucks! Like I told you before I nailed Sephiroth---"
"We," corrected Barret.
"I nailed Sephiroth," insisted Yuffie, "I've stuck with you so far, haven't I? And I hadn't done anything with that bag of Materia for a long time, so..."
Cloud nodded. "I guess you're growing up and I never noticed. Sorry."
Nanaki rose on his hind legs so he could show more than the top of his head to the others sitting around the table. "Cloud, what happened while we were gone?" he asked.
Cloud shrugged. "Tifa can probably tell it better. I'm still a bit confused on some parts."
"I'm not much of a storyteller," protested Tifa.
"Just tell us whatever you remember," urged Aeris.
"...All right," said Tifa. Hesitantly at first, then with more confidence, she told them what had happened. Her race to the hole that was the entrance to the cavern---
"Waitaminnit," interrupted Barret. "How come you didn't go through the real entrance?"
"I didn't know about the entrance," explained Tifa. "I was just following Cloud. Red was with you guys, not with me, remember?"
"Wallace, if you don't mind, I'd like to hear the rest," grumbled Cid.
Barret nodded Tifa to continue. Tifa told them about the bats and the man in the white cloak. She was about to tell them about the crab-like monster, when she noticed that Aeris was very pale and that Cloud seemed to be far away, a frown on his face. She paused, and asked, "What's wrong?" to both of them.
"That feeling you described--the one of fighting against yourself... it's familiar," said Cloud. "I'd forgotten, and my memory's all jumbled around that time, but... When I swung at Aeris, it was against my will. I had this uncontrollable urge to strike, without knowing why. Towards the end, I didn't even remember that Aeris was under my blade. And I kept flashing to one of my nightmares... Very strange," he concluded.
"You're not going nuts on us again, are you?" asked Yuffie worriedly.
Cloud shrugged. "Dunno. If I do, I'll tell you first thing," he said with a smile. That made everyone around the table chuckle, except Aeris. Cloud noticed and asked softly, "What's wrong, Aeris?"
At the mention of her name, the young Cetra jumped slightly. "Sorry, I was... elsewhere..."
"Is everything all right?" asked Barret. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something..."
"I haven't," Aeris assured with a wan smile. "But Tifa may have. Never mind. What happened next, Tifa?"
"Waitaminnit," interrupted Barret. "I want to hear this. What's this about a ghost?"
"An old legend," Aeris said, dismissing the matter with a wave of her hand.
"One that scares the hell out of you, it seems," pointed out Cid.
"I said, it's just a legend! Until I know more, I'm not going to say anything about this!" said Aeris in a surprisingly strong voice.
"It may be important," pointed out Nanaki.
"Believe me, it isn't," assured Aeris, her voice softer, more reassuring now. "Just a fairy tale. I'll tell you sometime. What happened next, Tifa?"
Tifa stared at Aeris for a long time before continuing with her story. Then, shrugging, she began again, telling them of her encounter with the crab-like monster, her desperate dash through the tunnel, arriving just as Cloud was swinging down, and pulling Aeris in the Lifestream with her. She told them of the Ancients in Aeris' soul that were trying to "convince" her, how she got rid of them, and of their escape from the Lifestream. "What I still can't figure out, though, is how I could get rid of the Ancients there so easily. And how come those Ancients acted nothing like the Ancients I've known so far, either in person or in legends."
"I can tell you what's the answer to your first question," said Aeris. "We Cetra don't see ourselves as a physical body in the Lifestream; we see ourselves as... spheres of spiritual energy, I guess. Humans see their own body, or so you tell me. To Cetra, striking at another soul is impossible because we don't believe we have any substance in that realm. You believe otherwise, so you're not as limited."
"What about the second question? You know anything about that?" asked Tifa softly.
"I... No, I can't figure it out. My mom certainly never acted like this," Aeris pointed out. Still, Tifa noticed she was avoiding her gaze. She's hiding something, thought Tifa. Why? And why did those Cetra act like they did?
"In any case," said Cloud, "we have another problem to contend with. Shinra. And from what you've told us, Tifa, it looks like the Mako reactors started... whatever those Cetra were doing. If we stop the Mako reactors, would they be satisfied?"
"I think so," replied Aeris. "We must stop those reactors at any cost. The Planet is too weak to sustain those for very long."
"So that little mystery may become moot if we stop the reactors," speculated Cloud. "I think we should move on Midgar now, storm Shinra headquarters and shut those reactors down. We'll advise about those Cetra, or whatever they are, once we're done with Midgar. Everyone agree?"
Everyone except Tifa nodded. Cloud looked at her; she seemed uncertain. Finally, she nodded, saying, "I guess it's no use worrying about mysterious apparitions for now. All right."
"There is one slight problem, though," pointed out Cid. "Transportation. Do you want to ride on the chopper's skids, or what?"
"Don't we have some gold Chocobos stored around here?" asked Tifa.
Cid smiled at her. "How do you manage to remember all this stuff?"
Tifa shrugged, then smiled devilishly at the pilot. "Maybe because I don't smoke like some old fool I know," she teased.
"Ouch," said Barret.
Cid shot him a glance. "Who asked you? Tifa, I'm hurt you think that of me!"
"The part about being a fool, or the one about being old?" quipped Yuffie.
Cid grunted, then turned around. "When you're all done laughing at an old man, you can join me in the chopper," he said gruffly, walking out of the item shop.
Everyone walked out, except Tifa. Cloud noticed her absence a few feet out of the door. He turned around to go back in.
"What is it?" Aeris asked him.
"I'll be back in a minute," he told her over his shoulder. He walked in to find Tifa still sitting at the table, twirling her glass, looking at the ice cube in her drink moving round and round. Cloud sat next to her.
Tifa looked up. "She's hiding something, Cloud. I'm sure of it."
Cloud shrugged. "I know, but what can we do about it?"
"Maybe if you asked her..." began Tifa.
Cloud shook his head. "Don't think it makes much difference me asking instead of you. Especially since you saved her life, and I almost killed her," he pointed out.
Tifa sighed. Why don't I believe that? Am I being paranoid, or is he being naive? she wondered. "I'm not so sure," she said aloud.
"Whatever. I think we should give her time, though. It seems to scare the beejesus out of her, whatever it is," said Cloud.
Tifa sighed again. "Perhaps you're right."
Cloud smiled at her. "Besides, it's not as if she's the only one who doesn't want to say something," he said offhand. His tone was casual, but it was obviously an act. One Cloud had difficulty doing.
Tifa froze. Surely he didn't mean... "What are you talking about, Cloud?" she asked in a tiny voice, but she knew in her heart what he was talking about.
"You remember, that night, at the Gold Saucer, in the ride? I never found out what you wanted to tell me in there," he said.
Come on, Tifa, just tell him, Tifa thought. But she froze again, and just looked away.
Cloud looked at her for a long time. Then, lips tightening, he got up without a word and walked to the door. Tifa looked up and saw him turn.
"I guess you need some time, too," he said softly. He then got out and closed the door behind him.
Tifa slumped on the table. I blew it again! How can I be so dumb? What's the matter with me? she wondered. Then, since she did not know the answer, she shrugged inwardly, finished her drink in a single gulp, grimacing at the alcohol's strength, then walked out to join the others.
They finally reached the Midgar region in the middle of the following night. Exhausted by the long Chocobo ride, the band decided to keep going and reach Kalm to get some rest. There, Tifa offered everyone a room in her bar's inn. Everyone protested that they didn't want to crowd out paying customers, but she would have none of it.
"Besides, in the middle of winter, we're not exactly swamped with clients, you know," she said.
With one last show of polite reluctance, they accepted her hospitality. Tifa assigned Cloud a room in the basement next to her own. It was the one he had occupied during the two years he had spent with her in Kalm, both of them occasionally helping with the reconstruction of Midgar. During that time, Cloud had worked as an exterminator, cleaning different regions of its local monsters. It had been a good two years, peaceful yet far from boring.
A good two years, that is, until the nightmares had begun.
Those memories were with Cloud as he unpacked his few belongings. He took his sword off and placed it next to the door. He was about to take off his vest when he heard a knock on the door. He opened it to find Tifa on the other side.
Cloud grinned. "Wait, don't tell me--you booked your own room and mine's the only one left!"
Tifa grinned back. "No, silly! I just wanted to ask you if you'd like to go up and get a drink, or something."
Cloud grabbed his keys from the table next to the entrance to his room and stepped out, closing the thick wooden door behind him. "Sure," he replied simply.
They entered the bar, which was quite busy for that time of the year. Most of the patrons were regulars. Obviously, Tifa's personnel had done a fine job in the few days she had been all over the world. Motioning Cloud to sit down at an empty table, Tifa quickly went from table to table, making sure she made every patron feel unique, special. That was how her bar had gotten its reputation, and she had every intention of living up to it. She came back towards Cloud's table, and was surprised to see that a man in a three-piece suit had joined him. Intrigued, she got closer. Cloud spotted her and beckoned her forward. She then saw that the other man was Reeve.
"Reeve!" she shouted over the loud conversations in the bar. "When did you come back?" she asked in a more normal volume as she sat down on a chair Cloud had pulled from an unoccupied table for her.
"I barely got here," he said. "I'm just over from the Locust research facility. I got pretty good news!"
"Really? What news?" asked Tifa eagerly.
"I'm not telling... at least, not yet," said Reeve with a mysterious smile. "Let's just say that if we succeed in storming Midgar tomorrow, that technology will ensure Shinra won't give us any further trouble."
"It's not anything... destructive, is it?" asked Tifa with a frown.
Reeve laughed. "No, not at all! But I won't say anymore. I want this to be a surprise!" he said. He was in a jovial mood, a far cry from the worried man that had left in pursuit of the WEAPON less than a day before. "Anyways, what happened to you guys? I've been dying to know!"
"Tifa can probably---" began Cloud.
"Nope, I can't. It's your turn now, Cloud, not mine!" said Tifa, crossing her arms.
Cloud shrugged. "I guess... OK, sure. Well, Reeve, it's like this..."
"Don't you guys want a drink or something?" asked Tifa.
"Vodka, please," ordered Reeve.
"I'll be fine without... Oh, wait! Hm... Give me something hard," Cloud replied with a half-smile.
"Sure! Coming right up!" said Tifa, getting up to prepare the beverages. As she came back with the glasses, Cloud was already halfway through the story. She was wondering how many details he was omitting to tell the tale so quickly when a gunshot was heard coming from outside the bar.
The bar's clients fell into silence as they all looked up from their conversations, trying to see where the noise had come from. Cloud and Tifa were immediately on their feet, and, meeting each other's eyes in silent agreement, they both ran towards the bar's front door. Reeve hesitated, then followed, struggling with his gun holster to get the weapon out (and mostly failing). He had to stop at the door to take it out; running was making the holster swing in all directions.
When he finally got the gun out, he carefully looked outside to see a furious battle taking place. Roughly twenty metallic, humanoid forms were surrounding Cloud and Tifa. Tifa was doing pretty well despite the odds. When one of the metal men got too close, she'd dish out a lethal kick that would send her adversary flying back by ten to twenty feet. Cloud, however, was barely holding out. His hand-to-hand combat training had been a long time ago, and although he was a decent brawler, he was nowhere near Tifa's class, and the odds were just too much for him. Reeve saw Tifa drop her guard to send one of Cloud's attackers fly away, and barely get her guard back up in time. It was clear that Tifa alone would have managed just fine, and would have scrapped several of the enemies by this time. However, she had to cover Cloud, and this was dividing her attention.
Reeve decided to even the odds a bit. He aimed at the head of one of the metal men that was trying to get past Tifa's guard while she was busy kicking another off Cloud's back, and pulled the trigger. The bullet bounced off harmlessly. However, Reeve had achieved his purpose: Tifa's attacker was distracted and looked in his direction. Tifa noticed this and made the most of the opening. She hit the metallic entity's torso with a vicious kick that made Reeve wince.
The metal man did something unexpected.
It screamed.
A human scream, without a doubt. It was definitely not the squawk of damaged electronics, or the hiss of leaking hydraulic fluid.
Reeve had been holding his gun in spellcasting position, ready to cast Bolt on what he had thought were robots. Now he paused, confused. Those creatures were not what they seemed. It was possible that lightning could heal them somehow; who could know for sure? His choices limited to the few orbs he was carrying (he'd have given a lot of an Ultima orb right then!), he decided to buy time. He cast Stop.
The machines (or whatever they were) stopped all movement. Somehow, though, they seemed to be fighting the spell; Reeve could see their limbs tremble. He ran to his two friends. Cloud had a nasty gash that was oozing blood down his cheek. Tifa walked towards him, intending to use a Cure Materia she had in her glove, but Cloud waved her away, indicating a man who was lying on the ground. Tifa nodded and kneeled next to the man. Reeve, having just arrived, breathing hard, kneeled on the other side.
The man was Vincent. He looked unhurt, but his clothes were dirty and torn. There was little doubt he had fired the gunshot; smoke was still coming out of the gun that laid on the ground to his right.
"Do you have any Cure orbs?" Tifa asked Reeve. Cloud obviously had no Materia on him; it was in his sword, which was downstairs.
"'Fraid not. Don't you have some?" asked Reeve.
"It's pretty immature Materia... I haven't had time to ask Yuffie to lend me some of hers," Tifa explained.
"That thing's waking up," said Cloud grimly, pointing at one of the metallic forms.
"Cloud, run down and get your sword," ordered Tifa.
"I can't just leave you here with those abominations!" replied the blond man. The blood from his wound was now dripping on his shoulder, staining his leather uniform. Despite that, his gaze was hard, unflinching. He was ready to stay and fight, even if it cost him his life.
"I'm sorry to say, but you're not much help in a fist fight. Get your sword! I'm sure the others will be with us shortly."
With that, the unmistakable bark of Barret's gun-arm was heard. It came from the other side of the bar.
"I think they're stuck in the same situation we are," Reeve pointed out.
"Cloud, please!" implored Tifa.
Cloud looked at her, his expression unreadable. Then, in a very un-Cloud-like display, he cursed loudly and ran like a madman for the bar.
As he entered the door, one of the metal men woke up and lunged at Tifa. Reeve yelled a warning. Tifa rolled on the ground, and the metallic arm that would have knocked her out hit the ground harmlessly. Tifa threw Reeve two green orbs, telling him to "use those!", and back-pedaled when another machine lunged at her. Reeve snapped the two spheres in, and cast Barrier on both himself and Vincent. He tried to cast it on Tifa, but she had moved too far away. He then realized that she had intended to do this to protect them both.
"Tifa! Come back! You're out of my range!" yelled Reeve.
Tifa dodged another blow, passed under her attacker's arm, and threw it on another one that had just managed to counter the Stop spell. "Just take care of Vincent! Don't worry about me!" she yelled back.
Reeve was torn between going in the melee to help the young woman and staying there to do as he was told. He decided on the latter, reminding himself that if Cloud had been more hindrance than help to the martial artist, there was no way he could do any better. He concentrated and cast Cure. The green glow of the spell surrounded Vincent, but he did not seem to react. Reeve cast Cure once, twice, a third time, then had to rest for a little bit from the effort.
Meanwhile, Tifa was still trying to get the metal men to attack her instead of the two men, and was mostly succeeding. However, they were difficult to handle, and she realized that although Cloud had forced her to divide her attention, he still had had some use in diverting her enemies' attention as well. In addition, the enemies seemed to have gained in power and speed all of the sudden, which did not help her any. She wondered whether it had been such a good idea to send Cloud away. Then there was no time to think, as the metallic beings tried to restrain her movements. They nearly succeeded, but she managed to jump out at the last second from the grasp of one of them coming from behind her. In doing the move, however, she miscalculated, and landed too close to one of them. She tried to block a blow to her head, but she was not on sure footing and the metallic arm got past her guard. She was thrown on the ground from the blow's violence, and barely managed to roll out of the way of a vicious kick to her ribs. She got up quickly, head still ringing from the blow, and wondered what in the world was keeping Cloud.
Just as the question formed in Tifa's mind, she heard the sound of cold steel slicing into metal armor. The attacker in front of Tifa turned to see what was happening, and was promptly sliced in two by Cloud's sword. Cloud's face was a rictus of anger, his teeth showing, as he mercilessly sliced into another of the enemies. Tifa recovered from the blow she had received and joined in. Between her devastating blows and Cloud's deadly sword, they made short work of the remaining attackers.
Cloud looked around him, senses alert, then seemed to remember something and ran towards the bar. Tifa hesitated, wondering what he thought he was doing, but then remembered: the others! She followed the blond man to the other side of the bar to see the others confronted to roughly thirty of the metal men. They seemed to be holding out; however, Cid was lying on the ground, obviously knocked out, and Nanaki was having problems dealing with his adversaries, his teeth and claws not having much effect on their armor. Yuffie was dodging the attackers and casting spells, but none seemed to have much effect. Cloud ran forward, his expression more controlled now, and cut off several of them. Tifa joined him and finished those he had only nicked. The other AVALANCHE members went on the offensive again and started doing major damage to their assailants. The fight ended in all of forty seconds.
Still breathing hard, Barret dropped to the ground next to Cid, hoping he was all right. Aeris joined him. She looked at the old pilot intently, then closed her eyes and concentrated. The other members of Avalanche stood by nervously, waiting. A gentle breeze came, seemingly focused around the Cetra and the pilot. After a few moments, it stopped, and Aeris opened her eyes. Cid's own fluttered open. Cloud helped the pilot up. He looked dazed, but unhurt. He thanked Aeris and got a cigarette out. His hands were shaking as he tried to get his lighter to work while the others looked at him with amused grins. Finally, he gave up, dropping the lighter to the ground with an expression of disgust on his face, and looked at his friends' faces around him. They were all grinning, seemingly laughing at him.
"What are you jackasses starin' at?" he asked gruffly.
"We're just glad no one was hurt, Cid," replied Aeris softly.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he shot back, somewhat embarrassed by all the attention. "What the heck were those things, anyway?"
"Robots of some sort?" Aeris ventured.
"No," replied Nanaki. "There's blood on Cloud's blade and Cid's spear. When they were hurt, they screamed. Humans in armor, maybe? But I should be able to see the flesh from the cut limbs, and all I see is metal... Curious..."
"Cyborgs," offered a voice behind Cloud.
Everyone turned to see who had spoken. It was Vincent, looking slightly unstable as he leaned against Reeve. Dry blood caked on his face, but there was obviously no fresh blood coming out of his wounds. Reeve was actually in a worse shape, as he struggled to help Vincent walk. The CEO of Locust, Inc. was not a very strong man, and Vincent weighted a lot more than he did. Still, he held the ex-Turk up without complaint.
"I'm glad to see you're all right, my friend," said Nanaki. "But what exactly is a cyborg? The word is not familiar to me."
Vincent disengaged himself from Reeve's grasp and sat down with a suppressed groan. He stayed silent for a bit, looking within himself to recall some evasive bit of memory. Then, in neutral, emotionless tones, he spoke.
"Cyborgs are humans with machine parts embedded in their body," he began. "Well-chosen, these parts give high strength and speed. It was a Shinra project I thought defunct. Obviously, it isn't."
"Hold on. Step back a minute," interrupted Cid. "How did you end up with those bozos after you in the first place? It's your gun we heard shooting, right?"
Vincent nodded, a mere dip of his chin. "That's correct. We have little time, but I'll attempt to summarize the events of the past twenty-four hours or so."
"After defeating the WEAPON, Reeve and I went our separate ways. I don't know what he's been up to, and he won't tell me," Vincent complained, looking at Reeve briefly. If he shot him a reproachful glare, it was gone in an instant.
"What I wanted to do was plan our attack on Shinra HQ. I knew the place somewhat, and I hoped that they hadn't blocked off the secret exits that had existed in the old days. Reeve had salvaged the HQ's secret blueprints at some point in the Midgar reconstruction, so I started by looking at it to see if my memory was accurate. It was, and there were only a few exits I hadn't known of. I noted the ones that seemed the best points for going in and decided to check them on site.
"Most of them had been blocked. Obviously, somebody in Shinra thinks they are safer in a hermetic building than one from which they could escape quickly in case of emergencies. Still, they missed a few I remembered. Which doesn't surprise me, since they are not on the original blueprints. I went in cautiously to see if they had any awareness of those passages, and nothing happened. I got back out and walked out of the city, thinking I had not been spotted.
"I must have been careless, because it became quickly apparent that I was being followed. I moved towards Kalm. I knew I was hopelessly outnumbered, so I tried to lose them. Each time I thought I had managed, one of those cyborgs would make its presence known. When I entered Kalm, I thought I had lost them. I got out of cover, running towards the bar's door, when they all popped out of nowhere. I fired, but the bullet had little effect." With that, Vincent paused. He seemed to withdraw within himself. Then, slowly, he to his feet. He wasn't wobbling anymore.
"And then, you were knocked out," Tifa finished for him.
"Obviously," replied Vincent coldly. "I'm glad you three got me out of that, though," he added, with a hint of warmth in his tone.
Cloud, who had only frowned silently up to now, suddenly spoke up. "Vincent, you're positive those are from Shinra?"
"I'm not," Vincent said after a pause. "But I don't know who else could have created those monstrosities."
"I don't think we can take any chances on this," muttered Cloud. Then, he breathed in heavily, taking his decision. "All right. If those are from Shinra, they know we're on to them. So, I think we should move and storm the complex immediately. We walk in through one of the secret tunnels Vincent has found, raise hell, shut the reactor down, and try to get out alive. Everyone agree?"
There were nods from everyone around him.
"OK. Get your stuff, we're going right away," Cloud commanded.
"What? You really meant now?" asked an astonished Reeve.
"Why not?" retorted Cloud. "Maybe they won't expect us so soon after meeting with those... cyborgs. Maybe they're not quite ready for us and just wanted to delay us. If it's not the case, it doesn't matter whether we do it now or later. But if it is, every hour we waste here is more time for them to get ready! I say we move now, and I mean, now!"
"I concur," agreed Tifa. "Cloud's right. I don't like going in there with little preparation, but we must move quickly. Shinra has been ahead of us since we started after them in Nibelheim. It's time to change that."
Everyone nodded, and ran to their respective rooms to get ready for the raid. Everyone except Cloud and Tifa, who both had all their stuff on themselves. They rarely carried much into their lives. After the Nibelheim disaster, they both had had nothing, except themselves.
"Just like old times, eh?" said Cloud, startling Tifa. She had been lost in thought.
"Yup," Tifa answered with a smile. Cloud smiled back, but the smile did not reach his eyes.
"What's the matter?" Tifa asked him.
Cloud sighed. "I don't know... I got that feeling, ever since you came to me in the woods, that we've been led by the nose all along. Now, we're doing something about it, taking the initiative. But I still feel we're being led by the nose. Why is that?"
Tifa gave him an impish half-grin. "Paranoia?" Then, she grew serious again. "Is there anything we can do about it?"
Cloud's smile turned wan. "Guess not."
"C'mon," Tifa said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Let's see if Yuffie managed to fit all that Materia in her backpack."
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Benoit Goudreault-Emond April, 9 2001