All Falls Down

By l77ercenary

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Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Someone else does.

Author's Notes: I wrote the battle scene in this according to what happened during my battle scene with Reno on the plate, though I didn't give Reno the upper hand in the battle like I am giving him in this fanfic. Yes, I did have Climhazzard by this time. I simplified the battle for the sake of fanfic length.

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Reno crouched on the helicopter's side platform as he neared the plate. The wind blew stray strands of hair into his face and he frowned, his eyes narrowing as he set his gaze on the three people standing on the platform below. He felt a special hatred that was reserved for this blond guy, this Ex-SOLDIER..... He didn't have a gun that would stall on him this time. But he had his orders and those were first priority. He fingered the card in his hand, the one that all he had to do was pass it through a scanner down there and the plate would self detonate in only a matter of minutes.

The large black man, Reno instantly recognized him as Barret, the leader of Avalanche, held up his gun arm and began firing on the helicopter. Each bullet ricocheted off of the helicopter's side, each bullet dangerously close to catching Reno in their patch each time. The red-haired Turk jumped from the helicopter down to the platform as the helicopter passed by. Barret turned his gun toward the Turk and begun firing, but Reno had already reached his destination, the Emergency Plate Release System.

"You're too late. Once I push this button..." He said, holding the executive over the button as the others ran up. He passed it through the scanner, which beeped, signaling that the job had been completed. He looked back toward the others. "That's all, folks! Mission accomplished." It was so pleasing to see that look on all their faces.

"We have to disarm it! Cloud! Barret! Please!" Tifa pleaded to her friends. Reno looked toward her, laugher echoing in his eyes. Did she really think that they could help her? Perhaps Avalanche wasn't quite as well informed about Shinra Co. as they thought.

He'd get a chance to see exactly how tough this Ex-SOLDIER was. Tseng had discovered where that Ancient had run off to. All he had to do was stall these three long enough for Tseng to grab her without intervention her friends. Shouldn't be too hard, Reno thought to himself. He placed the executive card back into his pocket, the fingers of his free hand closing around his favorite weapon, the electro rod.

"I can't have you do that. No one get in the way of Reno and the Turks..." The Turk said as he pulled the electro rod out, holding it toward them menacingly.

So the fight was on, Cloud hoisting out his sword, Tifa gathering herself into a fighting stance, and Barret pretty much just staying the way he was, except now a scowl was crossed across his face. Reno let his weight fall back onto his right foot, letting his left foot more or less rest as he took on a casual stance, the electro rod now propped up on his left shoulder.

He focused energy into his electro-mag rod, which he glowed as he pointed at the Avalanchers, a ball of light emitting from the end and encasing Cloud. Pyramid. Reno smirked at the thoughts. Let's see him break out of that. "Try and break it if you can."

Tifa readied a fire spell. Reno felt the searing heat of the flames as the spell Fire engulfed him, but it wasn't enough to take him down. It'd take a lot more than that for him to see the end of this battle just yet. Barret fired his assault gun on him, but the attack was a miss. Reno rushed foward and pounded the black man over the head with the electro-mag rod.

Tifa looked over at Cloud, who looked like a zombie inside of the yellowish pyramid that had been formed around him. She used a normal attack on the pyramid, but nothing happened. The pyramid was still there, though weakened. As she prepared to use another attack, she felt electricity fill the air. As soon as the feeling had touched her, a Bolt spell, cast by Barret, hit the pyramid and the pyramid dissipated and Cloud broke out of the prison. Free, the Ex-SOLDIER rushed forward and slashed out at the Turk.

Reno felt the touch of the cold buster sword as it touched his skin. If that attack would have made full contact he was sure it would have killed him. Instead, he only felt the pain that would have been there if the buster sword had actually made contact. No blood was present, but the pain was there and he felt notably weaker. He rushed forward, stabbing the electro-mag rod into Cloud, activating it. A jolt of high voltage electricity passed through the rod and into the girl, zapping her into paralysis. It was only temporary, but it would allow him the few more minutes he needed to stall them.

It was then that he decided that paralyzing the girl was probably one of the word decisions that he could have possibly made during the battle.

Barret roared, pouring a stream of bullets from his weapon into Reno. Reno bent over as he felt the stings of each individual bullet. He ran forward and belted the black man over the head with the electro-mag rod again, but this time the attack was returned with Barret's limit break. Big shot. A reddish glow covered the leader of Avalanche as he powered up, dying just in time for Reno to see a ball of red energy build on the end of the assault gun. An explosion rocked him as the energy ball hit him.

It was then that the red-haired Turk decided to look slightly to his left.

Cloud was building up his limit break as well. Reno felt the stabbing pain as the metal sunk deep into his body. He saw the angry glint in Cloud's eyes as he jumped upwards, bringing the blade up through the Turk's shoulder and out. Climhazzard. Then he felt the sudden cold burning sensation as an Ice spell was cast over him.

He fought to keep his composure as he stood there. Just to keep standing was probably the most difficult thing he figured he'd ever done. Just like the training you had to pass to become a Turk, right? He thought to himself. Just a little bit more. Just until the helicopter comes back.

Just then he heard the beating sound of fast moving rotors behind him. The sound was coming from somewhere just under the plate. The helicopter! It was time to go.

He looked at his watch. Only a few short minutes remained until the plate exploded and collapsed down on Sector 7. He looked back at Cloud and the others. "It's time." He raised his hand in a mock solute just before he turned and ran off.

He pushed Tifa out of the way as he ran toward the bars on the edge of the plate. He took a flying leap off of the side, catching onto one of the helicopter skies as he fell. He knew he wasn't able to pull himself up. A pain that he'd never felt before was coursing through his shoulder, threatening to make his hand release its grip. Still he hung on.

That was when he felt a hand reach out and grab his arm tightly, almost painfully, as it pulled him up onto the deck. Once he was securely inside the helicopter, he looked into the face of Tseng, realizing that it had been him that had pulled him up.

"Everything set?" Tseng asked as if Reno wasn't standing there bloodied and battered.

Reno nodded before walking into the helicopter and sitting down on one of the seats. The pilot looked back at him, eying the blood covered Turk from behind the dark visor of the pilot helmet.

"Don't get blood on the seat, Turk." The pilot spat.

An electro-mag rod was soon nestled beneath the pilot's chin.

"Don't start with me." The redheaded Turk said simply.

--Outside--

Tifa ran toward the Emergency Plate Release System frantically searching for a way to stop the time bomb. Cloud ran over to her. She looked at him, her eyes almost begging for a solution before her words could.

"Cloud! I don't know how to stop this. Try it!" She moved out of the way, letting Cloud assume the position at the controls.

By the look of things, Cloud wasn't' faring any better than she had.

He said after a few seconds. "...It's not a normal time bomb."

"That's right. You'll have a hard time disarming that one." Tseng said as he and the helicopter rose into view. The helicopter hovered just above the railing. "It'll blow the second some stupid jerk touches it." A look of pure surety yet pure calmness was on the Turk leader's face.

Tifa ran forward, stretching out her hands and pleading as if it would help the matter any. "Please, stop it!"

Tseng laughed, motioning with his right arm as he spoke. "Ha ha ha...... Only a Shinra executive can set up or disarm the Emergency Plate Release System."

"Shut yer hole!" Barret growled and raised his weapon, support his gun arm with his good hand. He began to fire on Tseng and the helicopter.

Tseng began to speak again, saying something that stopped Barret cold in his tracks. "I wouldn't try that...... You just might make me injure our special guest."

It was then that the pink object sitting next to where Tseng stood moved, or to say, raised it's head and looked down onto the three-person party below. Aeris looked at him, her eyes saddened, but a strange sense of assurance in them, as if she had willingly been sitting on that deck with the Turk. Barret lowered his gun arm and looked at the girl with surprise. The look on Cloud and Tifa's faces were the same, of shock, but it was Tifa who found the ability to speak first.

"Aeris!!"

"Oh, you know each other?" Tseng looked over his shoulder at Aeris as if he didn't know the answer to his question already. "How nice you could see each other one last time. You should thank me." He smirked as he looked back toward the group.

It was Cloud's turn to speak, and his voice was demanding. "What are you gonna do with Aeris!?"

The raven-haired Turk shrugged as if the situation didn't really matter, if any at all, not much. "I haven't decided. Our orders were to find and catch the last remaining Ancient." He waved his hand. "It's taken us a long time, but now I can finally report this to the President."

Aeris bent down over the edge of the deck, her hand outstretched as if she was reaching out for Tifa. "Tifa, don't worry! She's all right!" The moment those words escaped her lips she fell back, her face stinging with the blow she had just received from Tseng.

Tifa ran forward until she was right next to the railing, almost directly underneath the helicopter. She reached out her hand up above her. "Aeris!"

But Aeris wasn't going to be silenced so easily. She fell back to her hands and knees, calling out to the people below with a frantic voice. "Hurry and get out!"

Tseng didn't bother to discipline her this time. His body visibly shook as he chuckled. "Ha ha ha... Well, it should be starting right about now. Think you can escape in time?"

The helicopter rose into the air. Cloud, Barret, and Tifa looked up just in time to see the helicopter pass over as an explosion rocked the pillar, an explosion blowing huge sections of the stone column away from the pillar with a fiery blast. Tseng grabbed Aeris by the arm and tossed her inside the helicopter cabin.

--Inside--

The sound of an explosion filled Reno's ears as the plate started its detonation. If Sector 7 hadn't already been a doomed slum from the beginning, it was now. As giant slabs of the stone pillar fell dangerously close to the helicopter, the oncoming turbulence was enough to force Reno to brace himself as the helicopter tried to regain itself. The Ancient was pushed through the door, followed by Tseng, whose steps seemed heavier than usual.

"Hey," Reno forced a smile, which turned out as more of a pained smirk. "I stalled him, didn't I?"

"You nearly got yourself killed is what you did." The way Tseng said it was enough to bite through steel, but as usual, Reno didn't even feel it. He only looked on, his usual smirk masked across his face.

"The slums......" Aeris rose from where she had been thrown by the Turk and looked out the window, her hands and pressed against the clear bullet-proof plastic as she watched what was happening below.

"After a few more seconds, there won't be anything to worry about." Tseng commented, taking a seat on the opposite side of the helicopter. "Sit down and enjoy the ride."

Aeris, her eyes still locked on what was happening outside of the confinements of the helicopter, sat down uneasily, her hands clasped in her lap, holding on to each other as if that was all they had left in the world. She wanted to shut her eyes from the scene, at least advert them to something else, but they were locked and she was unable to remove them from the disaster below.

Reno peered out of the small round window as well, but his eyes weren't locked on the devastation. He couldn't care less what was happening to the people of the slums. As far as he was concerned, it was another day, another paycheck. For a moment he thought his imagination was playing tricks on him. For a moment he thought he had just seen those three people he had just fought grasp onto one of the pillar's large support hooks and escape......