Chapter 5: Avalanche Reunited
"Papa! Let's go see Auntie Tifa! I wanna show her what I learned in school today!" Marlene begged. Barret Wallace looked down at his daughter and smiled. He lifted her up and put her on his shoulder. It was a nice thing, living one block away from Tifa. Sometimes she even picked Marlene up from school when Barret was busy. He had helped rebuild North Corel. The citizens had wanted him to be mayor but Barret declined. It was too big a responsibility for him. Even though he wasn't mayor though, he and Marlene visited North Coral frequently.
As they walked towards the bar, Barret could instantly sense something was wrong. He kept walked and accidentally stepped on something. "What the hell…?" Barret looked down and saw he was standing on Reno! "What's wrong with him?" Marlene whispered. "Marlene. Go inside and get Tifa." Barret set her down on the ground. But Marlene wasn't listening. She was staring at the large hole in the wall. "Papa! Look at that hole!" she pointed. Barret glanced at it and could see the mess of over-turned tables, chairs, glass and debris inside. Suddenly he heard voices.
"Whoa! So dis is it?" a man asked. Barret saw two men staring at Seventh Heaven. "Yeah. I wuz inside havin' me a drink when these four strange looking people came in. After dat, it was an all out brawl. Then they left. Had the Owner of da bar wit' em too. She was real beat up, bleeding all over and had some glass in her." his friend replied. "HEY!" Barret barked. He walked over to them.
"You saw what happened?" he snarled. The men were clearly scared of the big man's presence. One of the men nodded. "What did the people look like?" Barret asked.
"Um. One of the men had silvery hair and white skin. One had long black hair and the two women had green and purple hair, and they wuz twins." the man answered. Barret walked back to his daughter who was examining Reno. "He's messed up bad Papa." she told him. Reno's whole face was covered in blood. His nose was clearly broken, his eyelids swollen shut and his jaw was broken and he was missing about five teeth. Barret pulled out his PHS and called 911. Then he went inside. "Damn." he muttered looking at the mess. He saw the fallen bodies of Rude, Elena and a familiar spiky haired man. "Cloud! Well I'll be damned!" Barret went over. Cloud didn't seem to be bruised up as bad as the others so he shook him awake. "Ugh." Cloud sat up and reached for his Ultima Weapon which was a few feet away. Then he hopped up. "Where's Tifa?" he yelled. "Don't know spike. I heard some people kidnapped her." Barret replied sadly. Cloud jammed his sword into the floorboards out of anger. "Why the hell did they kidnap her? I'm going after her!"
"Easy. I called 911. I think Reno's gonna need more than cure spells to fix his ass up." Barret told his friend. Cloud sank back down to the floor, looking defeated.
Trent was waiting for his Turks at the front door of the Shinra Building. He smiled when he saw they had Tifa. "I hope she isn't dead." he told Ice.
"Nah. Just fucked up." the Turk replied throwing her limp body to the ground.
"Why do you want her anyway?" Gemma asked.
"If I have her, then Avalanche will come to me. Did you have any trouble acquiring her?" Trent asked. "Yeah. Reno, Rude and Elena, but we got them quickly. Then some spiky haired dude with a big-ass sword came in. Got a nice slash off me." Raven replied, rubbing his shoulder. Even though it had been healed, it was still sore. "Alright. You all are dismissed for today. Gemma come with me and help me heal this girl." Trent said. "Heal her? You should let her suffer!" Lillith protested. Trent stared at Lillith. He had the kind of eyes that seemed as if they knew your deepest secrets. They bore through her. "Now c'mon Lily. You can kill her after we get Avalanche." Trent told her. Lillith was silent but nodded. Sometimes she hated her leader.
Tifa awoke to sounds of giggling. She looked to where it came from and saw two familiar looking people making out by the wall. She recognized one as the green haired girl from the bar. "Ah!" she clutched her head which had started to hurt terribly. All she remembered was being punched in the face by a purple haired woman. And Cloud! She'd seen Cloud in her bar! Trent stopped kissing Gemma and peered over her shoulder. So the hostage was finally awake. "Could you please excuse me Gemma?" he asked her. She pouted but left the room, closing the door behind her. "So you're finally awake!" he walked over to her. Tifa stared at Trent.
"You're the guy from my bar!" she exclaimed.
"Yes. My name is Trent Romasova. I'm the leader of the Turks." he kissed her hand-a gesture Tifa knew too well. But this time she wasn't flattered. "What is going on? Why am I here?" she demanded.
"Miss Lockheart. Patience. I'll explain everything in due time." Trent cupped her chin in his hand. You're arms and legs are free. You could bust out. A voice said in Tifa's head said. She considered this but looked at Trent. He seemed pretty strong. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt so his muscular arms were showing. "And don't think of escaping. My Turks will be all over you." Trent told her.
"Damn." Tifa muttered.
"Do you want anything to eat? Drink?" the Turk leader asked her. My mouth is kinda dry and I haven't eaten anything for awhile…Tifa thought.
"Yes." she told Trent. He smiled at her and left. Tifa got up and looked around her room. It was a prison type place. What a minute…this is the prison President Shinra put me and the others in when we were captured! she thought. She slumped back onto the bed. Her clothing was blood-caked and torn. I hope he brings some new clothes too, Tifa hoped, laying back down.
15 minutes later Trent returned with a bottle of water and a large bag of chips. He also had some clothes. What the hell. I didn't tell him to bring me some clothes. Is he some kind of telepath? Tifa thought to herself. Trent glanced at her and smiled oddly. Tifa accepted the things. "Thanks." she said.
"No problem. My hostage at least has to be comfortable. You mentioned being in this cell before?" Trent told her.
"Yeah. President Shinra locked me and some other people in here…wait a minute. I didn't say anything about that to you." she looked at Trent and narrowed her eyes.
"Oh. I'm sorry. Must've heard it from a friend." he said quickly.
"Whatever." Tifa dismissed the issue. I have to admit, he is very, very cute. Probably uses his looks as a weapon. And he could charm to pants off of anyone, Tifa stared at Trent while she ate and drank. He gave her a little smile.
"I must take my leave Miss Lockheart, but I will be back-soon." Trent opened the door and left, locking it behind him.
Rude, Elena, Cloud, Marlene and Barret were in the Midgar Hospital waiting room. The doctors had been with Reno for 3 hours. "Goddamn those Shinra!" Elena cursed. She had been pacing up and down the hallway for a half an hour.
"I have to admit. Those new Turks put us to shame. Lady Angel chose wisely." Rude commented. Cloud couldn't help but agree. Even though he hadn't fought them very long, he still could sense they were powerful. "Tell me about this Lady Angel, Rude." Cloud asked.
"Well. From all I know she's working with Scarlet, she used to be in Middle Management when Rufus was still there, and she's power hungry. I don't know where she found those Turks but their leader-Trent Romasova-is Reno's brother." the bald man replied solemnly.
"Excuse Me." a Doctor came towards them.
"How's Reno?" Elena asked anxiously.
"He'll live. The bones in his face are almost all shattered. His face is in pieces. He'll have to wear a brace on it for awhile but I guarantee his face will be back to normal." the Doctor replied.
"He's resting right now, so I think you should visit him tomorrow." he walked away. Suddenly Barret's PHS rang.
"Hello?" he said gruffly. He held the phone away from his ear. Various curses and yells could be heard coming from it.
"Damnation Wallace! What the hell happened at Tifa's bar! It's all over the fucking news!" it was Cid.
"She was kidnapped by some people." Barret replied simply.
"Well then we gotta go fucking rescue her! Is Spike there, or is he still off on some damn quest?" Cid asked.
"Yeah." Barret handed the phone to Cloud.
"Listen spike. I got all of Avalanche over at my house. We're gonna rescue Tifa." Cid told him. Cloud was astonished. "How did you find everyone?" he asked.
"I got my ways. Now shut up and listen. We'll meet you just outside of Midgar in about 20 minutes." Cid snapped.
"20 Minutes. It takes the Highwind 2 hours from Rocket Town to Midgar." Cloud reminded the old pilot.
"Fuck! Who said I was using the Highwind? I'll see your skinny ass in 20 minutes." and with that Cid hung up.
"He said meet him outside of Midgar." Cloud handed Barret his PHS. Hurriedly, they left the hospital.
Cloud looked at his watch, exactly twenty minutes had passed. Suddenly he heard a large roar. "Papa look!" Marlene pointed to a large, sleek black ship that was landing a few feet away from them. It was beautiful. On the side in big, shiny white letters was The Velocity. "Hey guys!" a familiar Ninja jumped off the ship and ran towards them. "Yuffie!" Cloud was actually glad to see the Materia thief. Next was Cid.
"I'll be damned Highwind! Ya got a new ship!" Barret slapped the pilot on his back. It was so hard that Cid spit out his cigarette. "Yeah, she's my pride and joy. It's 10 times faster than the Highwind!" he replied, smiling. Red XIII, Vincent, and Cait Sith were last. "You're all here!" Cloud exclaimed.
"The almost defunct Avalanche is back and we're gonna kick ass now!" Yuffie threw her Conformer in the air.
"Where's that red-headed punk Reno?" Cid asked when he only saw Rude and Elena. "Hospital. He's real messed up." Elena replied, sighing.
"I heard on the news that Lady Angel was in Junon recently. She is thinking about starting up the Sister Ray again." Vincent told them.
"What the hell for?" Cid asked. "She wants more power. And the Sister Ray can give that to her." Red XIII explained.
"Tifa's at Shinra HQ." Cait Sith piped up. Even though Reeve wasn't with Shinra anymore, he still had connections.
"Then what are we standing around for? Let's go!" Cid yelled. Yuffie cheered as they entered Midgar.
