The Underground was now buzzing like a beehive. Workers were rushing between buildings, getting orders, giving orders, getting a message, sending a message. It was chaos, plain and simple.
Most of Avalanche was still sitting in the small room Cid and Vincent had left them in when the pilot burst through the door, his eyes locking on Biggs's.
"You folks know something about explosives, right?"
"Uh, yeah. Wedge and I do. Why?"
Cid urged them out of the room as he said, "Let's just Jeremy on the explosives team didn't know as much he said he did."
Wedge's eyebrows rose as the trio left the room in a hurry. "Didn't?"
***
It was late in the afternoon when Jessie left the office for her room in the complex. Under normal circumstances she wouldn't returned until well into the night, but General Briggs had left to go work with the SOLDIERs.
The fortress was always bustling with people, mostly uniformed SOLDIERs, but now the paths were almost empty as most of them were preparing for the upcoming invasions.
Trees that were exotic to the rebel's eyes lined the fortress paths, obscuring the light from the setting sun, and blocking the sky that was now foreign to anyone. To the west, it was a normal setting sky. Brilliant hues of orange and pink gradually began fading to violet and blue. But the eastern sky…foretold doom. An inky black stretched across the cold gray sky, growing ever closer.
None of the natives seemed to worried about the upcoming storm. Jessie supposed they were probably used to them, but she couldn't ever remember hearing about one this late in the year. Christmas was almost upon them and there hadn't been even so much as a hint of snow.
Perhaps it doesn't snow here…I mean, Wutai is extremely close to northern stream of warm ocean currents…
It wasn't long before she reached her room, and when she did, she was surprised to see a note bearing the name Grace taped on her door.
Huh…who sent this? Caleb?
But as she opened it, she recognized the handwriting immediately. It was Tifa's.
I know this isn't the safest way to communicate, but it is greatly safer than others. We have contacted the group and they have been…helpful. We had a bit of a run in with some unpleasantness, but I'm sure you have already heard this from others sources. We will keep you informed.
"Well, at least they're safe…"
***
"What time is it?" Tifa glanced up from her magazine, looking at Reno through a thin sheet of chocolate brown hair.
"Almost seven," he answered, eyeing his watch. "Why?"
"I dunno," she shrugged. "I'm just bored."
"And asking for the time is a cure for that?" He gave a teasing grin, to which she merely stuck out her tongue. He opened his mouth to say something more, when a loud knock sounded from the door.
The two exchanged a worried look as Reno slowly stood from his chair, grabbing the small handgun from the top of the dresser as he did so.
Reno wouldn't tell Tifa just where he had obtained the weapon, but she could be sure it wasn't through any honorable means.
Carefully unlocking the door, but keeping the safety lock on, who called out, "Who's there?"
"My name is Maeko, I'm with the Underground. Please, its urgent!"
Open the door as far as the safety lock would allow, he peeked outside. A young native girl met his eyes, pleading with him.
"Alright," closing the door, he unlocked it and opened it all the way. "What is it?"
"Please, we need to see you, both of you. As soon as possible."
Reno turned to glance at Tifa, who was already standing and heading over to him.
"Alright, lead the way."
***
"Sooo, the mighty Turks have fallen, eh?" Yuffie was quite happen about that recent turn events. She found that rubbing it in their faces helped ease the pain about Wutai. "Not so high and mighty now, are you?"
Alli couldn't help but laugh at her friend. She had never liked the Turks.
"Would you just shut up, you little brat?" Zoë had a definite change in attitude now that her true colors had come blazing through.
Yuffie merely stuck out her tongue.
"Make me."
***
It wasn't long before they reached the meeting place of the Underground. When the trio entered, four of the men that were there before were pouring over maps they had spread across the table. And they all seemed to be arguing.
"If we approach from here-"
"No, no! We must attack from this angle! Otherwise-"
"Oh! Good, you're here!" One of the men stood now, finally noticing them. "You may go Maeko."
The girl bowed respectfully, then left.
"What's going on?" Reno asked, his eyes on the maps.
"An invasion." He motioned them over to the table, where the other three were still squabbling quietly.
"An invasion?"
"Yes, Shinra's finally invading the Central Continent. They move out tonight I believe. We've just sent word of it to Captain Highwind, whom your friends are with right now."
"Where are they attacking first?" Tifa's eyes were wide and full of fear.
"We believe they will move for Gongaga. It has the smallest population and will be the easiest for them to overtake. Although, it is possible they will invade Costa Del Sol…" The man was tracing lines along the map with his finger.
"But," Reno's face twisted in confusion. "I though Costa Del Sol was already allied with Shinra."
"No, there were too many disputes between them, eventually Costa Del Sol decided they were better off without Shinra. Now they're standing alone, siding with neither Shinra nor the Underground."
"Reno…" Tifa looked up at him, a severe look in her eyes. "Don't you think Jessie would have warned us about this before now?"
"Yeah," his look matched her own. "She would have unless…"
"Something's up."
***
The sky was now a perilous black omen hanging over Rocket Town. Strangely though, the city received little in the way of the storm. All the action seemed to be up north.
"That's going to be hell on earth when it hits," Cid sighed lazily, leaning against the porch as his wife stepped out of the house. Work on the Underground had closed down for the day almost two hours ago.
"It's not supposed to hit here. It'll only barely miss us though, looping along to hit Wu- Vector dead on." Shera leaned against the rail next to him.
"Good, maybe it'll drown all the Shinra scum ou-" he started, but was interrupted by the shrill calling of a bird. "Ah, looks we've got some mail," a small smile formed on his face as bird dropped down in front of him, holding out its leg patiently, then chirping once more after the letter tied to its leg had been removed and it took flight once more. By the time the pilot had finished the short message, however, he wasn't smiling.
"Shera, go to the inn and fetch Avalanche. Bring them to the church. I'll get anyone else that should come."
"But, Cid, what-"
"Just go."
***
There weren't many people left in the Underground after eight-thirty in the evening except night-watchmen, and the occasional obsessed worker; tonight however, the lights in the clinic were staying on much later than ever before.
"Yuffie, go on up! I'm fine!"
"No, James! I'm staying here tonight! It wouldn't be fair for you to have to stay here all alone."
"I wouldn't be all alone, the doctor is just in the next room." Yuffie rolled her eyes. "AND Biggs, Barret and Reeve are watching the Turks so if I got REALLY lonely and I could just call down there and have one of them come up here."
The girl pouted, sinking far into the chair she had pulled up next to James's bed. "You're just trying to get rid of me, aren't you?"
"No! That's not…that's not what I meant," James shook his head vehemently. "I just thought you might want to spend some time talking to Alli."
"Ah, I spent all day talking to her." She perked up considerably. "Now it's your turn to spend some quality time with me!"
The Cetra faked a miserable groan. "Lucky me."
"Oh, you're awful!"
Whilst Yuffie and James chatted in the clinic, Barret, Biggs, and Reeve were having quite a boring time guarding the Turks. Biggs had been wise enough to bring a deck of cards, however, and now the latter of the two were fully engaged in a game of Speed.
"Oh, beat ya!" Biggs called out triumphantly, slamming his last card down just before Reeve, who merely muttered something under his breath and began to shuffle the cards once more, determined to beat Biggs at least once.
"Will you two quit playin' around and take this seriously," Barret growled, glaring at the other two.
"Ah, calm down Barret. I don't think anything's gonna happen," as if to prove his point, Biggs rapped on the steel door of the cell holding the four Turks. "I mean, I know the Turks are good, but they aren't THAT good."
"How incredibly profound of you," Reeve muttered, to which Biggs grinned.
"I try."
***
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to go and talk to Jessie, what does it look like?"
"You're just going to go an waltz in there? Don't you think that's a little, oh, I dunno, STUPID?!"
"Tsk, tsk, calm down. We have to talk to her don't we?"
"Yes, but-"
"No, no buts. The place she's staying is really close to here, so I won't be long."
"TIFA!" Reno grabbed her wrist tightly as she stood to leave. "What is with you?"
She raised an eyebrow playfully. "Why Reno, whatever do you mean?" Then, before he could answer, she leaned in, gave him a swift kiss on the forehead and darted off into the darkness.
Sprinting silently through the newborn night, Tifa kept a watchful out for SOLDIERs. She knew Reno would have been easy to spot, what with his fire-engine hair. But would he have listened to her? Not in a million years.
Gracefully, she swung herself up into a tree, then hopped onto the low roof of a small building next to it. Hidden in both the night and the shadows of the surrounding taller buildings, she began to run once more, grateful for the closeness of the buildings as she hopped and climbed her way to the heart of the complex.
Eventually, she reached the small courtyard. As quietly as possible, she leapt to the ground and rushed across to the spiral staircase that led to her fellow Avalanche member's room. As she reached the wooden door, she rapped urgently on it.
"J- Grace, Grace open it. It's me."
Slight rustling sounds came from the room before a loud click of the lock and the door swung open.
"Tifa!" She half-whispered in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Did you know about the invasion?"
"What invasion?"
Tifa sighed in frustration, running her fingers through her hair. "Just as I thought. C'mon. I don't think it's safe for you to be here anymore." She reached for Jessie's arm, but Jessie resisted.
"Tifa, what do you mean? Here, come inside. It'd be easy for someone to see you out there."
***
Aeris gazed out the window, a bored look on her face. Wedge and Alli were both seated on the floor, watching the latest news on the storm.
"-it is expected to hit the Imperial capital, Vector, late tomorrow afternoon."
"Glad that's not hitting us," Wedge muttered absent mindedly. In truth, he wasn't glad it was Wutai (he refused to call it Vector) either. Thoughts of Tifa kept drifting in and out of his mind. Alli said nothing, just sat there with a grim look on her face.
A loud knock on their door caught everyone's attention.
"Open up! It's Shera! Hurry!"
"Shera?" Wedge through the door open quickly. "What's going on?"
The engineer ignored his question. "Where's everyone else?"
"Yuffie is with James in the clinic and the other's are guarding the Turks."
"Alright, I need you three to go to the church down the street and wait. I'm going to get the others. Cid should be there before I am, ask him what's going on."
"What? Sh-"
"JUST GO!" Without a word more, she took off through the hallway, the three confused members of Avalanche following shortly after.
"What is going on?" Aeris asked in amazement as they headed for the church. They could see a large gathered outside, all talking somberly.
"Hey, there's Cid!" Alli pointed, as they entered the church. "Let's go talk to him."
"Ah, there's…part of you," the pilot greeted them, with a raised eyebrow. Vincent and Lucrecia stood next to him.
"Shera went to get the others. What's going on?"
"An invasion," he answered, face set grimly. "Shinra's attacking the Central Continent in two days time."
"What?" Three voices were one as they all gaped at Cid's statement.
He opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by his wife's voice.
"CID!"
Shera was leading the rest of Avalanche towards them, Reeve supporting James who was followed closely by a very annoyed Dr. Kelley.
"Now really, Mr. Archer has been seriously wounded! He needs to be in bed!" The doctor was saying, but no one was listening to him.
"Alright," Cid began, "why don't you all grab a seat and I'll explain everything in detail."
***
"What's up, Tif?" Jessie asked, sitting across the room from her friend. "What's this invasion?"
"You really haven't heard about it?"
"No!" She shook her head, eyes wide with confusion.
"Shinra's invading the Central Continent. In two days." Tifa shifted in her chair.
"WHAT?! Why haven't I heard anything from Briggs…oh no!" Tifa nodded solemnly. But…how could he have found out?"
"I really don't know…I suppose he expected someone was spying on him when we kept knowing their moves. Listen," she shifted in her chair again, not comfortable with the fact that she was so close to the people who wanted her dead. "Can we just go?"
"Alright…lemme grab some clothes first."
***
"I'll assume from all the pissed off looks you guys have that you know why we've called you here today," Cid told the crowd from his place at the podium. "But in case you don't, I will tell you.
"In two days time Shinra will begin the invasion of the Central Continent, of our Central Continent. As we understand it at this time they will begin with SOLDIERs from Wutai will attack Gongaga, then work their way up to Cosmo Canyon. Meanwhile troops from Junon will attack Costa Del Sol and Corel. Then, the two armies will meet and form as one to attack Nibelheim, and finally us. Rocket Town.
"Rufus Shinra thinks he can just waltz in here and make us bow before him. Well, can he?"
The answer from the crowd was tumultuous.
"NO!!!!!"
"Are we gonna let him walk all over us?"
"NO!!!!!"
"Are we just going to stand aside as the worthless son of a bitch enslaves all of us?"
"NO!!!!!"
"Or, are we gonna stand up for ourselves?"
"YEAH!!"
"WE ARE GOING TO FIGHT UNTIL THE END, AM I RIGHT?!"
"YEAH!!!!!"
"Alright! Now, let's get to work! We're going to show the pampered little Emperor who's boss once and for all!"
***
It was a little while before Tifa and Jessie reached the spot where Tifa had left Reno. They couldn't move as fast as Tifa might have liked with Jessie's two bags weighing them down slightly.
Reno was still waiting there, leaning casually against the wall as to not draw attention. He didn't so much as look at them as the two women carefully hopped out of the tree.
"Hello Jessie, glad to see Tifa didn't get the both of you killed," he greeted them cheerfully, extending his hand for the bleached blonde.
"Oh shut up Reno," the brunette smacked him playfully on the arm as the trio started down the street, heading for the inn.
"So what's the plan as of now?" Jessie asked as the strolled down the street.
"Well, we're meeting the Underground at midnight. They're going to tell us what set plans have been made back on the Central Continent," Reno told her in a low voice. "I'm going to ask them if we can send word to the rest of the group so they can know exactly what's going on with us."
The rest of the conversation followed much along these lines, and none of them notices the dark figure following them at a safe distance all the way to the inn.
***
The transformation that Rocket Town underwent in the past two hours was incredible. Everything was lit up, making it almost seem as though it were day again. People were rushing every which direction, taking something to someone, getting something someone, going to ask someone something, or just running around like a headless chicken. The Underground was exceptionally busy. Workers were running about the place and loud bangs and clangs kept coming from the hangar.
Cid was working hard to answer all the of the carrier pigeons he had been sent when one came that wasn't demanding to know where and when a certain faction of a certain attack team should meet another faction. It was for Avalanche.
"It's from Reno, Tifa and…Jessie!" Biggs exclaimed as he tore it open to read.
Hey guys, long time no see! We're just writing to tell you that we are all ok and looking forward to when we can see the rest of you again. It's been much too long since we were a whole group.
We have decided that it would be safest for Jessie to leave her position in Shinra's employment. There has been much evidence of Briggs suspecting her and we thought she would be safer with us. We'll deal with the consequences as they come at us.
Hope to see you all again soon-
Tifa, Jessie and Reno
"Well, that's good news…sort of. At least Jessie should be safer now. I just wish we were all together now…" Biggs sighed and handed the letter to Wedge who had been trying to read it over his shoulder as Biggs read it aloud.
"Well, some of you will be seeing them quite soon indeed," Cid told him offhandedly, writing a response to Cosmo Canyon as fast as his hand would allow.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Brushing a stray strand of dark hair out of his eyes, Biggs took a seat next to Alli at the Highwind's dining room table.
"Well," the pilot set his pen down, massaging his hand, "most all of Shinra's troops are going to be out on this mission. It's a big job, and they're going to need as much manpower as possible. So it's a perfect chance for us to sneak in and start wiping out as many snot-nosed Shinra execs as possible. Stir up some trouble. Create some anarchy. That sort of thing. Give the people of Wutai some hope back."
"Anarchy is one thing that won't be hard to create there," Wedge stated with a grin. "So who's gonna go?"
"Well, I think we are going send some of you over to meet with the faction over there and your friends. Then the rest of you will either go help Corel and Costa Del Sol or Gongaga and Cosmo Canyon. Then, if all goes well, we'll all meet up for Nibelheim and Rocket Town. That is, if Shinra gets that far," Cid added with a smirk as he picked up his ink pen again.
They sat in silence, the three Avalanche members having a conversation with their eyes about the latest knowledge while the pilot wrote, when a small shuffling arose their attention to a small boy standing in the entryway.
"Evan, what are you doing down here, you should be sleeping." Cid stood from his seat and began to make his way over to his only son.
Evan wrinkled his nose. "Why? It's not like we're going to have school tomorrow, everyone's to busy with all this Underground stuff." He shuffled along into the dining room, his slippers dragging across the tiled floor. "'Sides, I couldn't sleep. Can't I just sit down here for awhile? I won't bother you."
"Well, alright, I suppose," the blonde man frowned as he sat back down. "But don't tell your mother."
"Kay."
The group sat in silence once more, Cid writing responses as fast he could and attaching them to awaiting pigeons that sat on his window sills while Biggs, Alli, and Wedge wrote back to Tifa, Reno, and Jessie. Evan just sat there, taking it all in.
"So where did the others head off to?" Cid asked after a few minutes.
"Aeris and Yuffie went down to keep James company since Dr. Kelley made him go back down to the clinic and Reeve and Barret are back guarding the Turks," Alli answered him, looking up from their letter. "Where's Shera?"
"In the hangar, overseeing things."
"I still wanna know how you're planning on getting those planes outta the ground," Wedge muttered.
"Oh!" Evan exclaimed, perking up. "It's cool! See they open-"
"EVAN! Shhh…." Cid clamped his hand over his son's mouth. "I think we'll leave this as a mystery until they can see it for themselves." He winked at the young boy's pouting face. "Just for a surprise."
"Alright," Evan sighed, clearly not happy at being shut up.
Biggs seemed to notice this. "Hey, Evan," he pulled the deck of cards he and Reeve had been using earlier out of his jacket, "up for a game of cards?"
"Sure!"
"Name the game," Biggs said casually as he shuffled the cards.
"5 card draw."
"Um…ok…"
***
Rufus looked out over the city of Vector…his city of Vector. Soon, the entire world would be his. Life was good.
His gaze rose to the heavens. Most of the stars were other drowned out in the artificial light of the city, or choked out by the black clouds the drew ever near to the city. Forecasters were guaranteeing what promised to be the storm of the century.
Ah, but Rufus wasn't frightened. No storm could stop him, no matter how big. He was Emperor of the greatest Empire that ever was. The Shinra Empire. The name alone made people shake in their boots.
But then again, people today were such fools. Cowardly, insipid fools. Life was getting dull, these Wutains certainly weren't living up to what he had expected. Oh sure, there had been a few small riots when they had first arrived, but now, nothing. They almost acted as though they were enjoying it. But that certainly wasn't the case. No, it was more like…they thought it wasn't going to last.
Rufus smirked at this thought. If these fools thought he wasn't going to last, they obviously didn't know Rufus Shinra.
Yes, life was indeed good.
***
"I think I've convinced Dr. Kelley to let you go tomorrow afternoon as long as we promise to keep you safe." Aeris told Yuffie and James as she entered the room. "But of course that would be impossible, so…you know." She plopped down in a chair next to the young ninja. It had been looooooooooong day.
This however, didn't console James. "Yeah well, I don't see why I can't go now. I feel fine!" It was true, Aeris, who seemed to be a bit more gifted in the healing arts than he, healed up his wounds completely not a hour ago, as soon as she felt up to it again. Magic as strong as that took a toll out on her half-Cetra body.
"Ah, quit bitchin' James," Yuffie yawned, practically falling asleep in her chair.
"You're one to talk about bitching, Yuff," James replied with a playful grin.
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"Oh nothing."
"Hmph," her pout matched that a 10-year old who didn't get what they wanted for Christmas.
"Why don't you go up to bed Yuffie," the Cetra told her more gently.
"You know, I think I will."
"Good-night Yuffie."
"'Night Yuff!"
"Good-night. See you in the morning."
Author's Notes: Ok, I have no excuse for the lateness of this. Go ahead skin me alive like I know you want to. Oh wait…you can't cause then this would never get finished! Mwuahahaha!! Hee hee. Ok, so, next chapter the big stuff starts. The stuff I've been planning since last November when I dreamed up this little story. All the big battle stuff will be happening. Plus some more romance since I'm such a little romantic. Yeah right. Tonight as I was talking to my good friend Carla (Raine) an interesting point popped into my mind. "I think I get the best of the characters since I'm the author and I totally have conversations with tem in my head as I write ^__^" Heh heh. I am officially the Queen of the Nerds.
