The Last of an Elite
Chapter Forty Three: Revolution!
By InterfaceLeader
-~-~-~-
Elena woke with a start, jerked from a vague nightmare in which Don Corneo danced like a madman round Da Chao. Sunbeams played across her face and shone gold highlights into her hair.
She was in the Wutaian inn room, Rude's snores reverberating around its wooden walls and obscuring the bird song from outside. She sat up and glanced at her fellow Turks thoughtfully. Reno was in the next bed along, sprawled amongst the covers with wild abandon and twitching at random intervals. Rude was in the third bed, flat on his back, arms by his side, cover spread neatly over him and his mouth open.
Slipping out of bed, she took her clothes off the chair where she had left them neatly folded last night and headed for the bathroom.
She showered and dressed quickly, and was brushing her hair when she stopped and looked at herself in the mirror.
Big brown eyes framed with thick lashes stared out of a small, pale face. Her blond hair, grown longer on the right and carefully styled into a kind of asymmetrical bob, framed it, the hair on the left tucked neatly behind an ear and revealing a single silver earring. The Turk suit seemed to emphasise her skinny frame, folding up around her narrow shoulders.
She looked about as threatening as a church mouse.
She frowned slightly, and tried to pull herself upright and look bigger than she really was. With her arms hanging loosely by her sides and her legs slightly apart she tried to assume a hard expressionless look.
"……… Let's get to work," she said, keeping her voice as flat as she could. It didn't work; she broke up in giggles at the sound of herself.
When she stopped laughing, she sighed. And then slumped casually into a relaxed posture, one hand in her pocket, the other sweeping through her hair whilst her face took on a cruel smirk.
"All right Corneo," she sneered. "This'll be over quick, so listen up!"
She turned away from the mirror and stepped toward the bath, gesturing with one hand. "Why'd you think we went to all the trouble of… of… " she hesitated, trying to remember what he'd said next.
"Rude you bastard! You're snoring again!" the sudden furious yell from outside the bathroom brought her back to reality. There was a crash from outside and she hastened to the door, unlocking it and peering round the edge.
A fountain of feathers obscured the two battling figures briefly, but when it cleared she saw Reno and Rude thumping each soundly around the face with pillows. Already one had rent in two, and a lamp had been sent flying from the bedside table to shatter on the floor.
"Guys! Guys! Stop it!" she called out, but Reno grabbed another pillow and sent it flying at her. She shrieked as it caught her in the face, and without thinking jumped into the fray.
"I'll get you for that Reno!"
-~-~-~-
He sat cross-legged, his spine aching with the fatigue caused by hours of holding him ramrod straight. Every time he felt himself start to slump with exhaustion there came the stick, striking him firmly on his back and forcing him back upright.
Listen, they said. Listen, and if you're lucky the Planet will speak to you.
So he listened. The wind rustled the leaves as they drifted from the trees and heaped along the ground. He wondered if it was message. The rain tapped gently on the roof of the temple, incessant white noise, and he wondered if it was a message.
The rain drummed. Soldiers marched in ranks, carrying the Shin-Ra flag. The first army in the world to fight, not for their country, not for their family, not for love or hate, but for the right to make money. He watched them as they marched through the mountains toward Wutai. Less than four hours later the City would be aflame. He turned away and slipped down to the Shin-Ra boats as they bobbed in the sea.
The rain drummed. He kept his gun trained on the fat man behind the desk. Outside the Sector Five reactor spat clouds of acrid smoke into the sky, in time to the steady roar of machinery that never stopped. The roar that you became as accustomed to as your own heartbeat. It resounded through his head, the thump thump thump of his heart, the thump thump thump of the reactor. Was it a message?
She screamed, screamed at the white hot flash of the knife as it severed her jugular vein and her scream became a drawn out gurgle as blood pumped into the air. He felt the tears that threatened to spill as he watched her die. He had loved her.
Too much noise. The screams drowned out the rain. He couldn't hear, had stopped listening. There was no message. A green-lit figure filled Marlene's bedroom with radiance, reached out to him and spoke. Her lips moved, so clear. Two syllables. She repeated them desperately. But he couldn't hear! The screaming was too loud! He shouted out for them to stop, to be quiet so he could hear. And sudden silence fell, the rain, the drums, the reactor and his heart all stopped. Into the silence came a single, sweet voice;
"Listen…."
"Tseng!" the voice splintered the dream and he awoke abruptly, Turk reflexes sending him rolling out of bed as his hand went automatically for his gun - which wasn't there.
"Damn!" he kicked away the blanket, which he had dragged with him and found himself staring at a very surprised looking Elmyra. At the door of the bedroom Marlene broke up into laughter at the sight of the sleep-sodden Turk knelt in the middle of the floor and groping for a non-existent weapon.
Elmyra blushed and stammered out apologetically. "I'm sorry, you were crying out… I thought you might have been having a bad dream!"
Tseng stood up, flushing slightly himself as he heard Marlene's giggles. "I see…"
"Are you okay?" Elmyra asked anxiously.
"…I …… yes I am. Thank you." Tseng frowned, thinking of the dream.
Elmyra nodded and backed hastily to the door. "I'll leave you alone then," she said, pulling a still laughing Marlene down the hallway.
Tseng watched the door swing shut after her. He wondered suddenly if he should tell her about seeing Aerith. The woman was, after all, her adoptive mother. But the thought of trying to explain the strange apparition made him shake his head. He himself hadn't the faintest idea of what it meant.
He shivered as the dream replayed itself through his mind. For some reason the memory of the screams and the murder barely registered, what filled his mind with a strange sense of foreboding was the drumming, the steady noise that had been the soundtrack to the images. Even now he could still hear it, beating softly in his ears.
What did it mean?
-~-~-~-
Hojo stood back from the operating table, examining his work critically. In a cage in the far corner of the lab a great red feline/canine cross watched thoughtfully through golden eyes.
The scientist nodded to himself. It would suffice. Its bulk of sinewy muscle was a crude replacement for skill, but he didn't have the time to establish finer details, and the monster would surely prove more than adequate.
He unstrapped it and led it to the metal dome that had held Jenova. The window in the door had been painted over in black, which suited Hojo. The unresisting monster would stay quiet until it was his time, and nobody would look in there by choice.
Still slumped by the door, the two Soldiers slept on. He had set up an intravenous feeding system to get them through the few days, but now he could wake them up again.
Outside the lab the builders, engineers and labourers worked swiftly and skilfully to create feed lines, cables, support beams and clamps for the great Mako Canon that had been taken from Junon and renamed the Sister Ray. It was botched together as fast as they could manage, and Above Plate citizens protested furiously as wires were ran through their houses, roads ripped up to make way for scaffolding, power sucked from their houses to feed the weapon and drills, cranes and other loud implements of construction that hammered and growled at metal and concrete.
Shinra ignored their complaints.
-~-~-~-
"Holy crap!"
Reno, and Elena both pressed their faces up against the window of the helicopter, stunned at the sight of Midgar. Behind them Rude shook his head once as he regarded the massive canon that spanned the length of the city, held above it all by huge metal frameworks.
"I don't know… you take a couple of days off and they change the whole place around." Reno slumped back from the window with a sigh. "What the hell are they doing with it?"
Elena waved a hand at it. "It's pointing toward the North! Do you think they're planning on blasting Sephiroth?"
"Uh… Could be I guess." Reno suddenly gave a shout and jerked back to the window. "They sank a goddamn metal pole in front of my window! That's my apartment! Right there by that stupid scaffold! What the hell did they think they were doing!? That's my apartment dammit!"
The helicopter passed over the gun and circled round towards the Shinra building. Landing expertly on a pad overshadowed by a great silvery piston, the rotor blades came to a stop and the Turks climbed out.
"I guess we'd better find out what's going on." Elena looked at Reno. "Are you going to tell them what happened in Wutai…?"
"Are you crazy? If they found out we practically joined forces with Avalanche… though I would like to claim my bonus for killing the Don." Reno kicked at the door to the main building, sending it clattering open. "Man, if those Shinra Guards would actually do their job once in a while instead of acting like a bunch of headless chickens."
Rude glanced at the Shinra Guard they were passing and felt a flicker of sympathy. He had once been a Guard, and he knew how difficult it was to work with malfunctioning weapons and poor training, whilst idiotic commanders berated you every minute. They were looked down upon by everyone, and were usually given the task of putting down rebellions and killing innocent citizens. It was a thankless job.
"Wake up Rude!" Reno jabbed the hold button on the elevator. "Holiday's over ya know!"
"………" Rude turned away from the Guard and joined the other two in the lift.
-~-~-~-
"Will the shells really reach the far northern border?" Rufus flicked a strand of blond hair off his face and turned slightly to regard the tall woman standing in front of him.
"Ah, hah hah!" Scarlet laughed. "Of course!" She turned from Rufus and gestured toward the wide windows that surrounded the President's office. "But Mr. President, please do not call it a Mako cannon. This new weapon will be called... The Sister Ray!"
Reeve pushed the button that ended the transmission to Cait Sith, who in turn ended the PHS call to Cloud. He could feel sweat beading upon his forehead as he took his hand from his pocket and nodded weakly at Rufus.
"I'll go turn up the reactors output then."
-~-~-~-
Reno, Rude and Elena reached Heidegger's office just as the noise of the reactors suddenly doubled. They all paused briefly, unconsciously adjusting to the change in Midgar's background noise. Elena and Reno, both born and raised in Midgar, felt the change echoed deep within themselves, their pulses quickening, and they entered Heidegger's office feeling strangely disturbed.
To the north, deep within the sea, something else felt the change. Weapon swept gracefully upwards through the churning waters, silver finned fish flashing around its great bulk as it broke the surface. A great wave of water cascaded down it and it turned gleaming yellow eyes towards the source of the disturbance and began moving implacably forward.
-~-~-~-
Heidegger was polishing one of the many medals he had won from the war in Wutai when the Turks entered. The increase in the background noise had wrought a similar deep-seated response within him as it had the Turks, and warlike fervour glowed in his dark eyes.
"Sir." Reno made something that could just about be called a salute. Behind him Rude and Elena stood to attention.
"Gya ha ha ha! You come just in time! We are about to blast Sephiroth to bits!" Heidegger roared. "The President's finest hour!"
"With the Junon canon?" Reno looked faintly sceptical.
"It has been renamed the Sister Ray." Heidegger bristled slightly at the name. "And the important thing is to keep the Sister Ray safe from Avalanche! The terrorists may have destroyed our every other plan, stolen our huge materia and so on, but they must not be allowed to touch the canon! Gya ha ha!"
Heidegger unrolled a map of Midgar across his desk and pointed at the thick black lines that had been drawn over it to indicate the Sister Ray. "There's guards on each scaffold - nobody will be climbing up those! And there's an entire squadron of Soldier at the main ladder that leads to the manual controls. Gyahahaha! I'd like to see Avalanche get through now!"
"What about the service tunnels?" Elena spoke suddenly, and flinched when Heidegger turned to look at her.
"Service tunnels?" he repeated blankly.
"They're the tunnels that the repairmen use." Elena replied nervously. "They lead right out to where the ladder is. If… if Avalanche used those they could maybe bypass all the Guards, sir."
Heidegger stared at her. Then he looked at his map. With a pudgy finger he tapped it thoughtfully. Then he glared at the blonde. "I was just getting to that! Gya ha ha ha! Don't presume to correct your superiors!"
"Sorry sir." Elena turned pink and stared at the floor.
"As I was about to say, " growled Heidegger, "there are still the service tunnels. Which is where you Turks come in! I want you to patrol them until I let you know that Sephiroth has been destroyed! Dismissed!"
-~-~-~-
Hojo walked towards the group of Soldiers stood at the base of the ladder that led to the Sister Ray mainframe. Skin writhed on the backs of his hands, and he put them in the pockets of the white laboratory coat he wore.
"Sir!" the commanding officer saluted smartly.
"I've been sent by Heidegger." Hojo spoke softly, a faint hiss just detectable under his words. "Avalanche has been sighted at Gate 6. You are to proceed there immediately."
"Yessir!" The commander swung on the squadron of Soldiers. "Quick march! At the double! Hut! Hut!"
Hojo waited until the steady footsteps had tramped out of earshot and then started up the ladder. A strange fervour had gripped him; the Jenova cells that floated through his body were humming savagely.
A swift image of a harsh and commanding face passed before his eyes.
"My son," he whispered softly. "I'll die for you…"
-~-~-~-
The tunnels were badly lit and dirty, similar to service tunnels everywhere. Dotted randomly along them were defence robots, their infra-red sensors glowing alertly as the Turks passed and fading again as they registered the electronic pulse emitted from the key cards each Turk carried somewhere on their persons.
"What an absolutely brilliant idea Elle. Get us patrolling the one place furthest from the action." Reno broke the silence crossly.
"… I just thought…"
"Don't!"
"…"
Reno looked sideways at the woman. She was frowning and chewing her bottom lip. A mixture of frustration and misery was plain for all to see, marring her usually pretty face. He turned away, surprised at his own sudden feeling of regret and then feeling angry with her for making him feel bad.
Stupid blond idiot… what'd I do to get saddled with such a pathetic Turk anyway?
A sudden rumble shivered the building and a deep echoing boom resounded along the metal walls.
"They must have fired the canon." Reno looked up at the ceiling, wishing he could see what was going on.
They waited, unable to shake the feeling of apprehension that was building inside each of them. Reno lit a cigarette and almost immediately stubbed it out against the wall. There was electricity in the air.
His PHS buzzed loudly and he jumped, before cursing his own nervousness and answering it. Heidegger's voice crackled through.
"The President is dead! Avalanche are approaching! Hojo has taken over the Sister Ray! Reeve has been imprisoned! Midgar has been put under martial law! Gya ha ha ha! We are taking the new weapon down to the Sister Ray mainframe - be on the utmost alert for signs of Avalanche! Gyaaaa!"
Reno blinked, but before he could answer, Heidegger had hit the end call button and the PHS went dead.
-~-~-~-
The two Shinra Guards shoved Reeve unceremoniously into the cell, and the door closed with a crash behind him. He barely noticed the change in his surroundings, so intent was he on his conversation with Avalanche.
"Heidegger is going after you all." He hissed furiously. "That's why it's dangerous out there. Let's go underground!"
On the tiny screen in front of him were the streets of Midgar, moving along jerkily as Cait jumped toward an alley. Reeve knew Midgar better than anyone, and he led Cloud to the trapdoor that led directly into the belly of the city - inside the Plate.
"Please! Hurry and come to the Mako Cannon!" his voice rose desperately, he was amazed at his own depth of feeling for Midgar.
"Who are you talking to?"
Reeve looked up, startled. Across the other side of the cell a Shinra Guard regarded him suspiciously. An ex-Shinra Guard, Reeve thought, noting the missing insignia on his shoulders, and the way his hair had grown out from the usual army crew cut.
"No-nobody…" Reeve stammered, hastily dropping the tiny control device back into his pocket. The Shinra Guard studied him for a moment and then in one sudden movement leapt forward and pinned the hapless engineer against the wall. Reeve struggled against the man's muscle ineffectually.
The Guard dropped one hand into Reeve's pocket and pulled out the gadget. His eyes were hard as they stared straight into Reeve's face.
"I know you." he spat angrily. "You're the one who designed this bloody cage. And I bet I know why you're here too, you spy!"
Reeve whimpered.
The Shinra Guard looked down at the screen resting in the palm of his hand. It took a moment before the shrunken figures climbing through the pipes and pillars registered. Then he took a step back, dropped Reeve.
"Avalanche!?"
"Ack…" Reeve said from his crumpled position on the floor.
"You're in communication with Avalanche themselves?" The guards voice became awestricken. "I thought you were spying on us for Heidegger, but now I see you're actually on our side!"
"Our side…?" Reeve sat up and rubbed at his head.
"Yes! The side of the revolution! Welcome brother!" The guard dropped down next to Reeve and pulled him to his feet, clasping his hand in a rough and manly handshake. "Are Avalanche in the city now?"
"Yes…" Reeve said, somewhat dazed.
"Excellent!" the Guard raced over to the door and called earnestly through the bars to the other cells. "Guys! Joanna! Come listen to Reeve, he's bringing us news of Avalanche, who are in Midgar right now!"
Reeve found himself dragged up to the bars with the Guard and staring out at the line of jail cells. Across from him was another guard and a tired looking woman, pressed anxiously up against the bars. Even the guard that was meant to be watching them had left his post and had hastened up the corridor to listen.
"……… you're all part of the 'revolution'?" Reeve asked.
They nodded resolutely. "About three quarters of the Shinra Guards are in on this, all sympathetic to Scarlet. The only reason we haven't already made our move is because as far as we know all the Soldier are with Heidegger, along with the Turks and some of the robotic military." One of the other Guards took over. "We need to be well prepared before taking them on, so we've been stockpiling weapons and Scarlet's been splitting the forces on Heidegger's side as much as she dares, sending them around the world. Nearly all the Guards stationed in Midgar are revolutionary though. Now tell us about Avalanche!"
"… they're going after Hojo." Reeve wondered how sensible he was being revealing this, but these people sounded genuine. "Hojo's trying to fire the Sister Ray, which would be disastrous for everyone in Midgar… And I asked them to come and stop him…" Reeve hesitated.
"It could be the trigger we've been waiting for."
"Rufus is dead." Reeve looked from the cell opposite to the Guard next to him.
"Then it really is the trigger," the Guard said, and a fire came into his eyes. "Scarlet and Heidegger will have to fight for control of Shinra… as soon as they've finished dealing with Avalanche, Hojo and Sephiroth that is."
"I'm confused… are you on the side of Avalanche or….?"
There was a pause. Then the Guard turned away from Reeve. "I… personally believe Avalanche were the first to see Shinra for what it is, and battle against them. And if they join with Scarlet perhaps we'll fight together…?"
Reeve closed his eyes, and remembered Barret's story. The woman had shot off his arm, burnt down his village and driven his best friend insane. He doubted they would be fighting together any time soon.
He realised with a sudden sinking feeling that the revolution was little more than a change in regime, making no real difference to the way the Planet was run.
"Perhaps…" he said, and forced a smile.
-~-~-~-
Elena was the first to speak after Heidegger hung up.
"President Rufus is dead? Whose in charge now?"
There was a silence.
"Whoever manages to survive the carnage I guess." Reno said, with sudden cheerfulness, as they passed out of the service tunnel and into the subway.
Elena shook her head. "I don't believe it…"
"…….."
The Turks fell silent, and started to walk up the tracks. Reno was grinning to himself, contemplating the chain of events that had started with the attack on the Sector One reactor and seemed to have led to the end of Shinra and the end of the world.
"Oh no! They're here!" Elena's voice broke through his reverie, and he looked up to see that they had somehow found Avalanche.
"What are we going to do!?" Elena remembered what had happened the last time they had met Avalanche and shook her head. "I think it's okay for you to ignore your orders now."
"...Elena, don't act so weak." Reno said, vaguely amused at her sudden change in spirit.
"We're Turks, Elena." Rude faced Avalanche expressionlessly, but Reno sensed the reluctance within his friend.
To die now or to die later? Does it really make a difference?
"...Yes, sir. You're right." Elena also turned to face Avalanche.
"Come on, we've got work to do." Rude said.
"I'm not really up for it, but..." but it's not like it really matters what happens here. Fight and die. Run and die. Reno shook his head. We really screwed up, everywhere along the line. So now we're gonna die for Shinra. What a totally crappy thing to die for.
"Our orders were to seek you out and..." Elena paused. "...Kill. Our company may be in turmoil, but an order's an order. That's the will and spirit of the Turks! Believe it!"
Rude stared at Tifa. It occurred to him suddenly that being a Turk was worse than being a Shinra Guard in some ways.
Cloud leaned back slightly and regarded the three navy-suited, unenthusiastic looking figures in front of him. It wouldn't take much to dissuade them, he thought. Their company was in ruins, and with it went their status and their livelihood.
Of course they had been part of Shinra, and were behind some of the more despicable of the Shinra acts. They deserved death.
And yet… he had once wanted to be a part of Shinra, to be a part of that machine. And Elena's words struck a strange chord within him. After all he had done something despicable whilst 'under orders' himself. He could hardly pass judgement on them.
His eyes sought out Reno's, the man who'd dropped the Plate and killed Biggs, Wedge and Jessie. Did he owe Tifa revenge?
His eyes were bright in an otherwise jaded face, burning with unnatural Mako fires. Not as bright as his own, thought Cloud, and nowhere near the inferno of Sephiroth's. This man wasn't under anybodies control anymore. The real enemy lay elsewhere.
"What are you doing! Let's go!" Elena spoke sharply, angry with herself for thinking of the way Avalanche had come and rescued her from Don Corneo and angry at the guilt she felt as a result.
"No, let's not go" Cloud said quietly.
-~-~-~-
Scarlet and Heidegger were caught up in the spirit of war. The Proud Clod - a huge, Mako powered, Mythril armoured mechanical military robot like no other - stomped destructively towards the Sister Ray mainframe. When Avalanche ran out in front of them they both laughed, the shrill cacophony of noises bouncing and echoing off the inside of the robot. From their height the group looked insignificant and tiny, and they rained insults down on them before sending the robot punching into the ground next to them, the ground breaking up and shaking around the massive metallic fist.
"I'll show you the destructive power of the Proud Clod!" Scarlet shrieked, as they went into battle.
It didn't take them long to realise they had made a serious mistake.
"Bahamut Zero!" "Lightening-3!" "Leviathan!" The magic attacks were interspersed with intensely powerful and damaging slashes from Cloud's great sword, Tifa's whirlwind fists clasped within deadly sharp and hard fighting gloves that smacked pieces out of the Mythril armour and Cid's wickedly long spear that seemed to seek out points of vulnerability in the massive robotic structure instinctively.
It was when the systems began to overload and sparks started to shoot into the two Heads of Department's faces that Scarlet became genuinely worried.
"Not that! This is the Proud Clod............!?" her voice became lost in the whine of the the Mako engine, which had started to glow white hot. She scrambled towards it, ripping out the wires that connected it to the rest of the robot's systems.
Too late.
It exploded in her face, blowing her backwards, smashing her through the metal frame and into the air, caught in searing Mako fire. She screamed, her long nails raking at the air as her skin burned and blistered and metal fragments ripped through her body. She twisted in mid-air and plummeted downwards, smashing into the concrete cobbled ground below. Bones cracked, blood splattered, but it was nothing compared to the white-hot pain that was under her skin, burning away her insides.
"Not yet! No!" she shrieked, tearing at herself. The pain was too much, and she could feel her soul battling to escape the torn flesh and disappear into the lifestream. "I won't let it!"
Heidegger too was thrown into the air by the force of the explosion, his body canon-balling into the wall and crumpling to the ground. He didn't even have time to cry out before his energy was smashed from him and thrown helter-skelter into the lifestream, mixing and intermingling until there was nothing of him left.
-~-~-~-
It was a Shinra Guard who heard the explosion and came running, a lone Guard who had been on patrol. He stopped short when he saw the blackened, smoking woman crawling down the street, trailing blood behind her. Her skin had cracked and peeled, her hair had been burnt away, and tattered flaming remants of her dress clung to her as she inched painfully towards him.
"Scarlet!" he raced to her, unknowing of what to do, lacking both potion and cure materia, and without the training of a first-aider. She was beyond that anyway, nothing short of a life spell could save her.
Scarlet clutched his arm and stared up at his face. Through a haze of pain she saw a blank Shinra mask.
"Guard…" her voice was hoarse, jerking painfully.
"What should I do?" he was scared, this was his superior and he was unable to save her.
She was going to die, she could feel the energy draining out of her, the pain fading as she did. She struggled to hold on to conciousness, even if she died Shinra must not!
"Don't…" she gasped for air, "Don't let those bastard Soldiers take over!"
The Guard looked down at her. He knew of course, of the revolution. "Then who?"
Scarlet shut her eyes, trying to run through a list of possibles. There were the Guards she had chosen to lead the revolution, but they were all bloodthirsty, all military. They could win a war, but could they run a society? And then from nowhere came the memory of a soft eyed, brown haired man, holding her tightly as she cried.
"Reeve…" she whispered the name. She knew she was damning him, damning his innocence, but Shinra always came first.
"Reeve?" the Guard was confused, no mention of the City Builder had ever been made before.
She raised an arm, a weak gesture of dismissal.
"A true revolution… it is time…" and she laughed, choking on blood.
The Guard listened to her laugh, and when it faded to silence he stood. His palms were sweaty, but his grip on his gun was as steady as a rock as he lifted it above his head and shouted as loud as he could.
"The revolution is upon us!"
-~-~-~-
A/N: I'd say there's no more than two or three chapters left, and of course a rewrite to neaten things up and sort out a couple of continuity errors ^^
I liked Scarlet. I'm going to miss her. *sniff*