DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FF7 OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to all those who have reviewed this story! I'll try not to disappoint!
Chapter Ten
The situation appeared hopeless. Barret and Vincent turned to fire on the army approaching them from behind, trying to take out as many grunts as possible before the wave of soldiers hit them. Cloud cast Bolt3 to try and weaken the one remaining super soldier that stood between them and freedom, but he succeeded in inflicting only minimal damage. The soldier raised its huge weapon to fire at him, and he dived to the ground for cover, but the super soldier was standing only a few feet away and surely it couldn't miss. Cloud cast Big Guard to protect himself, but instead of receiving a barrage of bullets in the face, he was nearly deafened by a series of terrific explosions.
"Look!" he heard Yuffie yell.
"We're saved!" Elena exclaimed joyfully.
Cloud raised his head to see the Highwind hovering overhead, unleashing a salvo of heavy-duty missiles into the super soldier that blocked their path. It stumbled, fell, and was blown apart. Red XIII, standing on the lower deck of the ship, threw down the rope ladder and shouted, "Hurry! Get on board!"
They climbed up the ladder as fast as they could, Cloud having to carry Tifa over his shoulders while climbing with one hand. Reno was the last on board, and he hauled up the rope ladder, yelling, "That's everyone! Step on it!"
The Highwind performed a long, sweeping turn over the army below, Cid releasing volley upon volley of missiles at Hojo's troops. Eventually smoke so badly obscured the terrain below that they couldn't tell if anyone was left alive, so Cid decided not to take any more risks and piloted the ship away from Midgar. The party hurried up the stairs to meet him on the bridge. He turned to face them, his face covered in cuts and black oily stains from working on the Highwind's engines for five straight hours, "Turks?!? What the hell?"
"Cid, it's okay, they helped us," said Cloud quickly. "They're on our side."
Reno nodded and looked around, giving the Highwind an appraising once-over, "Hey, Cid, nice rust-bucket."
Cid's mouth dropped open and his cigarette hit the floor, "WHAT THE %*&£ DID YOU SAY, YOU £&*$ING SON OF A £&*$%?!?!?!?"
Going red in the face with fury, Cid grabbed the Venus Gospel from where it sat nearby, and began chasing Reno about the deck of his ship. Elena put her hands on her hips angrily and glared after Reno's fleeing form. Rude had put his hands over his eyes and was shaking his head despairingly, ". . .you just can't take him anywhere."
Red sat on his haunches and gave a soft chuckle, "Cid is not a good mood. His ship is not in good condition. That was not a wise thing for Reno to say."
"I'm sure if he apologises sincerely enough, Cid will forgive him. . .some day. . .well, maybe," said Vincent.
"Doubt it. Anyway, how did you know where we were to come and rescue us?" asked Yuffie with a puzzled, curious look on her face.
"Reeve contacted us," said Red.
"Reeve!" Cloud exclaimed, slapping his hand against his forehead. "We clean forgot about him!"
"Don't worry, he's safe," Red said. "Apparently Hojo never knew that Reeve was Cait Sith's controller or an honorary member of AVALANCHE, so he's not being treated as an enemy. He's been ordered to continue his desk job, working for Hojo. He's in a similar situation to that of Mayor Domino under Shinra. He managed to get his PHS back from Hojo, and saw your group escaping from the Shinra building. Then, on seeing you being followed by a sizeable group of Hojo troops, he called Cid and myself, and suggested that we come to your aid."
"So you did," said Barret. "Good job too."
"Yeah, thanks, Red!" Yuffie exclaimed, kneeling down to give the lion a hug.
When she had released him from her grasp, Red shook his mane and said to Cloud, "I have more good news. Remember that flower I was describing to you, the one known as the Flower of Vengeance?"
Cloud nodded, "What have you found out?"
"I'm now 100% certain it is the poison used by Hojo," said Red. "All the symptoms match, and it being located near Hojo's labs in the Nibel reactor is too much coincidence."
"Right," said Cloud optimistically. "So how long will it take you to work out the antidote?"
"Unfortunately, that may take some time," Red sighed. "In fact I was going to suggest you go to Nibelheim and ask around there. Some of the inhabitants may have knowledge of local plant life, not written in any book but passed down through the generations."
"Worth a shot," said Barret. "I'll go there for sure. I gotta do somethin' that helps Marlene! How soon can we leave?"
"That's actually our biggest problem right now," said Red, his ears beginning to droop in despair. "We're currently running on the Highwind's emergency back-up engine. The original is finished and will never run again, according to Cid."
"How much longer will the emergency engine be able to run?" asked Cloud.
"One to two more hours," said Red. "Cid has spent several hours working on it, trying to 'squeeze out every last drop of juice' as he put it."
"One or two hours?" said Vincent. "That won't be enough to get us to Nibelheim with this many people on board."
Cloud turned to Rude and said, "Do you guys have any transport we can use?"
". . ." Rude shook his head. "We had an all-terrain buggy when we worked for Shinra, but it was destroyed when Midgar was attacked by Weapon."
"There are planes at Junon that we could 'borrow'," snickered Yuffie, making it clear that her idea of borrowing something did not include giving it back after you were finished with it.
"Junon is under Hojo's control," said Red. "That is where the Highwind sustained such terrible damage."
"Couldn't we sneak in?" said Yuffie.
"We could, but Cid is the only who can fly a plane," said Cloud. "As a prominent member of our group, he'd be recognised in an instant."
"Well, what are we going to do?" said Elena. "We have to get to Nibelheim somehow."
The others shrugged. Even Cloud, the eternal optimist, stared at the floor and appeared to be out of ideas. Reno appeared beside them, grinning, "I think the old man is a bit out of shape."
They turned to see Cid doubled over, clutching a stitch in his side, gasping for breath, cursing, "%£&$! I'm getting' too old for this - cough - an' I need to quit smokin'!"
Yuffie ambled over to a piece of machinery, "Hey, Cid, mind if I play with this? What a pity you can't run fast enough to stop me!"
"Don't touch that, you little £&&$!!" he yelled, staggering over to shoo her away. "That's a very important piece of the ship!"
"I've never seen you use it before," she said dubiously. "What does it do?"
"It's a new experimental engine I've been developing," he explained. "It uses a plasma injection valve to - "
Then he smacked himself in the forehead and yelled, "I am gettin' old! I completely forgot! My new engine! We can use that to get to Nibelheim!"
The others weren't totally convinced. Cloud said, "Uh, Cid, when you say experimental, I hope you don't mean some crazy idea you had once when you were drunk?"
"Of course not, I've been working on it for years," said Cid. "I wrote a whole research paper on it when I was at the Shinra Flight School."
"Does it work?" Barret asked the obvious question.
"Never tried it out properly," Cid shrugged. "No time like the present though. . ."
He opened up the hatch of the new engine and twiddled with a few things inside. Then he ran over to the ship's main control panel, new energy and vigour coming to him through the thought of finally being able to test his new engine design. Cloud was still unsure about it, and subtly indicated to the others to hold on to something.
"Hold on ta somethin'!!" Cid yelled as he switched on the new engine.
Those of the party, particularly Yuffie, who had braced themselves against an imminent explosion, looked cautiously towards the new engine. A quiet humming noise began, increasing in volume until the engine came to full power. Cid walked over to the ship's controls and stood there for a moment in reflection, "I've spent more than half my life designing this baby. Now I finally get to see if it works. This was my second-biggest dream after going into outer space. Well, here goes."
He flipped the controls. Suddenly everybody was flung backwards as the ship was thrown forwards at a phenomenal rate of knots. They hung on for dear life and Barret yelled, "Can't this thing go any slower?!"
"I'll try!" Cid shouted over the noise of the wind screaming past as he wrestled with the controls.
He succeeded in slowing the ship sufficiently that they could all keep their balance without having to hold on to anything. Elena glanced over the side and gasped, "Wow! How fast are we going?"
"Four times faster than normal!" Cid exclaimed, checking the speed gauge on the control panel. "We'll get to Nibelheim in no time!"
The journey took less than half an hour at the Highwind's awesome new speed. Cid landed the ship in an open space near the mountains but away from the town itself.
"Why don't we just land in Nibelheim?" Barret wondered.
"We don't know how many troops Hojo has stationed there," said Vincent. "Cid and I were attacked at the Shinra Mansion so there must be a military presence somewhere."
"We gotta kick their butts too!" Yuffie broke in. "That'll teach that dumb-ass Hojo to mess with us!"
"Unfortunately, he's not a dumb-ass," said Cloud. "He's probably the greatest mind the planet has ever seen, with the possible exception of Bugenhagen. It's sad that his intelligence wasn't put to solving life's problems instead of exacerbating them, but that's just the way it is."
"So what we gonna do?" asked Cid.
"We'll split into two - no, three teams," said Cloud. "One team will go to the town and assess the threat from Hojo's soldiers, eliminating them if possible. The second team, which has to include Red, will go up into the mountains and search for a sample of the Flower of Vengeance, to help our studies for an antidote. The third team will stay here to guard the ship and watch over Tifa and Marlene."
After a short discussion it was agreed that Red, Vincent and Elena would go to look for the flower, while Reno, Cid and Cloud would explore the town. Barret didn't want to leave Marlene, while Yuffie was still recovering from her airsickness, and Rude decided he'd stay on the ship. As the three of them approached the town, Cloud began to regret allowing Cid and Reno to be in the same team together. The two of them had hardly stopped arguing with each other since they'd arrived. Cloud gripped Ultima Weapon tightly and wondered what it was that made certain party members behave like school children despite being on a mission to save the world.
"So what kind of money can you get in an old age pension these days?" Reno smirked.
"What the &£%$ are you talkin' about?!" Cid retorted. "I'm only 32! How should I know?"
"Really?!" asked Reno, pretending to be surprised. "I thought you had to be at least 50. I guess your hair is just going prematurely grey."
"My hair is NOT going grey!" Cid yelled. "Shut yer hole, carrot- top!"
"I'm so insulted," Reno yawned. "Why are you so grouchy, anyhow? Is your rheumatism acting up again?"
"All right, you $*£&$(*&, that does it!" yelled Cid. "I'll - "
"Shut up, both of you," Cloud snapped. "We're getting near the town; somebody will hear you."
Reno smirked at Cid and fell silent. Cid continued to grumble under his breath as they readied their weapons and approached the village of Nibelheim. There didn't appear to be anyone there.
"Where are the villagers?" asked Cid, as they crouched down behind a big rock to keep an eye on the town.
"They could all be inside," said Cloud.
"Or dead," said Reno.
Cloud pointed to the path that led up to the mountains, the one they'd just come down, "Look, in the mud just there - tyre tracks. Hojo must be moving supplies and soldiers through here, to and from the reactor."
"Sounds sensible," Cid nodded.
"If this is his supply route, we have to cut it off," Cloud decided. "It's the only way up into the mountains, since there's almost nowhere to land a plane up there. If his materials aren't getting through, he can't create any more genetic soldiers."
"Why don't we just go up there and blow up the reactor?" Reno asked. "You and Barret have had plenty of practice at that."
Cloud ignored the barb and said, "Maybe we'll meet up with the others later and do that. For now finding that plant and its antidote have to be our priority."
He led them forward until they were hidden beneath some trees just at the edge of town. There was still nobody in sight. Cloud indicated that they proceed, and they crept forward stealthily until they were standing by the town well.
"Well, there's nobody here," said Reno. "This was a nice way to waste time we can't afford. What's our next brilliant plan?"
"Let's see you think of one since you're so smart!" Cid retorted.
"This house?" said Cloud, ignoring them, pointing to the one at the end of the row. "When I lived in Nibelheim as a child, an old lady lived here who knew about local plants and herbal medicines. She'll be dead now, I imagine, but it might be worth having a look in the house."
"But surely somebody else lives there now?" said Cid.
"Dunno," said Cloud. "I haven't been back for any length of time to find out."
He walked to the house in question and banged on the door, "Hi! Anyone in?"
No reply. He pushed the door open. The house was cold and empty. Cloud's attention was attracted by a piece of paper lying on the floor just inside the door. He picked it up.
"Dear Kara," he read aloud, as Cid and Reno entered the house behind him. "Please do not be alarmed that I am not here. I have left to seek sanctuary at Cosmo Canyon where my former lover resides. Do not linger here; the military will find you. They have taken over the town but I have left a surprise for them. Yours, Maria."
"The military have taken over, huh?" said Cid, glancing back at the deserted town centre. "Don't see 'em anywhere."
"Who's Maria?" asked Reno.
"Maria. . ." Cloud said slowly. "I think that was the name of the old lady who used to live here when I was young. Amazing - she must still be alive."
"That's good, right?" said Cid. "If she still owns this house, maybe we can find some herbs that will help Tifa."
"Maybe. I wish Red were here," said Cloud. "I don't even know what kind of plants we're looking for."
"Then bring 'em all back with us," Cid suggested. "Or give him a call and ask, try to narrow it down a bit so we only have to take back a few."
Reno yawned, "I'm going back outside to see if I can find any sign of Hojo's troops. There's something not right here."
Nobody argued so he left the house. Cloud had a vague memory that the old lady Maria kept her herb supply in a room at the back, so he and Cid went through there.
"It's still here," said Cloud, as they entered a room filled from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, with plants in various sizes of pots, or dried and pressed in boxes. "I wonder if any of them is the one we want."
"Phone Red," Cid suggested.
Cloud did, but he wasn't getting any signal.
"The mountains must interfere with the signals," he sighed. "I'll try again later. Let's go and make sure Reno isn't doing anything stupid."
"Huh," Cid grumbled. "I've yet to see that kid do something that's NOT stupid."
As they left the house, they saw Reno emerging from the front of the house next door. He turned to face them and shrugged, "Nobody here either."
"Weird," said Cid. "Where are the soldiers?"
"The old lady's note said she'd left a 'surprise' for them," Cloud mused. "I wonder what it was, and if it's the reason why we can't find them."
"Who knows?" said Reno. "Anyway, how about we hop up to the Nibel reactor and have a look around up there?"
* * *
Hojo turned over the next page of the report in front of him. He frowned. The results from his experiments were really not acceptable. He was already running behind schedule, and to make things worse, the AVALANCHE members had escaped. How they'd got out, he wasn't sure, but he was pretty sure the Turks had a hand in it. Hojo growled with annoyance - the Turks had never respected him. He knew he should have had them killed right away. Still, it didn't matter. They must still be in Midgar somewhere, trying to make their escape. It was inconceivable that they would be able to evade his entire army. Even if they did get out of the city, they'd be on foot and low on supplies. In other words, easy prey. Hojo allowed himself a brief cackle as he revelled in the fact that the AVALANCHE airship, Highwind, had finally been shot down. That ship had been a thorn in his and Shinra's side too often. With no means of transport, the AVALANCHE were finished.
"Professor Hojo, sir?" came a voice.
He looked up. A guard was standing at the door of the laboratory, trembling nervously, his hand raised in a salute. Hojo idly wondered if it was the same man as before; with that uniform they all looked the same.
"Have AVALANCHE brought up to the test chambers right away," said Hojo. "Do it quickly, efficiently, and without allowing them to destroy anything on the way, and I may consider raising your pay."
The guard looked as if he wished a hole in the ground would swallow up. Plucking up his courage, he stammered, "Uh - uh, sir, we - we - uh - we don't have them."
"I beg your pardon?"
"They got away, sir."
Hojo leapt to his feet and erupted, "WHAT?!?! HOW?!?"
He grabbed the man around the neck and began throttling him, "Speak to me, you fool!"
"We had them trapped - on the edge of the city," the man gasped, fighting for breath. "They - got away - in - their airship. . ."
"The Highwind?"
"Y - yes, s - sir," the man choked.
Hojo squeezed the last breath of life from the guard, and flung the corpse against the wall. He hadn't actually intended to kill him, but with his new genetically-enhanced musculature, Hojo literally didn't know his own strength. The worst thing about it was that he didn't even care about the man's death. There were plenty of replacements.
"Why can't I destroy that airship?!" Hojo complained to himself. "Why is it, no matter what I do, AVALANCHE can always come through alive? I suppose they had that Cetra on their side - yes, that must be it, the Planet must be protecting them because of her."
Thinking about Aeris reminded Hojo of a certain something that had been delivered to him only yesterday. He walked across to the other side of his lab and opened up a box that contained two items, carefully wrapped up in the protective foam that had kept them intact during the journey from Nibelheim. Hojo picked up the first object, then the other, regarding them both with awe. In his hands he held the keys to not only destroying AVALANCHE, but to taking control of the entire Planet.
* * *
The party met up back at the Highwind's operations room, where the others noticed Vincent was carrying a glass jar with something inside.
"What's that?" asked Yuffie.
"It's the only sample we were able to find," said Vincent, laying the jar down extremely carefully on the table.
"The poisonous flower?"
"That's right," said Red. "Do not, under any circumstances, open that jar. Even the slightest contact with the thorns on the plant's stem will poison you."
"I gotcha," said Yuffie. "No touchee."
Vincent looked at Cloud, "I take it by your uninjured appearance, there were no hostiles in town."
"There was nobody at all," said Cloud. "It was weird."
He told them about the empty houses and the letter they'd found. Red's ears pricked up with sudden interest when he heard mention of the room full of flowers and herbs.
"You must take me there at once," the lion said.
"Right," Cloud nodded. "Reno, Vincent, come with us just in case. The rest of you stay here and guard that flower sample."
Reno, who'd just got comfortable in a stuffed chair, groaned but got to his feet to follow the others out of the room. The four of them went down to the village and into the old woman's house. Cloud led the way to the herb room while Vincent looked about, clearly disturbed by the lack of people here, and Reno sauntered casually with his shirt-tails untucked and his blue suit jacket hanging loosely from his shoulders.
"Ah, yes," said Red, examining a few samples. "I think what we are looking for will definitely be here."
Cloud's heart gave a leap. The antidote! Within hours, minutes perhaps, Tifa would be back among them! The agony and worry that had been gnawing at his heart would be gone. Well, not completely gone. There was still Hojo to deal with.
"Obviously I don't know enough yet to pinpoint the antidote exactly," Red was saying. "But I know which family it belongs to. It will be one of these."
With his front left paw he indicated a row of dried herbs in red boxes.
"Shall we take them all?" asked Vincent.
Cloud nodded, "Yes. Grab those two and I'll get these ones. Reno? Where are you? Oh, will you get off your butt and help us?!"
Reno, who'd been trying out some of the old lady's living room furniture, most notable a comfy-looking armchair, sighed deeply and came through. He picked up the last two boxes and they started on their way back to the Highwind. They were passing the Shinra Mansion when Red suddenly said, "Stop. I thought I heard something."
"Like what?"
"A cry for help."
"Where?"
Red nodded his head towards the Mansion, "There."
"Here, take these," said Cloud, giving his two boxes to Vincent. "You and Reno go back to the ship. Red and I will investigate this."
Pulling Ultima Weapon from its place on his back, he followed Red inside the Mansion. The lion sniffed the air, "People have been here recently - I don't recognise their scent. I'll follow the trail."
The trail took them to the secret spiral staircase that led to the basement. The door at the bottom was closed, and voices could be heard from behind. One of them was yelling for help. Cloud hurried down the stairs and tried the door. It was locked. He took a swipe with his sword, destroying the old, decaying wood, and the door collapsed. Inside the corridor, which was partially filled with rocks from some kind of cave-in, eight or nine people were huddled.
"The Nibelheim villagers," said Cloud. "What happened? What are you doing down here?"
"The soldiers locked us down here!" a man exclaimed. "We were complaining about them bringing their supplies through here in big trucks, so they threw us down here and left us!"
"How long have you been down here?"
"A day or more. Have you come to rescue us?"
"Yes," said Cloud. "I'm Cloud Strife. I used to live here. Some of you might recognise me."
A woman at the back nodded, "I used to know your mother. Is it true Professor Hojo's come back from the dead?"
"He's back, but he was never dead," said Cloud. "Do any of you know anything about the old woman who lives in the house at the edge of town? The one with the herb garden?"
"Old Maria?" said another man. "She's just a crazy old lady. She went off south one day, just before we got thrown down here. She's probably dead now. She was really old and weird."
Cloud wasn't sure what to make of the whole situation, but he freed the villagers, then he and Red hurried back up to the ship.
"I'll identify the antidote as fast as I can," Red promised, taking the plant and herb samples to a corner of the operations room.
"So, what about the reactor?" asked Reno.
"We'll get to that," said Cloud impatiently. "Right now I'm more worried about Tifa and Marlene. Once they're back on their feet, we'll make our next move."
It took Red and Vincent about an hour to identify the herb that would act as an antidote to the poison. Dropping a few ground-up leaves into a cup of water, they managed to synthesise a liquid version of the cure.
"How do we administer it?" asked Cloud.
"It will need to be injected into their veins," said Red. "We will do Tifa first. If the mixture is too strong, it would probably kill Marlene, but Tifa would survive it."
Vincent, who had the steadiest hand and knew the most about medicine, took a few drops of the mixture into a syringe, and with his gently probing fingers found a vein in Tifa's upper arm. He injected the liquid, and the party watched on tensely to see what would happen.
"If it has worked, the poison will be swiftly counteracted," Red remarked. "She will awake shortly after, but it will be an hour or two before she is strong enough to be back on her feet."
"She is showing no adverse reactions," said Vincent, checking Tifa's pulse and blood pressure. "That means the mixture is not dangerously strong. Marlene will not be harmed," he assured Barret.
The big gunman nodded and carried his daughter's prone figure over to Vincent. The raven-haired man, with the utmost care not to injure the small figure in front of him, injected her arm with a few drops of the solution, and checked her vital signs, "Pulse rate has increased but not dangerously so. Now we must wait."
Cloud knelt down beside Tifa's still body and gently pushed her hair out of her eyes. Did her face look less pale, or was that his imagination? He took her limp hand and held it in both his own. This was the moment of truth. If this didn't save her, nothing would.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to all those who have reviewed this story! I'll try not to disappoint!
Chapter Ten
The situation appeared hopeless. Barret and Vincent turned to fire on the army approaching them from behind, trying to take out as many grunts as possible before the wave of soldiers hit them. Cloud cast Bolt3 to try and weaken the one remaining super soldier that stood between them and freedom, but he succeeded in inflicting only minimal damage. The soldier raised its huge weapon to fire at him, and he dived to the ground for cover, but the super soldier was standing only a few feet away and surely it couldn't miss. Cloud cast Big Guard to protect himself, but instead of receiving a barrage of bullets in the face, he was nearly deafened by a series of terrific explosions.
"Look!" he heard Yuffie yell.
"We're saved!" Elena exclaimed joyfully.
Cloud raised his head to see the Highwind hovering overhead, unleashing a salvo of heavy-duty missiles into the super soldier that blocked their path. It stumbled, fell, and was blown apart. Red XIII, standing on the lower deck of the ship, threw down the rope ladder and shouted, "Hurry! Get on board!"
They climbed up the ladder as fast as they could, Cloud having to carry Tifa over his shoulders while climbing with one hand. Reno was the last on board, and he hauled up the rope ladder, yelling, "That's everyone! Step on it!"
The Highwind performed a long, sweeping turn over the army below, Cid releasing volley upon volley of missiles at Hojo's troops. Eventually smoke so badly obscured the terrain below that they couldn't tell if anyone was left alive, so Cid decided not to take any more risks and piloted the ship away from Midgar. The party hurried up the stairs to meet him on the bridge. He turned to face them, his face covered in cuts and black oily stains from working on the Highwind's engines for five straight hours, "Turks?!? What the hell?"
"Cid, it's okay, they helped us," said Cloud quickly. "They're on our side."
Reno nodded and looked around, giving the Highwind an appraising once-over, "Hey, Cid, nice rust-bucket."
Cid's mouth dropped open and his cigarette hit the floor, "WHAT THE %*&£ DID YOU SAY, YOU £&*$ING SON OF A £&*$%?!?!?!?"
Going red in the face with fury, Cid grabbed the Venus Gospel from where it sat nearby, and began chasing Reno about the deck of his ship. Elena put her hands on her hips angrily and glared after Reno's fleeing form. Rude had put his hands over his eyes and was shaking his head despairingly, ". . .you just can't take him anywhere."
Red sat on his haunches and gave a soft chuckle, "Cid is not a good mood. His ship is not in good condition. That was not a wise thing for Reno to say."
"I'm sure if he apologises sincerely enough, Cid will forgive him. . .some day. . .well, maybe," said Vincent.
"Doubt it. Anyway, how did you know where we were to come and rescue us?" asked Yuffie with a puzzled, curious look on her face.
"Reeve contacted us," said Red.
"Reeve!" Cloud exclaimed, slapping his hand against his forehead. "We clean forgot about him!"
"Don't worry, he's safe," Red said. "Apparently Hojo never knew that Reeve was Cait Sith's controller or an honorary member of AVALANCHE, so he's not being treated as an enemy. He's been ordered to continue his desk job, working for Hojo. He's in a similar situation to that of Mayor Domino under Shinra. He managed to get his PHS back from Hojo, and saw your group escaping from the Shinra building. Then, on seeing you being followed by a sizeable group of Hojo troops, he called Cid and myself, and suggested that we come to your aid."
"So you did," said Barret. "Good job too."
"Yeah, thanks, Red!" Yuffie exclaimed, kneeling down to give the lion a hug.
When she had released him from her grasp, Red shook his mane and said to Cloud, "I have more good news. Remember that flower I was describing to you, the one known as the Flower of Vengeance?"
Cloud nodded, "What have you found out?"
"I'm now 100% certain it is the poison used by Hojo," said Red. "All the symptoms match, and it being located near Hojo's labs in the Nibel reactor is too much coincidence."
"Right," said Cloud optimistically. "So how long will it take you to work out the antidote?"
"Unfortunately, that may take some time," Red sighed. "In fact I was going to suggest you go to Nibelheim and ask around there. Some of the inhabitants may have knowledge of local plant life, not written in any book but passed down through the generations."
"Worth a shot," said Barret. "I'll go there for sure. I gotta do somethin' that helps Marlene! How soon can we leave?"
"That's actually our biggest problem right now," said Red, his ears beginning to droop in despair. "We're currently running on the Highwind's emergency back-up engine. The original is finished and will never run again, according to Cid."
"How much longer will the emergency engine be able to run?" asked Cloud.
"One to two more hours," said Red. "Cid has spent several hours working on it, trying to 'squeeze out every last drop of juice' as he put it."
"One or two hours?" said Vincent. "That won't be enough to get us to Nibelheim with this many people on board."
Cloud turned to Rude and said, "Do you guys have any transport we can use?"
". . ." Rude shook his head. "We had an all-terrain buggy when we worked for Shinra, but it was destroyed when Midgar was attacked by Weapon."
"There are planes at Junon that we could 'borrow'," snickered Yuffie, making it clear that her idea of borrowing something did not include giving it back after you were finished with it.
"Junon is under Hojo's control," said Red. "That is where the Highwind sustained such terrible damage."
"Couldn't we sneak in?" said Yuffie.
"We could, but Cid is the only who can fly a plane," said Cloud. "As a prominent member of our group, he'd be recognised in an instant."
"Well, what are we going to do?" said Elena. "We have to get to Nibelheim somehow."
The others shrugged. Even Cloud, the eternal optimist, stared at the floor and appeared to be out of ideas. Reno appeared beside them, grinning, "I think the old man is a bit out of shape."
They turned to see Cid doubled over, clutching a stitch in his side, gasping for breath, cursing, "%£&$! I'm getting' too old for this - cough - an' I need to quit smokin'!"
Yuffie ambled over to a piece of machinery, "Hey, Cid, mind if I play with this? What a pity you can't run fast enough to stop me!"
"Don't touch that, you little £&&$!!" he yelled, staggering over to shoo her away. "That's a very important piece of the ship!"
"I've never seen you use it before," she said dubiously. "What does it do?"
"It's a new experimental engine I've been developing," he explained. "It uses a plasma injection valve to - "
Then he smacked himself in the forehead and yelled, "I am gettin' old! I completely forgot! My new engine! We can use that to get to Nibelheim!"
The others weren't totally convinced. Cloud said, "Uh, Cid, when you say experimental, I hope you don't mean some crazy idea you had once when you were drunk?"
"Of course not, I've been working on it for years," said Cid. "I wrote a whole research paper on it when I was at the Shinra Flight School."
"Does it work?" Barret asked the obvious question.
"Never tried it out properly," Cid shrugged. "No time like the present though. . ."
He opened up the hatch of the new engine and twiddled with a few things inside. Then he ran over to the ship's main control panel, new energy and vigour coming to him through the thought of finally being able to test his new engine design. Cloud was still unsure about it, and subtly indicated to the others to hold on to something.
"Hold on ta somethin'!!" Cid yelled as he switched on the new engine.
Those of the party, particularly Yuffie, who had braced themselves against an imminent explosion, looked cautiously towards the new engine. A quiet humming noise began, increasing in volume until the engine came to full power. Cid walked over to the ship's controls and stood there for a moment in reflection, "I've spent more than half my life designing this baby. Now I finally get to see if it works. This was my second-biggest dream after going into outer space. Well, here goes."
He flipped the controls. Suddenly everybody was flung backwards as the ship was thrown forwards at a phenomenal rate of knots. They hung on for dear life and Barret yelled, "Can't this thing go any slower?!"
"I'll try!" Cid shouted over the noise of the wind screaming past as he wrestled with the controls.
He succeeded in slowing the ship sufficiently that they could all keep their balance without having to hold on to anything. Elena glanced over the side and gasped, "Wow! How fast are we going?"
"Four times faster than normal!" Cid exclaimed, checking the speed gauge on the control panel. "We'll get to Nibelheim in no time!"
The journey took less than half an hour at the Highwind's awesome new speed. Cid landed the ship in an open space near the mountains but away from the town itself.
"Why don't we just land in Nibelheim?" Barret wondered.
"We don't know how many troops Hojo has stationed there," said Vincent. "Cid and I were attacked at the Shinra Mansion so there must be a military presence somewhere."
"We gotta kick their butts too!" Yuffie broke in. "That'll teach that dumb-ass Hojo to mess with us!"
"Unfortunately, he's not a dumb-ass," said Cloud. "He's probably the greatest mind the planet has ever seen, with the possible exception of Bugenhagen. It's sad that his intelligence wasn't put to solving life's problems instead of exacerbating them, but that's just the way it is."
"So what we gonna do?" asked Cid.
"We'll split into two - no, three teams," said Cloud. "One team will go to the town and assess the threat from Hojo's soldiers, eliminating them if possible. The second team, which has to include Red, will go up into the mountains and search for a sample of the Flower of Vengeance, to help our studies for an antidote. The third team will stay here to guard the ship and watch over Tifa and Marlene."
After a short discussion it was agreed that Red, Vincent and Elena would go to look for the flower, while Reno, Cid and Cloud would explore the town. Barret didn't want to leave Marlene, while Yuffie was still recovering from her airsickness, and Rude decided he'd stay on the ship. As the three of them approached the town, Cloud began to regret allowing Cid and Reno to be in the same team together. The two of them had hardly stopped arguing with each other since they'd arrived. Cloud gripped Ultima Weapon tightly and wondered what it was that made certain party members behave like school children despite being on a mission to save the world.
"So what kind of money can you get in an old age pension these days?" Reno smirked.
"What the &£%$ are you talkin' about?!" Cid retorted. "I'm only 32! How should I know?"
"Really?!" asked Reno, pretending to be surprised. "I thought you had to be at least 50. I guess your hair is just going prematurely grey."
"My hair is NOT going grey!" Cid yelled. "Shut yer hole, carrot- top!"
"I'm so insulted," Reno yawned. "Why are you so grouchy, anyhow? Is your rheumatism acting up again?"
"All right, you $*£&$(*&, that does it!" yelled Cid. "I'll - "
"Shut up, both of you," Cloud snapped. "We're getting near the town; somebody will hear you."
Reno smirked at Cid and fell silent. Cid continued to grumble under his breath as they readied their weapons and approached the village of Nibelheim. There didn't appear to be anyone there.
"Where are the villagers?" asked Cid, as they crouched down behind a big rock to keep an eye on the town.
"They could all be inside," said Cloud.
"Or dead," said Reno.
Cloud pointed to the path that led up to the mountains, the one they'd just come down, "Look, in the mud just there - tyre tracks. Hojo must be moving supplies and soldiers through here, to and from the reactor."
"Sounds sensible," Cid nodded.
"If this is his supply route, we have to cut it off," Cloud decided. "It's the only way up into the mountains, since there's almost nowhere to land a plane up there. If his materials aren't getting through, he can't create any more genetic soldiers."
"Why don't we just go up there and blow up the reactor?" Reno asked. "You and Barret have had plenty of practice at that."
Cloud ignored the barb and said, "Maybe we'll meet up with the others later and do that. For now finding that plant and its antidote have to be our priority."
He led them forward until they were hidden beneath some trees just at the edge of town. There was still nobody in sight. Cloud indicated that they proceed, and they crept forward stealthily until they were standing by the town well.
"Well, there's nobody here," said Reno. "This was a nice way to waste time we can't afford. What's our next brilliant plan?"
"Let's see you think of one since you're so smart!" Cid retorted.
"This house?" said Cloud, ignoring them, pointing to the one at the end of the row. "When I lived in Nibelheim as a child, an old lady lived here who knew about local plants and herbal medicines. She'll be dead now, I imagine, but it might be worth having a look in the house."
"But surely somebody else lives there now?" said Cid.
"Dunno," said Cloud. "I haven't been back for any length of time to find out."
He walked to the house in question and banged on the door, "Hi! Anyone in?"
No reply. He pushed the door open. The house was cold and empty. Cloud's attention was attracted by a piece of paper lying on the floor just inside the door. He picked it up.
"Dear Kara," he read aloud, as Cid and Reno entered the house behind him. "Please do not be alarmed that I am not here. I have left to seek sanctuary at Cosmo Canyon where my former lover resides. Do not linger here; the military will find you. They have taken over the town but I have left a surprise for them. Yours, Maria."
"The military have taken over, huh?" said Cid, glancing back at the deserted town centre. "Don't see 'em anywhere."
"Who's Maria?" asked Reno.
"Maria. . ." Cloud said slowly. "I think that was the name of the old lady who used to live here when I was young. Amazing - she must still be alive."
"That's good, right?" said Cid. "If she still owns this house, maybe we can find some herbs that will help Tifa."
"Maybe. I wish Red were here," said Cloud. "I don't even know what kind of plants we're looking for."
"Then bring 'em all back with us," Cid suggested. "Or give him a call and ask, try to narrow it down a bit so we only have to take back a few."
Reno yawned, "I'm going back outside to see if I can find any sign of Hojo's troops. There's something not right here."
Nobody argued so he left the house. Cloud had a vague memory that the old lady Maria kept her herb supply in a room at the back, so he and Cid went through there.
"It's still here," said Cloud, as they entered a room filled from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, with plants in various sizes of pots, or dried and pressed in boxes. "I wonder if any of them is the one we want."
"Phone Red," Cid suggested.
Cloud did, but he wasn't getting any signal.
"The mountains must interfere with the signals," he sighed. "I'll try again later. Let's go and make sure Reno isn't doing anything stupid."
"Huh," Cid grumbled. "I've yet to see that kid do something that's NOT stupid."
As they left the house, they saw Reno emerging from the front of the house next door. He turned to face them and shrugged, "Nobody here either."
"Weird," said Cid. "Where are the soldiers?"
"The old lady's note said she'd left a 'surprise' for them," Cloud mused. "I wonder what it was, and if it's the reason why we can't find them."
"Who knows?" said Reno. "Anyway, how about we hop up to the Nibel reactor and have a look around up there?"
* * *
Hojo turned over the next page of the report in front of him. He frowned. The results from his experiments were really not acceptable. He was already running behind schedule, and to make things worse, the AVALANCHE members had escaped. How they'd got out, he wasn't sure, but he was pretty sure the Turks had a hand in it. Hojo growled with annoyance - the Turks had never respected him. He knew he should have had them killed right away. Still, it didn't matter. They must still be in Midgar somewhere, trying to make their escape. It was inconceivable that they would be able to evade his entire army. Even if they did get out of the city, they'd be on foot and low on supplies. In other words, easy prey. Hojo allowed himself a brief cackle as he revelled in the fact that the AVALANCHE airship, Highwind, had finally been shot down. That ship had been a thorn in his and Shinra's side too often. With no means of transport, the AVALANCHE were finished.
"Professor Hojo, sir?" came a voice.
He looked up. A guard was standing at the door of the laboratory, trembling nervously, his hand raised in a salute. Hojo idly wondered if it was the same man as before; with that uniform they all looked the same.
"Have AVALANCHE brought up to the test chambers right away," said Hojo. "Do it quickly, efficiently, and without allowing them to destroy anything on the way, and I may consider raising your pay."
The guard looked as if he wished a hole in the ground would swallow up. Plucking up his courage, he stammered, "Uh - uh, sir, we - we - uh - we don't have them."
"I beg your pardon?"
"They got away, sir."
Hojo leapt to his feet and erupted, "WHAT?!?! HOW?!?"
He grabbed the man around the neck and began throttling him, "Speak to me, you fool!"
"We had them trapped - on the edge of the city," the man gasped, fighting for breath. "They - got away - in - their airship. . ."
"The Highwind?"
"Y - yes, s - sir," the man choked.
Hojo squeezed the last breath of life from the guard, and flung the corpse against the wall. He hadn't actually intended to kill him, but with his new genetically-enhanced musculature, Hojo literally didn't know his own strength. The worst thing about it was that he didn't even care about the man's death. There were plenty of replacements.
"Why can't I destroy that airship?!" Hojo complained to himself. "Why is it, no matter what I do, AVALANCHE can always come through alive? I suppose they had that Cetra on their side - yes, that must be it, the Planet must be protecting them because of her."
Thinking about Aeris reminded Hojo of a certain something that had been delivered to him only yesterday. He walked across to the other side of his lab and opened up a box that contained two items, carefully wrapped up in the protective foam that had kept them intact during the journey from Nibelheim. Hojo picked up the first object, then the other, regarding them both with awe. In his hands he held the keys to not only destroying AVALANCHE, but to taking control of the entire Planet.
* * *
The party met up back at the Highwind's operations room, where the others noticed Vincent was carrying a glass jar with something inside.
"What's that?" asked Yuffie.
"It's the only sample we were able to find," said Vincent, laying the jar down extremely carefully on the table.
"The poisonous flower?"
"That's right," said Red. "Do not, under any circumstances, open that jar. Even the slightest contact with the thorns on the plant's stem will poison you."
"I gotcha," said Yuffie. "No touchee."
Vincent looked at Cloud, "I take it by your uninjured appearance, there were no hostiles in town."
"There was nobody at all," said Cloud. "It was weird."
He told them about the empty houses and the letter they'd found. Red's ears pricked up with sudden interest when he heard mention of the room full of flowers and herbs.
"You must take me there at once," the lion said.
"Right," Cloud nodded. "Reno, Vincent, come with us just in case. The rest of you stay here and guard that flower sample."
Reno, who'd just got comfortable in a stuffed chair, groaned but got to his feet to follow the others out of the room. The four of them went down to the village and into the old woman's house. Cloud led the way to the herb room while Vincent looked about, clearly disturbed by the lack of people here, and Reno sauntered casually with his shirt-tails untucked and his blue suit jacket hanging loosely from his shoulders.
"Ah, yes," said Red, examining a few samples. "I think what we are looking for will definitely be here."
Cloud's heart gave a leap. The antidote! Within hours, minutes perhaps, Tifa would be back among them! The agony and worry that had been gnawing at his heart would be gone. Well, not completely gone. There was still Hojo to deal with.
"Obviously I don't know enough yet to pinpoint the antidote exactly," Red was saying. "But I know which family it belongs to. It will be one of these."
With his front left paw he indicated a row of dried herbs in red boxes.
"Shall we take them all?" asked Vincent.
Cloud nodded, "Yes. Grab those two and I'll get these ones. Reno? Where are you? Oh, will you get off your butt and help us?!"
Reno, who'd been trying out some of the old lady's living room furniture, most notable a comfy-looking armchair, sighed deeply and came through. He picked up the last two boxes and they started on their way back to the Highwind. They were passing the Shinra Mansion when Red suddenly said, "Stop. I thought I heard something."
"Like what?"
"A cry for help."
"Where?"
Red nodded his head towards the Mansion, "There."
"Here, take these," said Cloud, giving his two boxes to Vincent. "You and Reno go back to the ship. Red and I will investigate this."
Pulling Ultima Weapon from its place on his back, he followed Red inside the Mansion. The lion sniffed the air, "People have been here recently - I don't recognise their scent. I'll follow the trail."
The trail took them to the secret spiral staircase that led to the basement. The door at the bottom was closed, and voices could be heard from behind. One of them was yelling for help. Cloud hurried down the stairs and tried the door. It was locked. He took a swipe with his sword, destroying the old, decaying wood, and the door collapsed. Inside the corridor, which was partially filled with rocks from some kind of cave-in, eight or nine people were huddled.
"The Nibelheim villagers," said Cloud. "What happened? What are you doing down here?"
"The soldiers locked us down here!" a man exclaimed. "We were complaining about them bringing their supplies through here in big trucks, so they threw us down here and left us!"
"How long have you been down here?"
"A day or more. Have you come to rescue us?"
"Yes," said Cloud. "I'm Cloud Strife. I used to live here. Some of you might recognise me."
A woman at the back nodded, "I used to know your mother. Is it true Professor Hojo's come back from the dead?"
"He's back, but he was never dead," said Cloud. "Do any of you know anything about the old woman who lives in the house at the edge of town? The one with the herb garden?"
"Old Maria?" said another man. "She's just a crazy old lady. She went off south one day, just before we got thrown down here. She's probably dead now. She was really old and weird."
Cloud wasn't sure what to make of the whole situation, but he freed the villagers, then he and Red hurried back up to the ship.
"I'll identify the antidote as fast as I can," Red promised, taking the plant and herb samples to a corner of the operations room.
"So, what about the reactor?" asked Reno.
"We'll get to that," said Cloud impatiently. "Right now I'm more worried about Tifa and Marlene. Once they're back on their feet, we'll make our next move."
It took Red and Vincent about an hour to identify the herb that would act as an antidote to the poison. Dropping a few ground-up leaves into a cup of water, they managed to synthesise a liquid version of the cure.
"How do we administer it?" asked Cloud.
"It will need to be injected into their veins," said Red. "We will do Tifa first. If the mixture is too strong, it would probably kill Marlene, but Tifa would survive it."
Vincent, who had the steadiest hand and knew the most about medicine, took a few drops of the mixture into a syringe, and with his gently probing fingers found a vein in Tifa's upper arm. He injected the liquid, and the party watched on tensely to see what would happen.
"If it has worked, the poison will be swiftly counteracted," Red remarked. "She will awake shortly after, but it will be an hour or two before she is strong enough to be back on her feet."
"She is showing no adverse reactions," said Vincent, checking Tifa's pulse and blood pressure. "That means the mixture is not dangerously strong. Marlene will not be harmed," he assured Barret.
The big gunman nodded and carried his daughter's prone figure over to Vincent. The raven-haired man, with the utmost care not to injure the small figure in front of him, injected her arm with a few drops of the solution, and checked her vital signs, "Pulse rate has increased but not dangerously so. Now we must wait."
Cloud knelt down beside Tifa's still body and gently pushed her hair out of her eyes. Did her face look less pale, or was that his imagination? He took her limp hand and held it in both his own. This was the moment of truth. If this didn't save her, nothing would.