Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to FF7, or their characters or, places ect... all I own is Xaen, Reverance, Warrent, Nobe, Smythe, and some others...

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- Chapter 3: Caught Up In an Avalanche ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

"I'll be right there!" I yelled to Nobe through the door. *Wow, my chance has come faster than I thought. Huh... I'm not even sure that this "Avalanche" is the same as the one I remember from the game, and yet I'm ready to betray people whom I don't really even know to join, some group I probably know even less about. Damn... I really should stop thinking... It just creates problems*

I literally threw myself at the weapon rack. It took me all of 1 minute to put the vest on and thread the grenades through the correct quick release loops. I had eight of these grenades, the broad sword "sheathed" horizontally across the midsection of my back, and the sniper rifle's strap slung over my shoulder. Right before I reached the door to my room I realized the vest had pockets. Inside was a small yellow orb. *My own materia?* I hastily put it back when I heard Nobe yell again. "I've gotta go now, just follow the commotion to the sub docks. I'll fill you in there."

"Wait," I said over the noise, as I ran to the door, but he was already gone.

Rubbing my hands together I thought *Ok, since he's gone I'll just have to have some fun with these lying bastards.* Doing as Nobe told me I started to wander towards the sound of the fighting. Not in much of a hurry, *If it is Cloud and them, they can take care of them selves* my walk was much more of a sight seeing trip than a call to arms. Humming the FF7 boss battle music, I saw science lab after science lab. *Not much else to do secluded at the bottom of a lake is there?* The whole building was made up of these small concrete structures that were coated in some kind of metal to prevent leaks.

As I came closer to the sub bay, two straggling soldiers ran past me.

"Damn man, next time let me grab my weapon will ya?" the soldier in second said to his comrade. He looked very cross indeed.

"Well next time get ready faster, you really didn't need to dry your hair."

"Here take one of these," I offered tossing him one of my quick release grenades.

"Thanks!"

*Like it will do him any good... Wait!* I started to laugh as it hit me. *I pulled it off the vest...* "Ha ha ha... ahh.." I laughed aloud.

About two seconds later I heard a very loud explosion and two screams to accompany it. *When you pull em' off the vest it pulls the pin... ha ha ha... quick release indeed!* I wiped a tear from my eye and continued down to the docks. My fun had started early it seemed.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- At the docks.

In the two minutes it took me to find the submarine dock nothing really noteworthy occurred. A few more stragglers came past me and questioned me as to the mess back there. I told them one of them must of dropped a grenade in the furor of the situation. *Well it was CLOSE to the truth*

The intensity of the fighting seemed to rise as I came nearer, so I decided to run there and look like I had gotten lost, or something. I realized I took a long time to get here.

"Where the hell have you been!?" Nobe yelled, "I won't send you in just yet, they don't know your here. You can be my trump card."

"All..right?" I replied.

I watched as mechs and soldiers of all kinds fired upon the foreign sub. It did not look as if the sub had even attacked at all. Moments later I heard a loud hissing noise like hot air from an iron. I turned to the right, along with everyone else and saw six dark figures charging through the mist that had just filled the previously empty hallway. The six were fired upon and returned the gesture with equal fury. I had to dodge a few cannon blasts but they were nothing. Both sides were firing and the mist was not helping. *Hmm.. wow what a waste of ammo...* After a few seconds the mist started to clear and my suspicions were confirmed. Avalanche had arrived. Cloud, Tifa, and Cait Sith were using what looked to be disposable cannons. *If I remember... S-Mines?* I guessed. Barret and Vincent had their own guns of course, and Yuffie was rapidly launching, what I guessed to be, her boomerang-like Conformer.

*Hmmm... If I tried to help them now I would be slaughtered. I AM standing in the middle of the enemy* I thought. *Where is Cid and Nanakai?*

"Wait! There should be two more! Xaen go look for them." Doctor Nobe ordered me before returning to directing his troops.

" Umm...whatever." He wasn't listening anyway, why act eager to please?

I turned around and ran the small distance over to where Smythe was directing his small detachment.

"Smythe!" I yelled.

He jumped and turned to regard me. *Probably relieved I was on his side... so he thinks. Why was he so afraid?*

"What?" he asked in a hurry.

"If you were gonna plant a bomb in this place, where would the best place be?"

"Why?"

"I've got a hunch."

"Down in the first basement, the primary reactor is there." he told me, slightly confused. *Yes, he trusted me!*

"Kay, I got it handled, I'll just take what more troops I find on the way to help me."

"Help you what?!"

"Guard the reactor," I said in mock frustration, playing along what he told me.

"OH! Good idea, guess Doctor Nobe was right about you," he said.

As another hail of shells come our way he pushed me into the hallway and yelled, "Go, quickly. If they reach the reactor this facility will be doomed!"

"Yea, I know," I said under my breath as I turned around.

With a smirk on my face and a plan forming in my brain I hurried down to the stairs that would take me to my next objective. *I hope Cid is doing what I think he is*

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- In the basement.

After about ten minutes of searching room after room, and hallway after hallway, I stopped for a rest.

"Where the hell could they hide something as big as a damn reactor? I said leaning back against a wall. Sighing I slid down the wall against my back and closing my eyes I let my head fall backwards against the wall. {Thud}. *Why did I think this was going to be easy?* "Well I'd better get going," I spoke to the greatest listener of all time, thin air. *It is so supportive* {sarcastic}

"What? Who's there?" I could hear a feminine voice whisper, "What is going on out there?"

I looked around to see where this voice could be coming from. The only possible place was from behind the next door.

The sign next to the door read:

Hallway 43 A

I opened the door and looked around. Nobody was there.

"Anyone? Hello?" the voice asked again.

I looked down and spotted a vent. *Ahh must be coming from the room around the corner* I thought. I walked up to the intersection down this little stretch of hall and found another sign.

Mako Reactor - Right

Containment Cells - Left

"Figures." *The door you want is ALWAYS the one you find after you give up.* "It's a mako reactor? Well, what else would it be? Definitely too many coincidences. It just has to be..." I said to myself.

"HELLO? Who is there!?! Help me!" the voice rang out for a third time.

*Well I'd better go find out who that is. If they are in confinement I'd better be careful, but still if whoever it is trapped or something I'd better help.*

I round the corner to the left and look down that end of the hall. Tens upon tens of doors. Each with its own viewing window. *Must be one way mirrors* I decided.

I look to the first door on my left and through the window I saw a girl. This girl couldn't be more than sixteen or seventeen years old. *What is someone her age doing here?* I wondered, *Right, I'm here, duh* I remembered.

The girl looked frightened, probably from the faint gunfire and explosions that could be heard from above.

She wore black jean shorts that fit snugly over the curves of her legs and hips. She also wore a deep green T-shirt under a blue jean vest. Her eyes were a vivid green just as her shirt was, and her brown hair was tied back into a ponytail. Her hair, when let down, must have been shoulder length.

*Stop staring damnit!* I scolded myself. *They are only medium sized, nothing spectacular.* I slapped myself, amazed with what I had just thought. I liked to think I was better than that. I forgot all about possibly dangerous criminals in confinement after looking through that window.

I looked away from the glass and opened the door.

"AHHH! Who ar.. are... you? Why are you here?" she stuttered.

"Well, I guess I'm here to save you, my name is Xaen," I said, scratching the back of my neck and feeling kind of corny at the moment.

"Save me from what? What is all that fighting all about? What are you doing down here? Why me?" she rambled off question after question. I was surprised I caught them all.

"This facility is going to blow up, the fighting is due to Avalanche, I'm down here because I'm gonna help Avalanche blow the place but they don't even know I exist yet, and I'm gonna save you because no one else will." I replied.

"Oh... So you are not with Nobe?" she asked.

"He brought me from my world, I think, and thinks he can use me against Avalanche. I'll show him I won't submit to being a tool." *I hate speeches, even mini-ones, they sound so fake*

"He 'took' me too. Then he locked me up down here saying he failed and needed to try again," she explained.

"Why?" I asked.

"I don't know."

"Why are you so trusting, I mean you were literally abducted then jailed?"

"Same reason I think you are, because you look different from them. I can't explain it, it's a feeling more than a look." she smiled after she said that. *Why?*

"If your not from here, how do you know this... Avalanche are the good guys?"

"I'll tell you after we get outta here. Let's hurry now, I still have things I need to blow up," this made her smile even more.

She jumped to her feet and hopped from one foot to the other rapidly. It looked like she was almost jogging in place. Then she clapped her hands together and said, "O.K. lets go!"

"You are an energetic person, aren't you?" I stated more than asked.

"Yup, by the way I'm Reverance."

"Alright, Reverance, lets go."

(I told you there would be fighting. Not much but fighting none the less. The next one will have more intense combat situations.)