Chapter Five: Broken Wings
Revision 1.1, 6-22-2004

Morning train announcements broke across the intercom as the rebels boarded the train. First entered the hacker, Jess, with their 'package' strapped loosely to her back; then Biggs, wearing one of the radio headsets they would use later on in their mission; next came the rounded Wedge, a blanket of cloth concealing his laser rifle and extra power cells. Afterwards Cloud entered, followed by Lockheart, and together they chose their seats. Berett was the last of them to arrive on board, and he looked around. The passenger car was about half full, with at least five other ponies besides them on board, sitting and talking. A wave of silence fell across most of them when Berett entered.

Berett looked at the five of his comrades, sitting on the right side of the car in adjacent seats. "HEY!!" Berett exclaimed loudly, over the drone of the train's intercom. "What d'ya think this is, a private car!? I thought I told y'all to split up!!"

The car erupted with the sounds of hooves over metal as many of the ponies, alarmed at Berett's presence, scrambled from their seats and ran towards the front door of the car towards the next. Biggs, Jess, and Wedge themselves disappeared with them to the next car, and within seconds, only Lockheart, Cloud, Berett, and one other pony were left on board this car.

"Well, well...," Berett chuckled to himself, musing over just how empty the passenger car had suddenly become, never growing tired of whenever higher-class passengers shunned him for a different location. Berett walked down through the length of the car, but stopped next to the other remaining passenger.

The passenger ignored Berett as he walked over. Berett took a long, hard look at the pony. He was an earth pony, covered in a spotless brown suit. An expensive, spotless suit. "Yo...!" Berett exclaimed. "This place sure cleaned out quick. Why aren't ya with all yer rich friends?"

The pony in a suit stared out the window in a fruitless attempt to ignore Berett. Only a few barely-audible mutterings about bad luck and hoodlums escaped his lips.

Berett mused over it. "Move over. That's my seat yer sittin' in!"

"Berett...," Lockheart tried warning with her voice, glancing to the front of the car where a Rin Sha security guard visibly stood watching them, whom only Berett could fail to notice.

"I said...," Berett said again to the pony. "That's my seat you've got. Why don't ya jus' pick someplace else to be? Like in the other car?"

The suited pony only gave silent mutterings to himself and tried to stare out the window.

"You were sayin' something...?" Berett threatened. "No one else listenin' so you gotta be talkin' ta me... spit it out, why dont'cha!"

"I wasn't talking to you...!" The pony, finally, shouted back.

Berett sneered silently, and continued to stare, just like the security guard at the front of the car continuing to stare at them both. "Y'know...," Berett began, in a calmer, softer tone. "Yer wearin' a mighty fine suit there. Too fine for a place like this . . . who you work for, the Rin Sha or somethin'?"

The pony shrugged, refusing to answer.

"Berett...!" Lockheart stressed, motioning to the guard at the front of their car, hoping that the rebel leader would take notice.

"You do, don't ya!" Berett shouted to the pony, ignoring Lockheart's warnings. "They're suckin' the Land dry, and you've got the stones to be helpin'em!? Get outta my sight, you corporate bastard, or I'll --"

"BERETT!" Without warning, Lockheart sprang from her seat and, before Berett could react, grabbed him by the tail and yanked him backwards. Berett fell back, flat onto his stomach, away from the pony he was threatening.

"Dammit, Lockheart, how many times I gotta tell you, don't go bustin' up my...." About then Berett noticed the security guard at the front end of the car, watching them.

"That's enough, all of you!" The security guard shouted from the front end of the car. "We can't afford to have any scenes like this, especially with a code yellow alert. Take one more step towards that citizen and I'll have you arrested for disturbing the peace!"

"Sorry," Lockheart apologized for Berett. "He just... hasn't had his coffee yet," she lied. "It won't happen again."

"No, it won't. We're already behind schedule today because of this. I have half a mind already to throw you out and let you catch the next train. Understood?"

"S-sorry," Berett fumbled as he carefully brought himself back onto his feet. Miffed at having been caught, he took the nearest available seat and threw his weight down on it.

The guard paused, watching them cautiously. After about half a minute of silence, the guard sighed, and returned to his station between cars. "Situation's clear now. We can go," they heard him announce over his radio com.

A whistle sounded from the locomotives as the train whirred once again to life. Slowly, the train began to move, and the overhead handlestraps swayed back and forth as the cars accelerated away from the station. They were on their way now.

The train's intercom rang out across the car, announcing the current time, and that it would be about five minutes before the next stop. As usual, the announcement ended with a thanks for riding the City's railroad system. Lockheart stood up from her seat and began walking down the car towards its front.

"Whoa, there," the guard at the front of the car said as Lockheart approached, standing in and blocking the doorway leading to the next car.

"That's okay, I'm just checking the map," Lockheart asserted.

The guard sighed in relief. "Go ahead. Just understand that with what your friend pulled, you'll have to stay in this car until we reach topside."

"Are we under arrest?"

"No, just observation," the guard answered. "We have to make sure you don't disturb anyone else."

Lockheart nodded, then looked back and cast a glance at Cloud. "Hey Cloud, come over here...." Cloud stood up and casually walked over. "Check this out...," Lockheart invited, pointing to the map terminal at this end of the car.

"The map?" Cloud asked as he took a seat at the end, right next to where Lockheart was standing. "I saw it last time...."

Lockheart nodded, slightly deflated. Then she walked over and took a seat just behind Cloud. "That's okay. Say, Cloud...."

"Yes?"

Lockheart paused. "Are you still going to leave once this job's done?"

Cloud nodded. "Yeah. Soon as I get paid for it, I'm outta here."

"Where will you go?"

Cloud shook his head. "I don't know. Someplace... away from the City. I'll figure it out once I get there...."

The guard looked at Cloud strangely. "Excuse me, sir...?"

"Huh?" Cloud glanced back at the guard in uniform. An uncomfortable silence followed as the two traded stares.

"...my apologies," the guard said finally. "You looked familiar, that's all." The guard returned to his post between cars and shut a windowed door behind him.

Cloud shook his head. The guard had acted strangely formal....

Cloud then cast a glance over to Berett, apparently sulking about his having been caught causing trouble. "So Berett, what's our schedule again?"

Berett returned a glance to Cloud. "Serious as always, eh soldier-boy? Ya know most of it already. We'll call Biggs & Wedge once we get to Fourth District. Then we go in, do our business, and go home. Simple as that!"

Cloud frowned. It was too simple.

They felt the train slow a little, as the car's normal lights shut off and as a stream of red lights began to swarm past them outside; they were now in the security checkpoint.

"Here we go...," Berett muttered to himself as the red lights outside strobed by, accompanied by a soft, high-pitched whine of the checkpoint's overhead scanners.

"What're you so worried about, flyer?" Berett asked as he looked to an unusually worried Cloud.

"We have to get off this train...," Cloud muttered.

Soon, the train left the checkpoint and the normal lights switched back on. Did they make it?

No.

An alarm sounded over the train's intercom, accompanied by a dire announcement. "This is a Type One Alert! Suspicious passengers have been confirmed aboard this train; we will initiate a security lockdown starting with the rear car. Authorized passengers will present your identity cards for verification!"

Berett shot to his feet. "Wh... they found us!?"

"Now!" Cloud shouted. "We must get off this train!"

"Okay! Move out!!"

"Nobody move!" The guard shouted in a loud, authoritative tone as he opened the door between cars and entered. He must have been the one to set off the alarm. "I will need to see your ID cards for verification. Remain calm!"

Suddenly something hit the guard from behind and he stumbled forwards into the car. Without waiting to see who or what it was, Cloud pounced upon the guard, tore his rifle away from him, then delivered a sharp kick to knock the guard out.

"Guys!" Shouted a familiar voice from ahead. Jess stood there, quickly unstrapping and unshouldering her package from her backside. "We've got trouble!"

"'Course there's trouble!" Berett shouted back in a reprimanding tone. "Change of plans -- we gotta split!"

Lockheart rushed to the side door of the car and shoved it open. "We can get out here!"

The train lurched as it began to slow for a stop, and the intercom rang out another warning about suspicious passengers in the rear car and a search of the traincars.

"Alright, we're gonna jump here!" Berett shouted. "Jess...!"

"I know, I know," Jess said as she finished strapping the package to Cloud, not unlike their previous mission. She also removed her microphone headset and tossed it to Berett. "Right! Now go!"

Lockheart cast a glance at Berett and Cloud. "Here I go!" She turned towards the open side door and jumped out of the train towards the swiftly-moving tracks outside.

Berett shoved Cloud towards the door. "Jess, you guys take care of yourselves, hear?"

"We'll call when it's clear!" Jess saluted quickly. "Go!"

"We're off!" Berett shouted as he turned to Cloud. "There ain't no turnin' back now, flyer, so ya better be ready!"

"Shouldn't you go first??" Cloud objected. "You're the leader!"

"No time for that, we got a mission to do!" Berett shouted, ramming into Cloud and knocking him clear out of the train towards the tracks outside. Then he jumped too.

= = = = =

The pegasus Cloud was found laying on his side next to the tracks, blood glistening through his feathers and sides.

Are you okay?

Cloud cringed as he tried to get his feet back under him. His back was burning in pain. "I...."

"You shoulda jumped!" It was Berett's voice.

"Damn you... Berett...," Cloud muttered, shaking his head and opening his eyes to look around. The rail tracks were empty now, the train nowhere to be seen; yet echoes from the dusty air ahead alerted them to security personnel out and about some distance uphill, searching for them.

"Cloud!" Called a different voice. Lockheart stood nearby, bruised from her landing but otherwise unharmed. Cloud struggled to get up, but failed this time. Lockheart walked over to give some assistance. "Can you walk?"

"I... I don't think so...," Cloud muttered as he painfully balanced his feet on the ground.

"Ya had better," Berett ordered. "They're searchin' for us ya know...."

"Berett, what did you think you were doing?!" Lockheart reprimanded. "You could've killed him!"

"Tough guy like him?" Berett snapped defensively. "You've gotta be kiddin' me, Lockheart...."

"Berett, I'm serious!" Lockheart struck back. "Oh sure, look at us pegasi, we've got wings, we can glide through the air on 'em... but we can't take the same kind of punishment that you earth ponies can, our bones are too light for that. If we don't land properly, we could easily break something . . . or worse, it could kill us!"

"Phsaw...," Berett stammered.

"Enough...," Cloud said, weakly. "I think I... let's just get moving... shall we?"

"Good to hear!" Berett exclaimed. "We're gettin' a move on!"

Berett looked around. The rusted tracks stretched uphill to the right, and through the thick air they could see beams of flashlight and hear voices. To the left led downhill, a less appealing prospect were it not the only way they could escape the patrols uphill. "That way!"

Berett led the way downhill, while Lockheart helped Cloud to follow after them. About fifty paces downhill, a flight of open-grate metal stairs seemed to materialize out of the thick air. Berett led the way climbing up the rusted, creaky steps as Lockheart almost carried Cloud along behind them. Not only would the stairs save them a long lap around the City's central pillar, but it would greatly increase their chances of getting away unseen.

Berett waited at the top of these stairs as Lockheart and Cloud carefully trudged upwards, one hoof at a time. Another stairway of similar quality led farther upwards.

Cloud fell to the ground as soon as he finished with the stairs. "Ugh...."

"Can't ya keep up?" Berett asked impatiently.

Cloud shuddered. "Berett.... my wings, I think -- OW!"

Cloud winced as Lockheart gently lifted one of his wings, then set it back down. "No good, they're broken...," Lockheart declared, gazing angrily at Berett. Berett shrugged and looked away. "And still bleeding. We have to do something about it, now."

Berett stomped. "Not until we at least get to the next level, we don't! They're bound to come up the stairs after us...."

"Where . . . are we, anyway?" Cloud asked.

"Dunno. Judging by the view, I'd say we're over Third District somewheres...."

"We have to something about Cloud, now," Lockheart insisted.

"Lockheart...," Gloud muttered. "In my pack, there's a..."

"Right!" Lockheart said as Cloud gagged, almost throwing up. Immediately she took Cloud's pack and began nosing through it. "Looks like your wings aren't the only things broken...."

In a short moment Lockheart found and withdrew a small vial containing about one gulp of clear blue liquid. "Ah! This...."

"Yeah...," Cloud said, weakly. Lockheart popped open the top of the vial and gave it to Cloud. Cloud took it and quaffed its one dose. The taste of it was horrible, and Cloud gagged again, trying to not simply spew the ungodly medicine back out. Its glass vial dropped to the tracks and rolled downhill a short distance, and Cloud swallowed hard to force it down.

Berett cringed. "Nasty stuff... aren't they?"

Cloud coughed again as he carefully stood up to his feet. "Supposed to taste bad... keeps the kids from drinking 'em... when they don't need to...."

"Do those potions even work?" Berett asked in doubt.

Cloud nodded. "In time... yes... so let's keep moving."

Lockheart smiled, and Berett nodded. "Okay, we keep climbing, put some distance between us 'n the patrols. Jess should be contactin' us once they're safe, so we gotta get into position."

Berett led the way uphill while Lockheart helped Cloud move uphill. About twenty paces up the slope they encountered another old, rusty set of maintenance stairs and they climbed. Cloud, his strength now starting to return, faired much better climbing this stairway than the last.

Onwards and upwards they climbed, from one tier of railroad tracks to the next. Through the course of ten minutes they ascended, becoming higher and farther away from the seucirty dispatched from the train. About twice they spotted a train running along its rails, once uphill and then downhill the next. Even though they were now level with the underside of the City's great plate and its maintenance entryways, they heard no sounds from the Upper City except for the occasional train.

Then, amidst the silence a voice crackled in from nearby. "Come in! Berett, pick up!"

Berett perked up and looked around, momentarily forgetting that Jess had given him her radio headset. As two and two clicked, Berett shrugged sheepishly, and then tapped against the headset. "Jess, you guys okay?"

"We're safe, for now," came Jess's reply. "How about you?"

Berett looked back at Lockheart, and at Cloud who had by now regained most of his walking and fighting strength. "Thanks for the concern but we don't need it," Berett answered. "What's your situation?"

"We're in the Park, safe for the moment. There are Rin Sha patrols at all major intersections. They know we're nearby, but they don't know just where."

Berett nodded. "What d'ya think tipped them off?"

"You guys did," Jess responded over the headset. "I overheard security filing a report for a suspicious blue pegasus on board...."

Berett glared at Cloud, but instead of pinning blame, he simply shook his head and sighed.

Cloud shrugged.

"So how're the patrols up there? An' what about the Refractors?"

"They've fortified troops around the entrances to each one. With the train pulled over where it was, they're betting that we'll be striking somewhere in or near Third District."

"Looks like we gotta improvise...," Berett huffed.

"Right. Where are you guys?"

"Well, we're on the tracks just short of the Plate. Don't know which rails though." Berett looked at Cloud and Lockheart. "Hey, you flyers figure out where we are, will ya?"

Lockheart ran across the tracks to the outer scaffolding that divided their area from the empty, dusty air covering the Slumps far below. She looked left and right out in the distance for a minute, searching for some kind of sighting, a landmark to identify their position by.

Cloud, meanwhile, simply looked up and around for any types of signs or labels to identify their location.

"Well?" Berett asked.

Cloiud spotted something next to the stairs they had ascended from. "Sublevel 2, Rail B -- West Access Stairs. What does that mean?"

"Did ya copy that, Jess?" Berett asked across his headset.

"It's no good," Lockheart shook her head as she turned around and walked back from the edge. "The smog's too thick. I can't tell where we are from here."

Jess's voice broke over the headset. "I've got it! According to what Cloud said... on that rail at that level . . . you're right below us! Fifth District!"

"Alrighty!" Berett exclaimed. "You guys go and scout out the Refractor for us. Jess, see if you can hack us an entrance... we're goin' in!"

= = = = =

Some time later, within the depths of the Fifth District Refractor, burst open an old, worn metal grate covering an intake shaft. The first to pile out was Cloud; second, came Berett; and Lockheart tailed behind their group, with their handmade explosive device secure in its carrying pouch, strapped on her back. The odor of unpleasant gases filled this conduit- and control- laden room as the trio stepped on to metal catwalks through which they could see the glowing liquid fuel of the Refractor's core.

Berett paged Jess across their headsets. "Good plannin', Jess, we're in. How's your end?"

Oddly, there was no answer.

"Jess, ya copy?" Berett demanded.

"Jess said this would happen, didn't she?" Cloud answered. "A Refractor's core is heavily shielded because of the energies. The radio signal can't penetrate it...."

"...Dammit all," Berett snorted. "How're we supposed to find an exit now?"

Cloud looked around and spotted a familiar-looking staircase leading to a level lower down. "Berett, follow me."

"What, you wanna lead?"

"It looks like this Refractor's built the same way as the last one. Remember?" Cloud said, pointing down to the lower-level catwalk, and up to a mass of conduits.

Berett looked around. "Yeah... it looks like it does. Okay, let's move on down then!"

The three rebels descended the metal staircase towards the lower level of the Refractor, in so doing drawing nearer to the glowing depths beneath it. At the bottom of the stairs, Cloud led left towards a pumping station in an adjacent antechamber. Cloud stood in front of the machine while Berett took up a position to the side, and Lockheart guarded the rear.

"I don't like this place...," Lockheart complained as she unshouldered the explosive from her back and handed it to Cloud.

"I know," Cloud nodded, taking the package. He set it down underneath the station's control panel, next to one of its main energy conduits, unzipped and opened the pack to reveal the explosive and timer contained within. Taking its straps, he secured it to a few smaller pipes underneath the control panel, and pulled them taut. Then he found and inserted the bomb's key. A timer reading '15:50' appeared, shimmering.

Cloud blinked several times and looked at the display again. No, it read '15:00'. Cloud glanced to Berett. "Looks like Jess us gave some extra time for this one."

Berett nodded momentarily before resuming his glancing about the room for any foes. "We'll probably need it. Who knows what we'll run into on the way out? Let's just set it, and get the hell out of here."

Cloud nodded, his mind hazing slightly from the fumes in this level of the Refractor. "Okay. Fifteen minutes... on my mark...."

Cloud reached for the key on the bomb to turn it. But as soon as he lay his grip on the bomb's key, a headache sprouted in his mind, filling his ears in a high-pitched whine. Cloud's vision flooded, and then went out, and he lost consciousness.

"Cloud--!" Lockheart shouted.

Cloud. Cloud....

Sephiroth. The Rin Sha. Refractors. Out of the fumes and through Cloud's mind they drifted, combining with his memories to conjur up a gruesome scene where a young quadroped lay in the middle, crying and bemoaning they who had gone before....

And then Cloud felt something hit him on the side of the head. "--Wha?" Cloud came to with a start, scrambling back onto his feet. He looked around. To his left stood an annoyed Berett, and to his right a concerned Lockheart. "Lockheart...?"

"What the hell was that?" Berett demanded.

"Are you okay?" Lockheart asked.

Cloud shook his head. "No. ...the smell. We can't stay here, it's making me sick...."

"Then finish up with the bomb, and then we can get outta here!"

Cloud nodded, trying to ignore the still-nauseating smell surrounding him. Grabbing the key on the bomb, he turned it a quarter-circle and then wrenched it free. The display of the bomb changed to read '15:10' and it counted down each second with a beep.

"Okay, fifteen minutes...," Cloud said, as the bomb ticked away the ten seconds. When its display ticked past '15:00', it emitted a longer, louder beep and proceeded to count down from there. "...Go."

"Anything?" Lockheart asked to Berett as he finished looking up, down, left, and right for perhaps the seventh time in a row.

"No, fortunately. Now let's get outta here!"

Berett motioned for Cloud to lead. Their path was a straightforward one; climb out of the core station on it stairways and conduits, then find the elevator for the ground floor. With any luck they might avoid alerting the Refractor's patrols or security to their presence.

Or, set it off and have to fight their way to ground level and out, like last time.

= = = = =

It took nearly ten minutes of slow plodding, peering around corners, and preparing to engage whatever threat might present itself, before the three rebels arrived at the ground-level floor of the Refractor complex. The silence grew louder with every intersection they passed. Not once had they encountered any worker or secrity personnel. Not once did they need to engage a foe in combat. By now the silence was unbearable, and yet the exit so close at hand.

"No! Not the front door!" Cloud hushed as they crawled their way to the front office, also deserted.

"What are ya thinkin'?" Berett answered.

"We haven't encountered any resistance at all on this mission. Isn't that a little... strange? We open that door, there'll be the entire Rin Sha military for us on the other side!"

"What else should we do? We got maybe five minutes, and then fer all we know this place'll go up in flames like the last one!"

"The emergency exit on floor two, like last time! We can escape there?"

"But what if they're expecting that?" Lockheart asked.

"...Huh?"

"We saw last night's news. They spotted you guys fleeing along the fire-escape route just before the complex blew. Won't they expect us to take the same route this time, and station their forces out there?"

"Ummm...," Berett paused. "Makes sense, I guess... we gotta try something different then!"

"No, we can't," Cloud insisted. "If they saw us escape from the upper level last time, they'll be anticipating us plotting a different escape route this time. They won't expect us to do the same thing again. We take the upper exit...."

"Or, they think we'll try the same thing twice, because it worked the first time. And we'd be better off leaving through this way!"

"The Rin Sha wouldn't think that far ahead...."

"Forget about it!" Berett shouted. "We could argue 'bout it all day, but fact is we got only five or so minutes before that bomb goes, and we can't risk bein' around with another big explosion like the last one! I say we're takin' this way out!"

Berett shoved open the front door to the Refractor complex, then stood aside as it swung open. Sounds of normal City business entered from outside to fill the silence. After a moment, Berett peeked through the door to see an empty catwalk, wide enough for perhaps three ponies to walk side by side, stretching across the chasm that separated the Refractor from its neighboring District.

The coast was clear. Berett trotted outside, and Lockheart quickly followed. Cloud took up the rear, glancing from side to side for possible enemies, yet seeing none. They crossed the catwalk to a four-way intersection, bridging to the right and left, and straight ahead as well.

It was a clear shot, Cloud tried to convince himself as they escaped. But he couldn't shake the suspicion that it had been far too easy.

He was right. Suddenly, two squads of about five Rin Sha soldiers apiece burst out from the left and right ends of the catwalk, laser rifles drawn. Four more sprang from hiding at the far end of the catwalk. As the thre rebels skidded to a stop to contemplate this situation, two more appeared from the rear, exiting through the front door of the Refractor.

"I knew it!" Cloud shouted out as they looked around, shining dots from the rifles' sights drawn across the three of them.

"Just like I told you, Mr. President," came a deep voice from behind. The three rebels turned around to see the two ponies behind them. One of them wore a black suit with one badge on it, perhaps a namebadge; and the other one wore a distinctive red suit.

The red-suited pony chuckled. "Yes, just like you predicted they would... three little rats walking right into our little trap. You have my congratulations for making it in to the Refractor complex before being spotted. Of course, you didn't quite it out. Pardon my horrible memory, but what did you call yourselves?"

"Mighty-fine memory ya got there, Mister President. The name's Snowslide!"

The President nodded. "Well, I can hardly be expected to keep up with the names of all our enemies, especially when most of them don't live that long. But... now that I mention it, where are others? There were at least five of you...."

"What others?" Berett lied.

"And then there's you...." The president directed his attention towards Cloud. "The traitor. There's no mistake, you still bear the mark of Stallion. Why then did you choose to betray us and abet these criminals? You do know how treason earns the penalty of death!"

"None of that means nothin' now!" Berett shouted. "Ya got three minutes, an' then this whole place'll be going down in a huge BANG!"

The president laughed. "Honestly, all those fireworks... you rats are stupider than we thought...."

"Shut up, you!" Berett snapped back. "You Rin Sha are fattenin' yourselves up while you drain the Land dry... you're the real vermin 'round here! Hell, look up the word 'vermin' sometime; it's got YOUR ugly mug right beside it!"

The President yawned as a Rin Sha helicopter began to fly in. "I grow weary of all this prattle... you will excuse me, for I have a lunch to attend."

"Mister President!" Cloud shouted.

"What could you possibly want, traitor? First Sephiroth, now you?"

"...Sephiroth?"

"Oh yes. Such a brilliant soldier, he was. Too much so for his own good. Such a shame he never returned from that last mission...."

"Don't you be goin' anywhere yet!" Berett shouted back.

"Affairs of state beckon, not like you would understand...." The president dismissed as the helicopter descended to his level. A passenger inside opened one of its doors, then the President and the black-suited guard next to him both hopped on board. The President turned around to see the rebels one last time. "But don't you worry. I did make certain... accommodations for your foolishness...."

The president signalled the soldiers at the far end of the catwalk. "Bring it in!" They shouted. Immediately the soldiers backed up, creating an opening through which the rebels could have escaped, were they not in the sights of several laser rifles at once.

A strange vehicle drove onto the catwalk, just barely small enough to fit on it. It was hard to idnetify exactly what the vehicle was, hovering on four individual pads.

"Meet the latest prototype to come out of our Weapons division -- 'Trojan', we call it. The time has come for its first field test...."

The President shut the door ot his helicopter, and the pilot lifted the aircraft up into the City's polluted air. Behind them, they watched as the vehicle drew closer.

The two squads of soldiers on the sides retreated from the area, shutting and locking the exit doors behind them. With the bomb down in the Refractor ticking away, there was only one escape route, and it was currently blocked by the large mechanical thing in front of them.

Two red lights blinked on on the front side of the machine. Slowly, a piece on the front shifted and extended forwards, revealing itself as a simple head, with two red optical sensors to scan the perimeter. The armor on the vehicle's sides flipped open, revealing two shoulder-mounted grenade cannons, while the armor plates themselves folded up and back, into the shape of wings. The bulk of the machine lifted itself up off of its base hoverpads, revealing articulated, jointed, yet armored struts that served as legs, with its hoverpads acting as feet.

The robotic prototype looked at them, as if sizing them up for battle. Instinctively Cloud drew his sword for action as they stared back to the eight-foot tall, almost pegasus-shaped mecha hovering quietly in front of them.

It seemed to want them to make the first move. Berett braced himself and unsheathed the laser cannon in his right foreleg. Charging it up to medium power, he took aim at the obsidian-colored foe and unleashed a fair burst.

Berett's blast left little more than a dent on its night-black armor. The robot seemed to examine the spot on its front right hoverpad for damage. Then it hovered backwards for a few feet, laser designators illuminating the intersection where the three rebels stood upon.

"Scatter!" Cloud shouted alout. The three rebels fled across the three remaining branches from the intersection; Cloud left, Berett right, and Lockheart straight back. Their timing was perfect, for from the Trojan's two shoulder-mounted launchers it fired a pair of grenades at their location. The two projectiles flew through the air in a second and impacted the intersection between catwalks in a large explosion. Tiny bits of shrapnel flew in all directions, grazing across the rebels, as the prototype weapon suddenly charged into the center of the area.

The beast looked right and left, then focused on Lockheart. It folded back the front two panels on its front two hoverpads, revealing rows of deadly spikes, each about one foot in length. Both pegasi realized what it was planning to do. Cloud had an idea, and focused on one of the gems mounted in his sword. Moments later, in a burst of blue light and enregy Cloud unleashed a lightning bolt that seared straight through the air into the metal Trojan's armor. It dissipated into the leg, and the hovering mecha appeared to stumble; the bolt had succeeded in frying the hover systems on that leg. The beast reordered its remaining three pad st omaintain balance, and then charged Lockheart's position.

Lockheart was, of course, not without escape. With her own wings she launched herself about twelve feet into the air as the machine charged underneath her, crashing into the entrance of the Refractor complex. Lockheart landed squarely on its back. Her own fighting style would not prove effective against this thick armor, so she searched her inventory for a weapon of sufficient strength. She found it -- one small gem, a magic gem, of her own posession. Instantly Lockheart used it, focusing on it, and them summoning to life the powers contained within. The air around her grew cold, and she jumped away as ice appeared and glazed itself across the machine's armor.

Lockheart landed in the damaged intersection of the catwalks as the machine turned around to face its three opponents. Its strategy seemed a cautious one, and it approached slowly, as if expecting them to do something.

"Lockheart, catch!" Berett shouted, tossing the small gem Cloud had handed him earlier in the morning to Lockheart. Lockheart caught it and wasted no time securing it in an empty compartment on her leg brace. Identifying what it was, Lockheart rushed forwards and attacked, focusing the power of that gem into her attack. Lockheart somersaulted and impacted the beast hooves first, and a pillar of fire erupted from the point of impact.

A piece of the prototype's armor fell to the catwalks, jolted free from its housing by the force of her attack. Lockheart backed up as the Trojan quietly assessed its damage. So far the injuries were superficial, but without its front plate of armor, there was now an open hole through which its opponents could strike.

The robot looked again at the three rebels.

Playtime was over.

The robot charged up its hoverpads to maximum power, and in a downdraft of air it blasted free of the catwalks into the air. Ascending to a distance of twenty feet, it focused its target spotters on the catwalk.

"Let's get outta here!" Berett shouted as Lockheart began running back towards them. But analyzing the machine's position, now as it began to descend and accelerate, Cloud anticipated its next move.

"Lockheart, duck!" Cloud ordered. Without hesitating, Lockheart dived to the floor, as the Trojan dove in and flew to the opposite end of the catwalk. Any higher, and it would have taken Lockheart's head off from the impact. The aircraft ascended again, and turned around to make another attack.

There was no time for thanks as Lockheart regained her footing. The three rebels met at the center intersection of the catwalk as the machine began to drift closer.

"We can't hit it at this range!" Berett shouted.

"That's what it wants," Cloud muttered, still keeping an eye on their airborne foe. "We have to -- oh hell, look out!"

The rebels glanced upwards in time to see the machine firing its grenade cannons blindly, for a scatter effect. Alarmed, Berett ran towards safe ground on the front exit pathway. Lockheart followed, while Cloud remained behind. He had an idea.

Grenades exploded to the right, left, and behind Cloud as he prepared for his next attack. In moments Cloud summoned to life a second arc of electrical energy that cut through the air, jumping from one incoming grenade to the next as it carved a line ofexplosions from his position up towards the airborne attacker. The electricity failed to strike any sensitive control circuits on the Trojan, but it seemed to home in on an ammunitions cache or something, and triggered a large explosion from the direction of their attacker.

Shrapnel fell down and around the area as Berett and Lockheart cheered. Cloud, though, knew it wasn't over. No machine built by a skilled Weapons division would fall to such a simple oversight. And Cloud's concerns were answered when the jet-black monster descended tothe roof of an adjacent building, with a clear view of the intersecting catwalks that formed their arena.

Cloud examined the prototype Trojan, its lefthand wing damaged beyond repair, but the rest of the beast still dangerously functional. The machine unveiled a new weapon, a pair of machine guns. Cloud saw them and bolted left, back towards the entrance to the Refractor complex, as the Trojan sprayed a shower of molten lead across the catwalk, perforating through it like paper, ripping up the branches leading to the smaller, side exits from the complex. Only one viable path remained; straight out, in the direction of Cloud's two comrades.

Cloud was about to make a dash for it when a bright energy beam sliced through in front of him, searing into and weakening the catwalks nearby. Cloud looked up back at the Trojan to see its final weapon, a high-caliber energy cannon not unlike that of the Scorpion they had encountered previously. The Trojan quickly turned in Cloud's direction, its machine guns ready to fire, and Cloud scattered in a mad dash towards his comrades on safe ground.

At first, luck was with him, as the Trojan pursued him with a line of machine-gun fire that ate through and devoured the path behind him, bits and pieces of loose metal descending into the abyss of the Slumps far beneath. Cloud continued running, jumping over the bullet-riddled gap in the center intersection of the walkways. The Trojan ceased fire for a moment, but Cloud continued running.

It wasn't much farther to safe ground. But, having not paid attention to what the machine was planning, Cloud was taken by surprise when the walkway suddenly jolted from a huge impact and dipped dangerously. Cloud stumbled and fell onto the catwalk, getting to his feet just in time to see that the Trojan had forcefully jumped and pounded down onto the catwalk in an impact exceeding the damaged walkways' safety limits. Cloud could feel the walkway dipping further, its understruts creaking and stretching. The walks would break under the force of the prototype's weight, and he needed to escape.

Cloud scrambled to his feet and began to run across the collapsing passageway. It dipped a second time, andCloud stumbled, as the Trojan lifted itself skywards with its hover engines. It was only about ten more feet to his comrades, as Cloud continued running.

Cloud skidded to a halt as the Trojan fired its energy cannon in front of Cloud, raking across the catwalks ahead of him, slcing through its metal grating and supports. The heated metal came loose with a loud snap, and Cloud could see the damaged, collapsing walkways he still stood upon. As it bent underneath the weight of its own framing, Cloud collected his courage and jumped the remainder of the distance to his comrades.

It would have been a lot easier if his wings still worked, Cloud thought, as he stumbled, just barely landing on the edge of the catwalks near his comrades. Because his was a rough landing, an unstable one. Cloud's hind feet slipped and he fell to the platform, only his front legs remaining topside. His rear legs had nothing except air to stand on, and Cloud knew the precariousness of this situation. If he could not climb up, his own weight would pull him down from where he now hung, and he would fall to his death.

Cloud cursed his broken wings, which only gave him pain as he tried to no avail to force himself upwards. He was slipping, and soon gravity would release his grip from what he now clung to.

"Cloud!" Lockheart shouted as she began to run towards him. But their airborne opponent, as if anticipating this, separated them by a wall of bullet fire, sending Lockheart backwards, screaming.

Instinctively, Cloud flinched and recoiled from the force of bullets impacting the ground in front of him. As gravity vanished from his senses, Cloud realized the error of his reaction.

He was now in freefall.

"No... CLOUD!!" Lockheart shouted after him. Cloud knew he was beyond help; no pegasi had ever rescued another from the clutches of gravity, and they still had to deal with the obsidian killer.

The last thing Cloud saw as he fell through the City's smog was an explosion issuing forth from the Refractor complex. Cloud could neither tell the strength nor power of it, and in his current predicament it would make no difference either way. For the first time in his life, he was powerless to save himself from such a fall, and in fear he knew that, regardless of what was waiting for him at the bottom, the impact would kill him. Cloud shut his eyes, fearing for what lay below, just before the sudden crash of his falling body plowing into something tore his mind out of consciousness.

Author's Notes:

While the previous chapters are now second revisions, this is actually the first revision to this chapter. For some reason, this version seemed to take forever, and I am still not quite satisfied myself with the way it turned out.

Of the things I wanted to change for this version, one was the reason why they had to evacuate the train. In the original game, Jessie never fully explained what the problem with Cloud's ID card was, and in fact she didn't need to, since Barret already knew that their fake ID's wouldn't work anymore. I also didn't like how in the original game, when the alarms went off, Barret jumped up with a "What the hell's goin' on?", when moments earlier he clearly stated that they would be jumping the train.

One element new to this revision was that when Berett shoved Cloud out of the train (which is true to my original draft), the impact of Cloud's awkward landing breaks boith of his wings, plus gives him a number of internal injuries. Lockheart explains the price they must pay for being pegasi, and Cloud is left unable to use his wings for the remainder of the chapter.

Another new element was the use of a healing potion. In the original games, it is never explained exactly how potions work, and the visuals of one character tossing it up into the air, and the recipient being bathed in a shower of sparkles and HP restoration simply doesn't cut it. If you haven't noticed already, in this tale, potions are not suitable for use in combat. Designed to be quaffed, these healing potions are used to heal internal injuries only, and even then it takes time for them to work. There are other forms of healing medicines in this story, but those will be introduced strictly on a need-to-know basis.

I may give this chapter another revision in the future since I'm not entirely satisfied with how it turned out right now. As usual, any comments or suggestions are much appreciated.

For the next chapter, while Lockheart and Berett must finish their battle against the Trojan and escape to safety, what on earth happens to Cloud after that fall?

Disclaimer:
Final Fantasy 7, its original characters, and its original plot are, of course, productions of Squaresoft Inc. (now Square Enix, LLC). And My Little Pony is a trademark of Hasbro, Inc.