Author's Note: This story has started off a little slow, but I'm starting to get some ideas now, so it should pick up a little bit in the next couple of chapters.
X-Over: Well, they're not quite there yet, but we'll get back to them soon. They'll most likely take it well, after all, how much worse can life get when you're a starving, chronically broke cowboy?
Zinkata and White-Oleanders-Back: Thanks for the reviews. It keeps a guy going.
Comments/criticism are the stuff of life.
Tifa looked out over the ruins of the once-proud city. Midgar was still massive, though most of it lay in ruins. It had been constructed of twin plates, one set in the earth, and the other resting on giant pillars some thirty stories tall. Beneath lay the slums; deprived of sunlight and weather, the only sky the people living there ever knew was the steel underbelly of the plate above. The only light they saw was the fluorescent, neon, and halogen glows of the hundreds of lights and signs. It had once been a fad to wrap Christmas lights, scavenged from the thousands of junk piles, around every signpost, chain, and column around. It had been a pretty sight in an ugly reality. Beneath the plate, it was a dog-eat-dog world, and to the victor went the spoils. Gangs, whores, pimps, and lowlife scum were everywhere, menacing the ordinary population who were simply too poor to move to a better place.
The upper plate was where the rich folk lived. Overseeing it all was the massive Shin-Ra Inc. building, a massive edifice seventy stories tall and employing half the folk in Midgar. AVALANCHE had stormed it twice, first in an effort to rescue their friend Aeris, then to disable the Sister Ray, a cannon so massive it dwarfed even the Shin-Ra building and required the power of the entire city to fire.
Now, though, Midgar was utterly destroyed. The first plate to fall had been over Sector 7, the location of AVALANCHE's base. It had been dropped by order of President Shin-Ra himself, and though it didn't kill AVALANCHE, it did kill nearly a thousand innocents. The rest of the damage had come from an attack by Diamond WEAPON and the clash between Meteor and Holy. They had left the city in rubble, with five of the eight plates collapsed and the top of the Shin-Ra building snapped off, leaving girders and support structure sticking up into the air like skeletal fingers.
Now, though, the Shin-Ra building sported a new addition. Something massive had slammed into it halfway up its remaining height. The bit they could see sticking out of the remaining structure was the oddest thing any of them had ever seen. The end had nozzles like Cid's rocket, but there the resemblance ended. The top was flattened, but the bottom curved around like the keel of a boat. The object looked to have destroyed several floors upon impact. The devastation was impressive.
"Damn." Barret said with heartfelt awe. Cloud added an appreciative whistle. Tifa agreed with them. This made AVALANCHE's bombing the reactors back when they were a terrorist organization look like child's play. Peeling his eyes away from the awesome spactacle, Cloud heeled his bird down the slope, and Tifa and Barret followed. The terrain was rough, requiring constant attention. Plants still refused to grow around the city because of the drain on the Planets' resources from the Mako reactors. Pebbles were everywhere, forcing the birds to occasionally flutter their wings in an effort to stay upright. Eventually, though, they reached the bottom and rode over to where Cid had parked the Tiny Bronco. They dismounted, and Cid took the cigarette out of his mouth and ground it out on his boot heel.
"'Bout time you got here. We'll go in as soon as you're ready." Cid stated. His voice was even, but he hadn't cursed even once. Tifa could tell he was as shocked by the devastation as she was. Maybe more, because as a pilot, he had a clearer idea of what an impact like that would be like. Suddenly, she had to wonder if they were going to find anything alive in there after all, and, if they did, if it wouldn't be kinder to just put it out of its misery.
They tied the reins of the chocobos to the plane's landing gear and moved to the edge of the city. Even in a state of total disrepair, the massive wall surrounding the city was still intact, so they had chosen to meet at the gate to Sector 5, a great thing of steel and hydraulics that required a key card to enter. Cloud pulled out the card they had recovered from an archaeological dig and swiped it through the card reader. Nothing happened. He sighed.
"It figures." He pocketed the card again and turned back to the others. "Power's out. We're going to have to find another way in. Fan out and search for cracks in the wall. Barret, I want you to go with Cid and Red. Cait, Tifa, you're with me. Call if you find something."
They all nodded their understanding and moved off. Cloud and Tifa hadn't gone much more than a mile before the PHS rang. Tifa picked it up.
"Hello?" It was Barret.
"We found one that should work. It's over by Sector Three."
"Okay, we're near Sector Seven now. Give us half an hour."
"Will do." They hung up, and Tifa put the phone away.
"What's up?" Cloud asked.
"They found one in Sector Three."
"Okay, let's go."
The crack in question traveled the entire height of the wall. The problem was that the only part wide enough to pass through was only high enough to crawl through. Red looked at it, and then considered his friends. Cid would be able to pass, though he wouldn't be happy about it, but Barret would find it a tight squeeze. Cid was frowning at it too. Anyone crawling through that hole would be horribly vulnerable to a waiting predator as they exited. Anyone, that is, except a creature that traveled on all fours normally.
"Cid, I'm going to go scout the other side." Cid took a long drag on his cigarette, gazing at Red over the glowing ember. He held the smoke in for a moment, but never broke his gaze until finally he turned his head to the side and exhaled.
"Alright. Just be careful." Red nodded, and Cid took another drag. "Oh, and Red?"
Red turned his head back from the wall.
"Take these." Cid held up a yellow and a purple orb. Red nodded, recognizing them. Cid snapped them into catches on the lion-beast's hairpin, and then stepped back. Red shook his mane to check the fit and, satisfied, moved into the crack and disappeared.
The wall was incredibly thick. It took several steps for Red to reach the end of the crack. He was pleased to see that it opened up at the end. It would allow the others to emerge in a somewhat more defensible crouch. Stopping at the opening, Red sniffed the air. He smelled concrete, steel, oil, and a faint whiff of something organic, but not strong enough to identify. Cautiously, he slipped from the wall to a nearby pile of tumbled concrete, careful to stay in the shadows. He tested the air again. Still nothing. Good. He moved outward from the pile along the wall, stopping every so often to test the air. He found nothing, and no evidence that anything had been there recently. He went back to the hole and called back to Cid and Barret.
"Coast's clear."
Cid's voice floated back to him, wierdly distorted by the concrete. "Stay put. Barret's coming through, and I'm going to wait for the others. Soon as they get here, we'll go."
"Okay." Red turned his attention back to his surroundings. It didn't seem like there were any threats nearby, but in this place a lack of vigilance often led to a swift death. Soon, his keen hearing picked up the sounds of a large individual moving through the confined space. Moments later, Barret emerged from the hole, huffing and puffing and covered in dust. He stood up and dusted himself off. Red coughed, choking on the dust. Barret waved his gun-arm, trying unsuccessfully to disperse the dust.
"Sorry, Red." He apologized as the cloud finally dispersed.
"It's not a problem." Red said, wiping his tearing eyes with a paw. Curses, but sometimes having such keen senses was a nuisance! "Though I do think I will stand upwind when Cait comes through here."
Barret chuckled. "So, have you seen anything?"
Red shook his head. "Nothing. I can't pick up a scent any fresher than last week, either. It's like everything just got up and left."
"Hmm, what could make a bunch of the nastiest critters on the Planet just get up and take off like that?"
"Whatever it is, I sure don't want to meet it."
Tifa was glad to see Sector Three come into view. Midgar was not a small city, even in its diminished state, and they had walked nearly all the way around it. Cid was standing near a crack in the wall, smoking as usual, his spear up against his shoulder.
"Glad you could make it." He said around the cigarette. "It's a tight squeeze, so we should have Mr. Big, Fuzzy, and Immune to Pain here go first."
Cait hopped forward. He eyeballed the crack, decided he would just barely fit, and turned back to Cid. "The cards tell me that you should be nicer to your friends or great misfortune will befall you."
"Just get in there, you $#& cat." Cait gave him a raspberry, and with that, his cat body hopped off his mog body's head and strolled into the opening. The mog followed it in, and they soon heard rustlings and small pops issuing from the crack. Cloud raised an eyebrow at Cid, who only shrugged and looked at him as if to say, 'don't look at me, I don't know any more than you do.' Soon enough, the sounds ceased, and Barret called back for the next. Cloud looked at Tifa.
"Ladies first?" he asked.
"Um, no, you go on ahead." She replied, suddenly mindful of the short skirt she was wearing. Cloud shrugged and turned to Cid. "Flip for it?"
Cid pulled out a lighter. On one side was a picture of the Highwind. "Plane side up, you go first."
Cloud nodded, and the lighter went up, came down, and was caught by Cid, who promptly slapped it down on the back of his hand. Pulling his hand away, they saw that it had landed with the picture up. Cid grinned. Cloud shrugged and crawled into the hole. Cid looked at Tifa.
"After you, I insist." Cid had also noticed Tifa's skirt. He pulled his eyes away from her legs quickly, but not quite quickly enough. Tifa saw his eyes wander, and felt the heat rising in her cheeks. She pointed at the crack and put as much steel in her voice as she could muster.
"Move it, flyboy." Cid shrugged, gave her a 'You know I had to try' look, and crawled inside. She waited until she couldn't hear him anymore, and got down on her own hands and knees. Crawling inside, she saw what had caused the popping sounds she'd heard before. Cait was so strong that when he came to a place where the concrete was too small for him to pass, he had simply kept going, breaking it off as he went. As a result, the passage floor was littered with dust and small bits of sharp rock. It was slow and painful going, but eventually she felt the sunlight on her hair again. As soon as her shoulders cleared the wall, two pairs of strong arms grabbed her arms and hauled her out, setting her on her feet. She blinked in the sudden brightness and dusted herself off. Looking around, she saw that they were all gathered together. Red was crouched on a tumbled pile of rocks upwind of them, and Cid was examining their surroundings while pointedly not looking at her. She looked around. Sector Three had once been Midgar's primary power management station and a prime future target for AVALANCHE. Now, however, the plate had broken free and now lay twisted and bent looking for all the world like a pizza slice with too many toppings and not enough crust. The good news was that a massive pipe leading into the bowels of the Shin-Ra building had been ruptured by the ruin of the plate, giving them easy access, and the plate itself would allow them to simply walk up to it. The bad news was that if it was easy for them to get to, it was easy for everything to get to.
"Red, what does your nose tell you?" Cloud spoke up. Except for AVALANCHE, it was deserted, and eerily quiet. Tifa was expecting some quiet while the local predators decided whether or not they were worth eating, but this sounded like they were the only living things in the entire city. The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand up.
"I don't smell anything fresher than last week, and we haven't heard or seen anything living since we got here." The lion-beast answered with a shrug. Cloud's mouth drew into a grim line. To say the least, the situation was highly unusual.
"All right. Seems like today is our lucky day. Red, I want you in front. Warn us if something changes. Tifa, I want you to follow him. Next are Cait and Barret, and Cid and I will bring up the rear. Everyone got Materia?" He received a chorus of agreement. "Good. Eyes open, let's get going. I want to see what's in that office building."
The pipe was immense. It was nearly two stories tall and rusting. The torn edges were still sharp, though, as Barret discovered, nicking himself on the way in. He hissed in surprise. Cid noticed and turned around. He saw the blood on Barret's arm.
"What'cha got there?"
Barret shook his head. "Nothin.' Edges are sharp, that's all."
Cid grabbed the arm and looked at the cut. It was long and shallow, cutting across the side of Barret's bicep and tricep. Normally, it wasn't worth worrying about. However, the rust on the pipe raised questions of tetanus. Cid pulled out the first aid kit. Since Aeris' death, Cid had become the primary medic of the group, his days in the Shin-Ra air force leaving him as the most qualified among them. Barret tried to pull away when he saw the kit come out.
"Hey, I don't need any of that. It's just a scratch." Cid didn't relent.
"Yeah, it's a scratch with rusty metal. So sit down and shut up, or I'll have to have Cait sit on you." Barret grumbled, but he held still. Cid swabbed antiseptic on the arm, and then pulled out a small hypodermic needle. Pulling off the cover, he swiftly jabbed it into Barret's arm and depressed the plunger, injecting the contents into the larger man's bloodstream. Barret hissed in pain.
"Shaddup, baby." Cid muttered around his cigarette, tossing the used syringe into a small metal container. Pulling out some gauze and medical tape, he quickly bound the wound. When he finished, the tossed the medical kit back into his pack. Barret flexed the arm and decided that he still had a full range of movement. The others were waiting for them expectantly. Cid signaled to Cloud that he was finished, and they proceeded down the tunnel. As they went in, the light dwindled, eventually becoming nearly dark. Barret, Tifa, and Cloud pulled flashlights out of their packs and turned them on. Cid attached a smaller version of the same to his goggles. A few moments later, Red's voice floated back to them.
"Hey, come see this." The group advanced until they could see him. He indicated the wall. There in the rust were several deep grooves. They looked like something had dragged some very sharp claws across the surface of the metal. From the size, whatever it was, it was nearly twice their size. Cid whistled in appreciation.
"Big son of a #$, ain't it?" Red nodded.
"I would estimate it stands three and a half meters tall. Not only that, but look at the marks. There's not even a hint of rust in them. They were made in the last week."
Cloud voiced the question that they were all thinking. "Is it still here?"
Red sniffed the air again. "I can't be sure, but I don't think so. It seems that what ever this is, it went to the same place that everything else in Midgar went."
"Which probably means that it's lying in wait for us up ahead. Great. Well, no sense in keeping it waiting." Cloud gestured down the tunnel with his light, and Red moved into the darkness. After a count of five, the rest of the group followed him.
The pipe continued down into the bowels of the Shin-Ra building. They were now below the level of the top plate and into the main support strut, the monstrous pillar that supported not only all eight sector plates, but also the weight of the immense building above it. Cloud was beginning to wonder if they were going to walk all the way to the center of the Planet when Red walked back into the light.
"I think I've found an exit." He said.
"Show us." Cloud replied. Red led them ten feet deeper into the pipe. There, something had torn a gaping hole in the side, revealing a room on the other side. Not surprisingly, the edges were twisted and gouged from massive claws, and the rust hadn't had a chance to gain a foothold yet.
"Well, at least we know where our big friend went." Barret commented.
"Why is that a less than comforting thought?" Cait asked.
"Because it means we're chasing something that might want to have us for dinner." Cloud stated.
"Better scratch that might, fearless leader. Look." Barret pointed. There, in the darkness beyond the pipe, two beady dots of light peered back at them.
"I hate being right." Cait moaned.