Chapter 21
"Which way?" Vincent glanced over his shoulder at the other two.
Nanaki sniffed tentatively: "Cloud said Hojo's lab was in the heart of the city."
"But why down there?"
"I can't make out the different smells. This place makes my senses dull up."
"Alright then maybe we should split up."
"…I'm pretty sure he went toward the castle," Angel pointed forward. The two males looked up the path to the shell-shaped palace beyond the crystal lake.
"Are you sure?" Vincent pressed.
"It's more like, there's a voice in my head," she said slowly, starting forward. "A voice, telling me where to go."
"What kind of voice?" Nanaki asked her.
"A woman's," she described vaguely, leading them into the polished ivory entranceway.
"A woman's," Vincent repeated, grabbing Angel's arm lightly to stop her. "Do you recognize it?"
"As a matter of fact," she pulled her arm away gently, "I think I do. I just can't place it." She passed through the archway and looked back up at it. "I think I heard it once before. In the Sleeping Forest."
Vincent and Nanaki faltered, hanging back as Angel continued on to the crystal spiral staircase.
Caleb watched silently as the shadow on the wall swelled as its source moved closer. Reno visibly shivered as the silhouette passed over him, and he clutched Rude's body closer to his own as he scooted back in an attempt to blend in with the rock wall. In a flash, the red-head was snatched from the shadows to join the other figure outlined in the hallway. The female shape held up the male with one shadow-hand clamped around his shadow-throat—Caleb could see the polished black flats dangling inches from the stone ground and he could hear the choking gasps of a struggling Reno.
"Any last requests?" Ayden laughed teasingly.
"Yeah," Reno gasped, and Caleb could hear the smirk twitching on his lips. "You can go to hell. After fucking your master anally with a rusty, broken, double-edged sword. And finish by cutting both your heads off with it."
He flew by so quickly, Caleb only saw the streak of navy blue against the crystal staircase before it exploded, shattering into millions of pieces. Reno's body was sliced to ribbons in the cascade of falling glass-like fragments. The red-head screamed as he died; his scream was suddenly echoed three times over. Caleb's eyes picked out not one but four figures falling to the deep, thick blue water below the altar: two men, a woman, and a red-orange animal. The woman shrieked, her long brown hair waving haphazardly in her descent. He recognized her.
"Angel!" he yelled. She fell toward him, her eyes wide with terror as their gazes locked.
"Cale!" she cried back, and he dashed up the cracking pieces of the unstable staircase toward her.
"Angel, no!"
"Cale, behind you!"
Ayden chuckled softly. "There you are, Caleb my dear." He jumped and was backhanded into the machine-loaded altar. His sword flew from his hand and slammed onto one of the platforms, knocking several of the materia orbs loose. The green ones splashed into the water and clinked down the circular platform steps, rolling into the darkness and illuminating the halls. The red and white ones flew up into the air. Vincent caught the summon materia and the unknown one slammed into Angel's chest. She choked, the sphere hesitating and then leaking into her body, disappearing with a greenish glow. She stopped falling, her hair spilling back down over her back, shoulders, and face. Nanaki landed hard on all for legs, crumpling to the cold stone with a pained howl near the bottom steps of the altar. Vincent Valentine crashed into the thick blue water beneath them and it flared up in a huge column, spilling over the machinery and making it crackle angrily. From somewhere within the workings, Caleb shrieked. Ayden laughed maniacally as the scream echoed through the cavernous shrine, and Hojo leaned down, scooping up one of the stray materias.
"The kid's got valuable items. And that sword…" he raised his eyes to his creation. "Ayden, collect the orbs."
"As you wish," she turned back to the heap of machinery.
The phoenix blasted upward from the water and used its wings to shove Ayden back. She stumbled, her hair falling into her face. From the side, Caleb rushed down the altar steps, the crystal-lined Ultima Weapon shining yellow. He slashed at her back four times, sending the clone-mech sprawling to the ground in a puddle of mako. Out of the hallway came a tendril of purple flames that struck the blond in the center of his chest, knocking him back again, the sword falling uselessly into the water.
He sat up as Nanaki struggled to his feet. "Caleb, are you okay?"
"What was that?" he rubbed his head.
"Hojo," Vincent sputtered, climbing out of the water, dragging the Ultima Weapon up from the depths. He handed Caleb the blade and the Phoenix materia. "He's got the Contain materia."
"Where's Kali?" Nanaki looked around.
"Angel!" Caleb's eyes shot around the chamber.
"She's up there," came a scratchy voice from the shadows. The three companions jumped and turned to look down from the steps of the altar. The pale scientist hobbled forward, his shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter. Wiry, oily black strands of hair fell over his large forehead and accented the sickly rings beneath his beady eyes as he shuffled into view, cackling silently.
"Hojo," Vincent growled through his teeth and Nanaki released a fierce snarl, his dark red fur standing up on its ends.
"What do you mean 'she's up there'?" Caleb stepped forward, bringing the Ultima sword's blade up to point at the man with the round black-rimmed glasses. He shrugged and lifted a single finger, pointing upward. The young man cautiously raised his eyes overhead and dropped the weapon with a loud clatter. "Angel!"
She was suspended up over their heads with a white glow encircling her body, her arms extended out to either side and her legs placed carefully together, her hair waving gently around her profile. Her usually sharp blue eyes were blank, white irises glowing eerily from beneath the dark strands of hair. The materia orb hovered in front of her chest, spinning slowly and glowing the same white as her eyes. Caleb whirled around and lunged at Hojo, grabbing him by the collar of his stained white lab coat.
"What have you done to her! I swear to god I'm gonna kill you!" he yelled.
"Ayden," Hojo smirked, his yellowed teeth bearing in a ghastly, twisted smile, "destroy the woman and absorb her abilities."
With an incoherent scream, Caleb lifted Hojo and flung him into the darkness. The green materia he had been holding clattered at the blond's feet. He scooped it up and fixed it into one of the eight slots on his father's sword.
"Aren't you missing a few?" Vincent motioned to the empty nodes.
"I'll find them," he assured, his voice low and angry. He glanced up at Angel and his face momentarily softened. "Angel…" He turned back down and gasped as Ayden's fist flew at his face. She punched him and he tumbled back down the ramp, the sword sliding down into the dark hall.
"Caleb!" Nanaki yipped.
A huge, slimy green tentacle slapped out and knocked Vincent and Nanaki into the wall. They groaned and shook their heads, sitting up as a monstrous creature lugged itself out of the shadows and moved to corner them, growling threateningly.
"It's Hojo!" Nanaki cried.
"What!" Caleb got shakily to his feet. Ayden moved toward him and he backed away, crouched low and hands extended to grab at his sword.
"Hojo injected himself with Jenova cells once," Vincent leaned against the wall wearily, his hand moving slowly toward his hip. "Do you remember that story, Caleb?"
"The end result wasn't pretty," Nanaki whined and backed up, tail between his legs.
"This is what Jenova cells do to you?" Caleb yelped.
"Don't worry about it! Save Kali, and kill Ayden!" Vincent yanked out a gold-plaited, long-barreled gun and fired off a few shots. The Hojo-creature screeched and reared back. "Come on, Red!" The animal beside him shook itself out and released a rumbling growl, launching itself forward, swinging its claws. "Caleb!" Vincent dodged behind another wild swing of a tentacle. "Leave Hojo to us! Take your revenge!"
He fired again and again the creature screamed. Caleb nearly stumbled over the handle of his sword and reached back to pick it up. Ayden kicked his knee out from under him and he fell flat on his face. She laughed and he grunted, swinging the blade around. With a quick hop, she let it pass beneath her feet and she landed, leaning down to pick him up by his hair.
"Your father fought back much more vigorously than this," she said lightly in his ear. "And now, when I kill you, I will take every last materia you own and then I will truly be invincible."
"Get off… you whore," he grunted and threw his shoulder into her midsection. They tumbled to the ground again and Caleb caught a fleeting glance of Angel as he rolled and clambered to his feet.
Angel…I'll rescue you. Just wait for me.