Chapter Five: Explosions are always fun.
The Ruby Weapon suddenly leaped out of it's hiding place, sending sand flying in every direction. It grabbed ahold of the tram full of passengers on their way to the Gold Saucer, the gears grinding in an attempt to continue on it's track. It stared into the windows a moment, looking at people inside (who were more then a little terrified) then shook it experimentally. The people screamed. Just as it made a motion as if to rip the tram off of it's cables it stopped, turning it's head to the North as if listening to something. Looking disappointed, it let the tram go, and started plodding off at a slow leisurely pace. The tram swung wildly for a moment, then continued on it's path, wobbling slightly.
The Emerald Weapon, on the other hand, wasn't fond of causing chaos and mayhem unless it was necessary, although once in a while when it was in a bad mood it had been known to sink some ships unfortunate enough to run across it. It was drifting around in the ocean lazily when it suddenly slowed to a stop. After a moment, it started swimming as fast as it could to the North.
"Hiya sweetie, didja miss us?" Reno asked, shoving his way past the confused scientist into the house. Everyone soon filed in behind him, including Cloud who (despite Barret's angry protests) was carrying his sword and materia. "What are you doing! Get out of here right now!" The scientist exclaimed. Everyone ignored him. Yuffie immediately dove towards the desk, her nimble fingers picking up anything that looked remotely valuable as she tore apart the drawers. Rude walked over to the nervous scientist, and asked calmly "Is there anyone else here?" The scientist shook his head. "Well then, if you're telling the truth, I guess your the lucky slob we'll be squeezing information out of." Reno said with a smile.
The scientist paled, and Rude grabbed him before he could run. Reno got a chair and brought it over, and the scientist was shoved down into it. Reno and Rude stood in front of him, the former looking like Christmas had come early. This was one of his favorite parts of the job. "So. Let's start with something easy." Reno began. "Were you the ones who had the Jenova clone hidden away in the Shinra Mansion?" The scientist fidgeted, but said nothing. "I'm sorry, did I stutter?" Reno asked irritatedly. "Answer the question!" "...Yes." The scientist said finally. "Alrighty, now that we got all that straightened out, how about you tell us who in the hell would be so stupid as to clone the thing, and why?" "I can't tell you that!" The scientist replied.
"Tch. Rude..." Reno said, motioning towards their captive. Rude reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun, aiming it squarely between the scientist's eyes. "Let's try that again, only with you answering the question." Reno suggested. "I-I don't know! I swear!" He said quickly. "Aw, that's a shame, I almost believed you." Reno replied. Rude suddenly pointed the gun down and shot the scientist's kneecap, making him scream in pain. "Last chance..." Reno stated. "I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T DAMMIT!" The scientist yelled, leaning forward and trying to stop the flow of blood from his knee with his hands, grimacing in obvious pain. "Stop it! I think he's telling the truth!" Elena said, striding towards them with a frown.
Reno took one last glance towards him, then shrugged and turned away. Rude stuffed his gun back in his jacket without a word. "Anyone care to see what's down these stairs?" Red asked, standing at the top of the staircase that led down into the lower floors of the house. Everyone was soon filing down the staircase to leave the scientist to tend to his wounded leg.
As soon as they were out of sight and earshot, the scientist dragged himself over to the desk. When he finally managed to, he lifted up his bloody hands and started to type into the computer rapidly. There was a soft wirrrrr, then a small beep, and he smiled. "That'll teach you, cocky bastards."
"How anti-climactic." Yuffie commented, looking around boredly. There wasn't anything there but a living room, with a few other rooms branching off of it. "We should look around, just in case." Tifa suggested, and soon all of the rooms were searched, most of which were nothing more interesting then spare bedrooms or closets. Except for one.
"Well, what have we got here?" Cid said, pulling on the doorknob of a very ordinary looking door. It didn't budge. "The #$&! won't open." He growled. "Get outta the way." Barret said, aiming his gun arm. Before anyone could protest he let loose with a storm of bullets, making the door practically disintegrate. "Thanks for the heads-up, dumb-ass." Cid spat, picking himself up off of the floor, having dove out of the way just in time. "Yeah, well that's payback for the airship rides." Barret replied, tromping off into the room. Cid growled a blue streak of curses and followed. Everyone else was soon in the room, looking around curiously. There were shelves and shelves of files and books lining the walls. "And here I was half expecting it to be a porn collection." Reno stated with a wry grin, running a hand along one of the shelves.
"...For the amount of information that is obviously contained here, the security is curiously lax." Vincent remarked, his crimson eyes scanning the room cautiously. "Aw, you worry too much Vinny." Yuffie said, darting between the isles and looking for anything worth grabbing. "It's a freakin' library. How much protection could there be?"
Wiiirrrrrrr, beep. Security system activated. Intruders detected. Elimination of intruders imminent. An electronic voice announced.
"Yuffie, I'm going to kill you the next time you say anything like that." Tifa groaned, shaking her head. "Let's get out of here." Cloud suggested, turning towards the doorway. But even as he said it a steel door slid in place, blocking the exit. "Any other brilliant ideas?" Barret growled. "Shut the hell up Barret." Tifa snapped back, glaring at him. Barret seemed momentarily surprised from having one of his closer friends snap at him, but he soon recovered and turned his back to them with a snort. "...I hear something." Red remarked, looking towards the Northern wall. Suddenly a hidden door in the wall swung open, and two large spider-like robots scrambled into the room. The door closed quickly behind them, thus assuring that their prey was trapped. The robots stood still a moment, as if sizing up the enemy, then suddenly charged forward.
"We'll split into two groups of five!" Cloud yelled out, quickly dodging between some bookcases as a laser shot past. He was quickly joined by Tifa, Yuffie, Red, and surprisingly, Barret. Noticing the curious looks, Barret said "I'm jus here ta make sure ya don't try ta pull nothin'." Cloud shrugged dismissively and peeked around the end of the bookcase, quickly pulling his head back just as a metallic leg came crashing down where his head had been a split second ago. The robot scuttled around the edge of the bookcase, it's electronic eyes swiveling and coming to rest on the five people before it. It let out a cheerful sounding beep before charging forward, lasers blasting.
"Any plan of action?" Elena asked, pulling out her gun and leaning against the bookcase, clenching her eyes shut as the sound of lasers firing from where the others were fighting rent the air. "...Beat the hell out of it until it's dead?" Reno suggested, only half joking. Elena fixed him with a glare then rolled her eyes. "Another brilliant plan, O wise Turk captain." She remarked, giving a mock salute. "Are you questioning my leadership?" Reno snapped. "Oh no. I love the fact that you put no thought whatsoever into what you do, and suggest that we join the former enemy on the off chance that the Jenova creature has been cloned. How do we know that Cloud isn't just crazy? Tseng never would have led us into this kind of crap." Elena shot back.
"Guys..." Rude said slowly, but they completely ignored him. Vincent drew the Death Penalty without a word, and Cid had his spear at the ready.
"Don't even complain about this, it was you and Rude who believed their story in the first place! You can't pin that one on me! I'm sorry you don't have a little schoolgirl crush on me like you did with Tseng, but that doesn't mean I'm a bad leader." Reno growled.
"Uh...guys...?" Rude tried again, but was quickly cut off by Elena.
"What are you talking about 'little schoolgirl crush'! Of all the stupid things to say! I did not have a crush on Tseng, I just admired him for being good at his job, something that you haven't quite grasped!" Elena said indignantly.
"...Hello?" Rude said, not expecting a response.
Reno glared at her angrily. "Well, he sure didn't seem to be at that good at his job when he got killed by Sephiroth, now did he?" He asked scathingly. Elena stared at him, speechless. Just as she opened her mouth to make some sort of retort, Cid yelled "Shut the #$ up and look behind you, you goddamn morons!" Both Reno and Elena turned, catching sight of the second robot staring at them curiously. Seeing that it had finally been noticed, it leaped forward to attack.
"Shit!" Barret exclaimed, jumping out of the way as the robot swept the floor where the party had been standing a moment ago with it's lasers. Red let out a sharp yelp and Barret looked over to see him limping slightly, a laser having grazed one of his hind legs. Red let out a low growl and a green glow surrounded him briefly, before dissipating. Suddenly the robot was thrown roughly into the air as it was hit with the Quake spell, but it quickly regained it's footing and charged forward again, unfazed. Barret immediately began to shoot, but the bullets bounced off of the robot's armor as if he were throwing pebbles. Soon he ran out of bullets and could only dive for cover as the robot began firing lasers for the second time.
"Someone use a summon of the thing! It's too strong ta jus fight normally!" Barret called. Yuffie quickly sprang into action, pulling out a red materia and concentrating on it. "NO! Wait!" Cloud yelled out, nearly making Yuffie drop the materia as her concentration broke. "Gah! What the hell?" She asked, fixing Cloud with a glare as Tifa hit the robot with a fire spell, hoping to draw it's attention away from the now exposed Yuffie. "This is obviously some important information, we want to make sure that we don't lose any more then is necessary." He responded. "We should finish this quickly, so that there isn't too much damage to the library."
"...An' I say we burn the place to the ground, if he's so eager to keep that information from gettin' lost." Barret growled from his hiding place behind a filing cabinet. "Barret, this isn't the time to start this..." Tifa panted, jumping out of the way just before one of the robot's arms came crashing down at her angrily. Cloud leaped forward, cutting an exposed wire on one of the robot's back legs. It let out an angry series of beeps, then whipped around and flung him to one side with one of it's arms. Cloud hit a nearby bookcase, disappearing in a flurry of papers, files, and books. Still, he had dealt the robot a harsh blow, and it didn't move nearly as quickly.
Yuffie tried again, letting the Oritsuru fly and hitting one of the robot's eyes, shattering the glass. As the robot reeled back and confusedly tried to focus on it's targets. Red jumped into action, his claws and teeth slashing at the wires on the robot's front legs, making it stumble to the ground. Just then Cloud emerged from his prison of books and, after making sure he wasn't too badly hurt, a soft green glow surrounded him and a bolt of lightning shot down from the ceiling. The robot twitched twice, then fell completely to the ground and didn't move. "Is everyone alright?" He asked, looking around. Apart from some minor cuts and bruises, nobody seemed to be badly hurt. "Good, then let's go help the others."
As they started off towards the sounds of battle at the other end of the room, the robot gave another twitch and lifted up slightly, it's lasers starting to charge one last time.
Elena and Reno dove to the side as the robot plowed past them, skidding to a halt and whipping around, letting loose with a hail of bullets. Reno jumped to his feet and pulled Elena out of the way just as the floor where she had been a moment ago broke apart where the bullets hit it. Before she could say anything, he shoved her roughly behind him and snapped "Stay the hell out of the way if you can't take care of yourself!" Before charging forward, his nightstick blazing. Rude was soon beside him, firing his gun, with results similar to Barret's. Cid hung back a moment, focusing on a materia, then the robot froze up momentary as it was encased in a thin layer of ice.
It was more then enough time for everyone there. Reno slid under the robot, sending off an electrical charge into it's sensitive underbelly, and Rude and Vincent fired at any weak points they spotted in it's outer shell. This didn't last long, however, for the robot soon broke free of it's crystalline prison and opened fire once again. Everyone leaped out of the way, and Elena, recovering from her initial shock, sprang forward, hitting the robot with a low level fire spell. "No! Elena, get out of there!" Reno yelled, a second too late. The robot charged forward and swept her out of it's way with a casual swing of it's metallic arm, sending her sprawling across the room. She didn't move.
"Elena!" Rude called, starting forward, but Reno caught his arm and pulled him back, a sour look on his face. "Goddamn rookie. Just stay here Rude, I'll get her out of there." Rude hesitated a moment, then nodded in agreement. "I'll try to draw it's attention to myself, so that you have time to get Elena out of immediate danger, but you'll have to be quick." Vincent said. "Guns don't seem to bother this particular robot too much." Reno gave him a quick nod. "On three?" "Of course." Vincent replied, making sure that his gun still had bullets in it. "Alright, one...two...three!" Reno called, charging forward. Vincent circled around and began to shoot at the robot from behind. It gave an irritated whistle and turned around to face him. Vincent continued to shoot, although for all the effect it had he may as well have just thrown his gun at it.
As soon the robot was distracted Reno darted over to Elena, who was still laying on the floor. He gave her a rough shake and looked over his shoulder, where the robot was coming down on Vincent quickly. "Elena! Get up!" He barked, giving her another shake. She stirred slightly, but other then that didn't move. He cursed under his breath and picked her up, tossing her over his shoulder with a grunt. "Jesus Christ woman, lose some weight." He muttered, darting back to the makeshift fort of filing cabinets along one wall were Rude and Cid were waiting. The moment Vincent saw that Reno had made it back safely, he shoved his gun back into it's holster and pulled out a materia. The robot was now only about seven feet away from him.
Suddenly the room darkened, and a man with deer antlers sitting astride a six-legged gray horse stood in front of the robot, Vincent having used this time to escape. The robot stood still, not knowing how to approach this new threat. The horse suddenly backed up a few steps then galloped forward, and the man sliced the robot neatly in half with his sword before fading from sight. The robot collapsed in two different halves, sending off sparks, it's legs twitching uncontrollably.
"...What was that?" Reno asked, Elena safe on the ground near Rude. "The Odin summon." Vincent replied. "Is Elena alright?" Reno glanced back at her, and shrugged. "She'll live, but we'd better get Tifa over here so she can use the restore materia on her." Cid leaned against the wall, already smoking a cigarette. "I wonder how the others are--" He began, but was cut off as an explosion rocked the library, sending debris flying everywhere.
Hearing the robot move, Red whipped around with a growl, and the others also turned, but were too slow. The robot suddenly tried to fire, but it's lasers were damaged beyond repair. It started to shudder as the energy it had built up started to try to burst free. "EVERYONE DUCK FOR COVER!" Cloud shouted, diving behind a bookcase and covering his face just as the robot exploded, bits of shrapnel, wood, stone, and paper flying through the air. After a few minutes, Cloud slowly tried to move, but was pinned in place by what appeared to be one of the robot's legs, which had landed across his back. He hadn't even felt it.
He heard someone moaning in pain, and tried to call out, but his vocal cords didn't seem to want to respond. After several tries, he finally managed a weak "Tifa?".
No response.
"Red? Yuffie?...Barret?" He tried again. As soon as he called Barret's name, he heard an answering "Ugh." Cloud lifted up his head and looked around he room, but his vision was limited due to his position. It looked as if half of the house had collapsed on top of the library, and he noticed for the first time that it was cold. Snow drifted around in lazy circles, already started to cover the rubble. Cloud tried to lift himself up again, and realized why the metal leg of the robot hadn't snapped his spine. His sword was slung dutifully across his back, and had managed to keep it from crushing him. After a few tries, Cloud was finally able to wiggle out from under it, wincing in pain.
"...Cloud?" He heard Barret's gruff voice call. He swung his head around to see Barret lying nearby, the lower half of his body pinned under a large piece of what may have once been ceiling. "...Hang on, Barret." He answered finally, staggering to his feet and limping over to him, but Barret shook his head and waved an arm at him. "Naw. Jus' go find the others first. I'll be fine 'till then. It ain't as bad as it looks." Cloud hesitated, then nodded. "Alright. But don't die on me. I'll have nightmares." Barret grinned. "Now when have I heard that before?" Cloud shrugged, and also broke into a small smile before turning around. "...'Ey, Cloud?" Barret called suddenly. Cloud turned back and looked at him. "...I'm sorry." Barret said, rubbing his neck absently. "I've been a moron. I know it ain't your fault. I'm jus'...sorry." Cloud stared at him a moment, then broke out into a grin. "What's the matter Barret, you going soft on me?" He asked, turning back around and picking his way through the rubble.
"Ya only wish, ya spikey headed nut case!" Barret called after him, and Cloud just shook his head as he started to search for the rest of his friends.