The Shinra units pop on radar as Cid sips his hot tea on the bridge. He nearly spits it out.
"Sir!" a co-pilot calls.
Cid is already hunched over the blipping screen, tea forgotten, eyes wide. Two—no, three—drones coming in. He can't tell if they are Hunter-Killers or mere surveillance types. The Highwind is in a low power state, resting on the beaches of this tiny island. What the hell is Shinra doing here?
He waits, but the blips do not waver off-course. They are coming straight for the island and the Highwind's location.
"Shut it down," Cid orders. "Shut it all down."
"Even auxiliary?"
Advanced Weaponry units can detect electromagnetic fields from other vessels, so yes, shut it all down. Cid designed those damn systems himself, so he knows how well they work.
Another four blips appear. Drones. Then two more, one larger than the others. A helicopter?
"Go dark, now," Cid says.
The co-pilots obey, and the screens flicker off. The whir of engines dies into muted jungle sounds—birds and insects and ocean winds. Humidity sneaks through the ventilation without the conditioning units on. Cid already feels sweat drip from his temple.
Everyone crouches at their stations. The globed windows of the bridge showcase the surreal orange sky, the tips of vibrant palm fronds. The sea stretches cerulean and calm. It's almost paradise.
Then the drones fly into view. They are Hunter-Killers, as Cid feared. And they are flying low. No doubt they will see the Highwind.
"Shit, shit, shit."
He grabs his lance and makes for the cargo bay. Tifa, Nanaki, Barret, and Yuffie are out there. They're no match for so many units, and nobody has a PHS since Junon. He can't contact them, but he won't leave the Highwind to fall into Shinra's hands. There must be options.
The cargo bay doors open when he mashes the controls, and a wall of tropical heat hits. Four drones stomp along the beach, heading right for his ship.
Well, so much for stealth. But, hell, the Highwind was never meant for espionage.
He clutches his lance as the drones approach. Their guns swivel free but do not fire. That sleek armor looks different from the HKs in Rocket Town. Lighter? More flexible? Cid stands at the open bay doors, assessing the incoming mechanical monsters. Hulking shoulders terminate in reinforced opaque glass heads, featureless aside from the blinking camera light.
Cid has to protect his crew and find his friends. Somehow.
He makes no attempt to hide. These things would've already fired if they wanted to destroy him or his ship. No, Shinra wants the Highwind intact. That is his only advantage. He puts down the lance, showing his empty hands.
The drones parade in with heavy hooves. Three fan out. The fourth stops, towering two heads above Cid, and its camera rotates downward. A speaker crackles on.
"Well, this is a surprise," the noxious voice of Rufus Shinra says. "But, not really. A traitor. Hm, I should've known."
Cid feels like lighting a cigarette, but he won't dare move his hands with so many guns on him.
"Yeah, well—"
"You're under arrest," Rufus says. "Your entire crew. For mutiny. You'll be tried at the Shinra headquarters in Midgar, and this airship now belongs to us. Remain inside and await escort."
Cid scoffs. "You expect me to—"
"I expect you to wait or die, Mr. Highwind. You're lucky we aren't terminating you on the spot for such insubordination and theft of company property."
Cid chews his lip to suppress the arguments seething within. One of the HKs fixates its aim on him.
"Escorts are inbound. Stay put."
The connection sizzles out.
"What the hell is Shinra doin' here anyways," Cid grumbles, though he knows the drones can't respond. They can't comprehend anything outside their orders. But they won't kill him.
Cid bends to pick up his lance with slow, smooth movements. The drones watch, motionless. Then he retreats from the cargo bay and runs to the bridge once he's out of their sight.
He enters the bridge out of breath, pulse thrumming.
"Four units," he reports. "In the cargo bay. Shift to minimal power. We need our eyes on them."
The co-pilots flip a switch, and a mild current brings the Highwind to life. Cid cycles through interior cameras to view the cargo bay.
"Shit," he says.
Two of the drones are coming into the lower cabins. He was hoping to maybe seal them in the bay, but that's a stupid idea. These drones are military-grade, battle-ready.
But so is the Highwind. This is the top ship in the navy. Streamlined and steadfast and packed with state-of-the-art countermeasures. This airship can withstand enemy boarding, though it's never been tested in combat. And if those engineers in Junon fucked things up, this could all go south real quick.
He wipes sweat from his chin.
"Okay, there's a fire suppression system built into those corridors," he says, pointing at the screens. "Lock them down."
Removal of oxygen won't do a damn thing, of course, but vacuum-sealing the area with heavy doors may delay their advances. And it might scramble their local frequencies to each other, reducing the chance of—
Wait. Cid scrutinizes the cargo bay cameras. The remaining two drones stationed there pivot towards the open bay. Then they jet out of the Highwind and take off. Cid watches on radar as the two blips disappear above the jungle. Where the hell are they going? Had they found Tifa and the others?
A tremor shakes the ground. Minor, at first, but it escalates into a full-blown earthquake. This is the third one since landing, though much more severe.
"Wh-what the hell?!" Cid hurries to catch onto the captain's chair.
The cabin shakes. The windows rattle. The Highwind tilts in sudden shifting sands, and Cid's tea spills all over the floor from its shattered mug. He grits his teeth.
"Get us in the air!" he orders.
"But the drones—"
"Just do it!"
"Yessir. Sealing the inner corridors. Fire suppressions active. Main thrusters go-live."
A sequence taps beneath Cid's fingers as he hovers atop the controls and preps his baby for take-off. Full power flushes through the airship, and the turbines roar. On the screens, the two corridors seal off and thick metal doors separate the drones. Yellow emergency lights flare. Then a crack spikes out across the sand from an origin point somewhere in the jungle. Whole sections of palms disappear beneath collapsing soil.
"C'mon, c'mon," Cid urges, watching the forest sink, the sand slip away, the chasm chasing towards the Highwind. Everything tilts and shakes. The co-pilots tap fast at their controls.
The Highwind shudders and lifts off just as the ground recedes. The effect is mind-boggling because the Highwind has not yet ascended, but they are in the air, hovering above a gaping pit where the beach had been. Water rushes in. Waves roil.
"Up, up," he says, because talking to the ship always helps. It has a soul, he knows, and he loves it more than anything. Well, almost anything. Shera flashes in his head, and he pushes her out because he knows this isn't death. His life shouldn't rush before his eyes.
And the Highwind lifts, up into the cloudless sky. Someone cheers, but this ain't a time to celebrate because over the arches of the jungle, something rises. A monstrous dark red beast.
Cid's jaw slacks. His hands steady the ship, but he's shaking. He's never seen anything like this.
A huge creature emerges from the planet, reverberating quakes along lines that extend from its lengthy arms. Its body is segmented like a crab, massive and ruby-hued. A jaw housing rows of teeth sits beneath an armored skull with sunken beady eyes. It is tall, slim compared to the Weapon they'd seen in Junon, and not at all aquatic. Its long neck soars above the treeline.
"A Weapon!" someone says.
Cid has no idea, but that's the easiest explanation. What the hell else has been sprouting from the planet lately? This must be the source of the quakes. The creature rips enormous bone claws through chunks of earth, uprooting trees with ease. HK units fly around it, opening fire. And somewhere down there are Cid's friends.
"We have to find them," Cid says.
"What about the drones?" his co-pilot asks.
Yes, Cid taps the screens and sees the two HKs in their partitioned cages, slicing away at the interior bulkheads. It won't be long before they break free. They may pursue the Weapon or come straight to the bridge to subdue Cid and his crew. Hell, maybe one has a mechanism to reroute the Highwind's controls! Whatever they want, Cid won't give them that chance.
"Prep an electrical surge," he says. "Localized to those areas."
"What?" the co-pilot balks. "But that will damage the ship!"
"And those little shits as well. The ship can withstand it."
Cid is already shutting off safety measures. The surge needs to be powerful enough to penetrate those chassis, and if he's right about their composition, the necessary levels will need to be very high. Outside, the Weapon rears its long neck and bellows. The shriek pierces Cid's eardrums, and he squints. The sandy beach, the marshlands, everything below is transforming into dismal sunken circles. The Shinra helicopter and HKs' bullets and missiles do nothing.
The Highwind's could. Cid checks the munitions count. They'd left Junon at half-manifest, but the cannons on board are the deadliest Shinra has to offer, plus the caliber of automated guns can punch holes through the thickest enemy vessels.
The drones continue to pound inside his ship. Gotta take care of those, first.
"Electrical surge ready to discharge," the co-pilot says, though he sounds nervous.
Cid checks his own calculations. The power levels will likely black out parts of the ship, but redundant protocols are on standby. It shouldn't blink out for more than a few seconds. In theory.
He swallows and jams the release. A high voltage pop whizzes off. The Highwind flounders and the turbines sputter. Lights go out, and the cabin becomes very silent. Cid holds his breath. Any second now.
The screens stay dark. He clicks the reset panels again and again. The co-pilots call out system failures. The pulse worked, but nothing came back online.
And a curious weightless sensation carries Cid's stomach to his throat. The Highwind is falling.
"No," he says, hands flying over the controls.
The consoles shudder as he cycles power. Ignition does not respond. Shouts of reports become a wave of frenzy around him. Out through the windows, the Weapon stampedes. It smacks an HK clean out of the sky, and the fiery wreckage spirals towards the Highwind.
Impact. Cid sees the land coming up. Fast, too fast. He refuses to be wrong.
"Please, baby, please," he coaxes through clenched teeth.
His brain flies through countless operating procedures and bypasses. But it's too late to get on his knees and re-wire anything. The ship will crash in less than fifteen seconds. The crew doesn't lose their cool, even in imminent death. Cid thinks of Shera one last time.
Then propulsion catches. The turbines find full thrust and power restores. The ground still approaches, though. There isn't enough time to level her off. Cid holds his breath. The throttle shakes, or maybe that's his arms pressing all his weight against all the odds. A tree trunk soars past the windows, propelled by that rampaging Weapon.
And a miracle happens. Another earthquake shimmies the ground away below the bow of the Highwind, giving the barest of space for the ship to crest its lowest trajectory and rebound. Up into the skies. Up, away from destruction.
The crew hoots and cheers. Cid finds his knuckles white and tense around the controls. His fingers curl tight, unwilling to let go. Then his shoulders relax.
They are in the sky. The Highwind is back.
He blinks. Well, of course it is. He hadn't any doubt. His hands find a cigarette from his pack, and he jams it in his mouth without taking eyes off the horizon. That Weapon is deadly, tearing up the earth and sending Shinra units packing. The screens… He checks the corridors, and those two drones are down. Inactive. Best he check on those fuckers and make sure their batteries are fried.
"Keep her steady," he says as he stands. He grabs his lance. "And initiate the guns."
"Yessir!"
Cid stalks to the lower decks. Everything is quiet, within expected parameters. He keys in a release for the fire suppression systems, and the corridors open.
"Aha." He smiles at the sight of the crumpled husk of metal. He's always wanted to tinker with one of these, full-assembled.
He nudges it with his lance. No reaction. An internal whine remains, however, and he pries the back of its chassis open with the mythril tip. Inside is a mess of charred wiring and wafer-thin boards. Inadequate shielding. Amateurs built this, he scoffs. A second battery blinks. He cuts it out, then spears the primary battery. Just in case. Then he locates and removes the communications hub and dislodges the camera-head.
"Captain Cid," a co-pilot calls over the intercom. "Guns are hot."
He could spend hours dissecting these mechanical wonders, but that will have to wait. He decides to keep this drone and dump the other, because if they can somehow revive, he doesn't want two on his hands again. He drags the other to the cargo bay with some struggle and kicks the dilapidated body into a whirlwind of hot air. Shinra gunfire echoes nonstop, and fiery spots of burning HK units dot the landscape.
"Fire at will," Cid says through the intercom.
Cannons boom. The noise is comforting. It sounds like perfect design.
Back to the bridge, Cid goes. He takes a pull of his cigarette and settles into the pilot's chair. The near-death experience may be over, but their work is far from done. His co-pilots maneuver the airship above the Weapon, and gunners zero in on that ruby-red hide. Digital targeting beeps, and Cid orders missiles to fire when cannons need cooling. Each jettison of rocket-propelled munitions jolts the cabin, but Cid finds it satisfying. He clenches a fist and watches while a long trail of ash falls from his cigarette.
The barrage does little harm to the Weapon. That thing's armor must be tough as concrete.
"Focus on its core!" Cid says.
There's a glowing spot between its ribs. Might be some sort of energy source. The Weapon nails another HK unit with its sharp bony claws. The Shinra forces are losing. A Highwind cannon sputters ineffective against the armored chest, but one rocket gets through a gap in the carapace of its neck. Silvery blood pours out, and the beast howls.
"Or go for the neck!" Cid says.
Because who the hell knows anything about these creatures, anyways? Not even Shinra, by the looks of it. Cid steers the Highwind into a holding pattern, cycling 'round the Weapon to give his gunners a steady shot. The Weapon's lower extremities come into view from this height, and it appears to be standing near a large puddle of goopy sinking marsh. Except the colors are all wrong. Too bright. And vivid. And very, very green.
"What the hell…" He stares at the pool, swirling and churning. It's a straight chasm into the earth, and that green is coming up from below.
It's not marshland. It's swallowing up rock and forest.
"Is that...the Lifestream?" his co-pilot asks.
Cid has no fucking clue. Who the hell has seen the Lifestream recently? Nobody. Alive, that is.
"That's Mako, ain't it?" he replies, because that's what Shinra taught him. Mako Reactors pull it from the ground and condense it into clean, sustainable energy. He's thankful the ventilation systems filter out whatever smell is likely coming from that rift.
But where are Barret and Yuffie? Tifa and Nanaki? Radar picks up multiple moving objects, but it could be Shinra. There's no way to tell without visuals.
The ammunition levels dwindle. Cid pilots the airship around a second then third time, while cannons fire, missiles launch, and bullets fly. The Weapon is weakening, though not retreating. Cid wants it to burrow back the fuck below-ground so he can land and find his friends. Doesn't seem like that's going to happen.
Plan B, he scours his mind. Gotta have a Plan B. He can barely remember who carries what materia let alone figure out an alternative to a giant monster attack. He's a goddamn engineer! A mechanic, not a soldier.
"Cannons are empty," someone reports.
The Weapon smashes the black helicopter to bits. Shinra personnel meet a painful death, and Cid winces. Those ruby-sheathed claws could turn on them next.
"Let's blast it with everything we got," he says, and he takes the Highwind lower.
Its neck bleeds, and oil from a crashed HK blots its torso, yet its fury doesn't cease. The outcome doesn't look good.
Then, Cid spots something along the shores at the east end of the isle. He checks radar. Yes, isolated movement. He eases the Highwind down to get a better look as the ammunition count falls. For the first time, he regrets not outfitting the airship with Mako-powered weapons.
Deep cracks snake through the island like a burnt spiderweb, and between two strands on the beach, he sees a dashing spark of red. A sleek mammal with a fiery tail. It's Nanaki!
"We're goin' down there!" he says. The co-pilots shift to obey.
Another HK crashes into smoldering bits, and the Weapon peers around for a new target. But Cid doesn't care about that, even as the Highwind's guns click dry. He's busy staring at the beach and the figure running along it.
"Hold her steady, but get me close," he says and rockets towards the cargo bay doors.
He's gotta get down there fast. The doors open into a chaotic wind, and Nanaki spots Cid with a big grin. He pounces into the bay as uprooted palm trees crash onto the beach.
Cid helps him in. "Where are the others?" he shouts.
Nanaki's tail flicks. "They aren't with you?"
Cid surveys the destroyed beach, trying to repress the sudden fear in his chest.
"What happened?" Cid asks.
"We found the spa town," Nanaki says. "But HK units arrived. We had to split up. The plan was to meet at the Highwind."
Except nobody else made it. Cid scowls. He shuts the bay doors. They can't give up searching. He rushes to the bridge with Nanaki at his heels.
"Sir, all of our munitions are empty," the co-pilot reports. "What do we do?"
Cid watches the Weapon smack the final HK unit into fiery oblivion. Shinra deserves this fate. And so does Cid, doesn't he? He'd helped build these machines; he'd been part of the corporate revenue streams. The Planet is fighting back, and they all deserve to suffer.
They should get out of here. Take flight and vacate the island because this Weapon could be capable of far worse. Or another Weapon could arrive.
"That's the Lifestream," Nanaki says, pointing with his nose through the globed bridge windows. "Is the Weapon…protecting it?"
It appears so. The Weapon hulks atop the remains of the spa town, crushing any structures to splinters, while the rush of green liquid churns in an ever-growing pit. The island is a jumbled mass of debris with the Weapon at its awful epicenter.
Cid sighs. As much as he'd like to retreat and protect his ship and crew, he can't leave knowing Tifa, Barret, and Yuffie are down there, lost. This might be a terrible decision.
"Avoid the Weapon and circle the island," he says, lighting a fresh cigarette. "The mission is now search and rescue. We've got three of our own down there."
He settles into the captain's chair. And he'll be damned if he lets them die.
"More Shinra units may show up," Nanaki cautions.
Cid doesn't reply. Shinra is the least of his concerns. He pilots the airship in a wide arc around the Weapon whose temper does not subside. Humanity fucked up real bad to incite these cataclysmic monsters. He keeps an eye on the sensors.
"C'mon, c'mon…" he mutters, shifting the airship towards the northern beaches. "You've all gotta be out there."
He's never lost a crewman, and he can't stand to think of losing one now. Or three. They ain't exactly his best pals—hell, Yuffie is kinda annoying, to be honest—but he won't abandon them without proof of defeat.
"If they fell into the Lifestream…" Nanaki says. He doesn't need to complete that sentence. Everyone knows pure Mako is poisonous in large quantities.
"Until there's proof, we ain't leaving," Cid replies. His knuckles grip tight on the controls. The Highwind cuts above the Weapon. Trees and plants and everything are torn and scattered. It's hell on earth below.
Keep looking, Cid instructs himself. Focus on the mission. His heart pounds and it cannot distract him now. He cannot give in to the feeling that their mission is already lost.
