Chapter 27
Up and Running
By the time Shinra Choppers had landed and unloaded necessary troops and equipment two more airships had appeared on the horizon, one stood out from the rest. Cloud couldn't have known for sure, but he guessed this one was the Outcast flagship. Their leader was on that ship.
"Why haven't they unloaded any troops yet?" asked James Masterson watching the airships intently.
"I think their leader is on the biggest airship," Cloud said, "they were probably waiting for him to give them orders."
"If you're right then I guess he's here," Vincent muttered.
The reinforcement Shinra troops included a lot of blue-clad soldiers with rifles, some commanders wearing their red uniforms, and two more members of SOLDIER. This also included the pilots of the choppers who could fire each choppers' payload of weaponry: four missiles and two heavy chain guns on each.
The two additional Outcast airships hovered for a while over the original two and then the smaller of the two airbourne vessels landed to join the other two.
It seemed the order had come through; men started pouring out of the grounded airships.
"Through us is the straightest route to the building," Vincent said, "if they break through there's no way anyone will have time to get out of there."
"Then we don't let them break through," Cloud said drawing his sword.
The three SOLDIERs drew weapons as well.
"Good a plan as any, I guess," Vincent said, "long range weapons, prepare yourselves!"
Blue suited soldiers moved to the front and readied their weapons; the Outcasts were still a little out of range yet for bullets. Vincent drew his pistol.
Suddenly, one of the SOLDIERs dropped like a stone, he hit the ground dead.
"What the hell?" growled one of the other SOLDIERs.
"Mardra," Cloud muttered, "they have a very good sniper with them."
Vincent cursed and grabbed a soldier, "You, your rifle, give it to me."
The soldier complied and handed it to him.
"He's most likely on the still airbourne ship," Cloud said, "he travels with the leader."
Vincent nodded, "Outdoor platform below the ship."
Cloud heard the shot coming this time and managed to slash to his left and deflect the bullet away from Vincent.
"Thank you," Vincent said briefly and aimed the rifle.
"That's extreme range, sir," one soldier said.
Vincent ignored him and stared down the sights of the rifle, it wasn't nearly adequate enough for long distance aiming.
Though it appeared, Turk or not, that Vincent Valentine had always been very good with a gun.
Vincent let out his breath slowly and pulled the trigger.
§
Across at the Cetra Resurrection, Mardra was taking aim at Cloud who had deflected his previous shot. Only out of the corner of his eye did Mardra notice the flash of a gun being fired. Then a bullet imbedded itself in Mardra's shoulder, the Outcast growled and dropped his rifle on the deck.
"Damn it!" he growled putting a hand over his left shoulder. He picked up his rifle and ran inside; a second bullet narrowly missed him as he entered the door.
§
"I think I hit him," Vincent said handing the soldier his rifle back, "not fatal though."
"They're moving," James said.
The Outcasts were moving forward, there appeared to be at least fifty of them if not more.
"Try and get as many as possible with long range before they get here," Vincent ordered, "someone get the choppers in the air, fire at will!"
Everyone with a gun opened fire; Vincent moved forward and started firing off shots with his pistol. The sheer number of Outcasts made even stray bullets find targets, some managed to deflect bullets or block somehow, most were cut down.
The Outcasts only had to make their way up a small hill and they would be right on top of their enemies, there were still a lot of them left.
Choppers took flight and strafed over the Outcasts, each firing a volley of missiles that wiped out entire groups of Outcasts. One Outcast had an automatic weapon and used it to blow away one projectile before it hit the ground. On their return trip the choppers fired chain guns over the Outcasts; this did more damage than the missiles. The bullets cut through the lines of Outcasts from above.
Then there was a loud noise, a large blue beam of some kind seemed to explode out from the Outcast flagship and incinerated two of the Shinra Choppers.
"What the hell was that?" asked Vincent.
"We have to disarm that airship," James said. "That weapon alone could wipe us out."
The Outcasts reached their enemies; they began to cut through the soldiers that couldn't fire fast enough.
"Back them up, I'll take care of it," Cloud said kicking an Outcast that broke through backward and then letting Vincent fire his pistol to finish him off. "I'll need a chopper."
Vincent nodded to the one they themselves had taken to get there, "I'll drive."
Vincent got in and started up the chopper, "What's your plan?"
"I saw where that beam comes from," Cloud said, "all we have to do is disrupt that area. I'd go inside and try and cripple it completely, but there's so many Outcasts in there it would take too long."
"Alright," Vincent said, "I'll get you over it, then."
Vincent got the chopper in the air and headed off toward the airship, showering the Outcasts with bullets as he passed by.
The Outcast flagship fired its beam again.
Vincent growled and pulled the chopper to the left barely avoiding the beam, the chopper shuddered due to the near miss.
"They must need time to recharge after each shot," Cloud said.
"Then we have our time limit," Vincent said and shot the chopper forward as fast as he could make it go.
It wasn't fast enough.
"It's firing again," Cloud muttered, there was no way Vincent could move the chopper out of range.
"Fire through this!" Vincent yelled and fired all four of his missiles at where the beam originated from.
The projectiles exploded on to a bubble that appeared to cover the ship.
"Shields," Cloud said.
Luckily the disruption in the shields affected the beam, it seemed to stop right where the missiles hit.
"How the hell are you gonna get through that shield?" asked Vincent.
Cloud knew how, "Hover right in front of the airship."
"What?" asked Vincent.
"Put the side of the chopper to where the beam comes out," Cloud said, "I'll handle the rest."
"Are you crazy, it'll incinerate you and the chopper!" Vincent exclaimed.
"More likely the chopper than me," Cloud said grinning, "but if all goes well, neither."
Vincent looked at him disbelievingly for a moment but then did as he asked. The opened side door faced where the beam originated from and Cloud held his sword at the ready.
"Stay in the area, I'll need a ride back, I'll be quick," Cloud said.
Vincent nodded.
After a second or two the beam showed signs of beginning to fire, Cloud guessed that whoever controlled the weapon must think the chopper was foolish to stop where it had. Under different circumstances it would have been downright suicidal.
The beam exploded outward and right at Cloud.
Cloud raised his sword in front of him and jumped out toward the beam.
The beam hit the flat of Cloud's blade and suddenly stopped, then it seemed as if Cloud was physically pushing the beam back toward where it came from. Cloud's face was strained and he gritted his teeth as the beam slowly started falling backward.
§
Inside the Cetra Resurrection Feardorcha watched as in front of his own eyes this man was actually pushing the ship's laser weaponry backward with just his sword.
"Turn it off!" Fear yelled to the person operating it.
"What?" asked the Outcast.
"Turn that weapon off right now!"
Too late…
§
Cloud pushed the beam back its last inch and it backed right up into the area where it had come from. As the beam was swallowed back up it immediately exploded inside the cannon that fired it and seemed to virtually blow the entire front off the airship.
The explosion was spectacular and the flying debris nearly hit Vincent in the chopper.
Cloud landed and rolled over the roof of the airship, coming to a stop somewhere in the middle. He lay there for a moment to catch his breath and then stood up. The beam had done more damage to the airship than Cloud had expected.
Vincent came up right beside the airship with the chopper, "Get in!"
Cloud could barely hear the yell, but he heeded it anyways. Cloud jumped back in the side door and the chopper quickly headed back toward what was left of outpost seven.
Cloud looked back and saw the Outcast flagship turning and leaving along with the other airships; they were leaving their men behind.
Ahead the battle with the Outcast was still going on and the dark-clad men hadn't had a chance to notice their transportation was gone. Vincent peppered Outcasts with bullets again as he passed over.
Cloud looked through the side door, he saw two blue-clad soldiers fighting back to back fending off Outcasts. The two wouldn't last much longer.
"Vincent, I'll see you back on the ground," Cloud said.
Vincent looked back and nodded.
Cloud jumped.
Below, the two soldiers were spraying their rifles left and right. The only reason they were still alive was because there were two of them and together they had enough firepower to hold their enemies back. Suddenly, both soldiers ran out of ammunition simultaneously. They knew there was no way they could reload fast enough. The Outcasts moved in for the kill.
They would have succeeded had Cloud not dropped out of the sky and landed right behind one of the Outcasts cutting him down immediately. Then he moved on to slash another across the back, Cloud spun and fluidly kicked another Outcast's legs out from under him. In moments Cloud had cleared the Outcasts away from the two soldiers.
Not waiting for any gratification, Cloud moved on toward the next biggest group of Outcasts he could find.
James and the last remaining SOLDIER were also fending off Outcasts with their swords quite effortlessly. Together they were doing more damage than all of the Shinra soldiers around them.
Cloud jumped and kicked an unsuspecting Outcast in the back sending him tumbling into an Outcast in front of him. The two fell to the ground as Cloud turned to parry an attack from an Outcast to his left. Cloud knocked the Outcast's weapon aside and spun in a thee-sixty which resulted in his sword slicing across the Outcast's neck and severing his head.
Cloud then turned and saw the Outcast with an automatic weapon just before he fired. Cloud deflected some of the shots with his sword, but decided to evade the rest by jumping to the side. When the Outcast was out of ammo Cloud began to make his way toward him.
Another Outcast tried to attack him but was quickly dispatched by Cloud's sword. As his attention was turned back on the gun-carrying Outcast Cloud realized the Outcast now had his gun reloaded and was ready to fire.
A bullet shot over Cloud's shoulder and hit the Outcast dead between the eyes, he fell to the ground. Cloud looked back and saw Vincent with his pistol raised.
An Outcast came at Vincent from the right with a sword, but Vincent saw him out of the corner of his eye and ducked the horizontal slash. Then, as soon as he stood up again, he gave the Outcast a crushing roundhouse kick that knocked him head over heels to the ground. Vincent, still not stopping, turned a full one-eighty and fired three shots from his pistol. All three shots resulted in three dead Outcasts.
After about ten minutes the Outcasts had been utterly wiped out, as soon as they finally realized they had been left behind they tried to retreat but the remaining angry blue-clad soldiers cut them down with rifle fire.
Cloud stood silently in the aftermath looking off into the distance.
"You alright?" asked Vincent standing behind him.
"Yeah," Cloud replied.
"Come on, we should get back to the building, see what progress has been made," Vincent suggested.
Cloud nodded, the two took the same chopper they had used before back to the black building. As soon as they arrived they noticed people standing outside, among them was Gast, Lucrecia, Hojo and Aeris.
Cloud and Vincent stepped off the chopper.
"We heard reports about the battle at the outpost," Gast said walking up to him, "something about you and Vincent flying headlong toward an Outcast airship."
"This guy's crazy," Vincent said shaking his head.
Aeris ran past Gast and hugged Cloud suddenly, "I was so worried."
Cloud looked awkwardly at Aeris and then hugged her back, "They were just grunts anyways."
"I almost wish you'd stop trying to be the hero all the time," Aeris muttered, "but then that wouldn't be like you at all."
Gast gestured for Vincent to come over to him, "Vincent, could you go inside with the other scientists and help them open up two of the tubes, please?"
"The machine's ready?" asked Vincent.
"Ahead of schedule, yes, thanks to Aeris," Hojo said.
"I think I will be accompanying them," Gast said gesturing so they would hold off from asking questions, "for reasons much too complicated to explain in the short time we have."
Vincent and the others just seemed to accept that from the professor.
"I'll get on it," Vincent said and ran inside.
After preparing everything they got everyone inside the building and gathered around the contraption that controlled their destination.
Aeris handed the key to Gast, "Put the key in the slot and set the dial to where we need to go."
Through a series of complicated steps Gast did so and stepped back, "That should do it."
"Alright," Cloud said, "let's go."
Cloud stepped into one of the tubes and Aeris stepped in with him.
"Here we are again," Aeris said smiling.
Gast stepped into the tube beside theirs and smiled, "It appears that I am traveling alone, then."
Aeris wrapped her arms around Cloud similarly to how she had when they had first made this trip.
"Vincent," Cloud said.
Vincent nodded.
"Good luck, I hope you turn out alright in the future in this existence," Cloud said.
It sounded strange but Vincent just smiled and nodded again.
"Lucrecia," Gast said, "if I don't return from this I want you to take over my projects, do with them as you wish."
She nodded.
"Alright, Hojo, hit the button," Gast said.
Hojo did so and the tubes closed.
"Let's hope we're going to the right place this time," Cloud muttered.
In a matter of seconds the three were gone.