Chapter 3: The Race
The lounge area was shockingly empty this afternoon. On a normal day, there would be 3rds all over the couches talking about their daily training and help around the building. Some 2nds would be finishing up their work for the day and taking a breather until group training started for those who didn't have a mentor. With nobody around, I had an entire couch to myself. I laid back on the worn leather material, kicking my feet up boots and all, and scrolled through the Shinra News folder. A few update messages from Reeve, the Director of the Urban Development Department, about reactor maintenance and sector buildings. Nothing interesting enough to delve into. Scarlet, of the Weapons Development Department, wants some volunteers from all branches of Shinra to test out some new materia her team has developed. Not interested in the slightest. The last group to test out her new materia had to get cleaned off of the walls because the result was too unstable.
"You look comfortable."
My phone fell to the ground as I jumped to my feet.
"Oh, it's just you." I said with disdain, "What do you want?"
White coat flowing behind him, the right hand cockroach of Professor Hojo came down the steps of the lounge area. He had a wicked smile just like his superior, like the world is his to play with and anybody he set eyes on was an experiment. Behind his back, Myrna and I called him Ugly Pup because of his disheveled ginger hair, sunken facial features, and bony body. His real name was Alexander.
"Rounding up the volunteers for Professor Hojo's experimental training program." He said, hands clasped behind his back, and green eyes locked onto me.
I rolled my eyes and sat back on the couch.
"Enjoy that. Now buzz off. You're ruining my break."
Alexander hung his head and chuckled, "I seem to recall you being on the list of volunteers."
"Uh… the hell I am! I'm not doing any kind of experiment for your psycho boss."
Not wanting to interact with him anymore than I already have, I stormed off down the hall. He was right on my heels, not put off at all with me actively trying to get away from him.
"It makes no difference who we test the program with. It's not like you're our first choice." He said breathlessly trying to keep up with me, "Your friend Myrna is on the list too, we could always just wait for her to come back and have her test it."
I stopped dead in my tracks. My blood boiling past the point of control. He took a step away from me as I gave him a murderous look for even mentioning my friends name.
"What do you need me to do?" I spat through clenched teeth.
He only smiled like the devil's incarnate that he was, and led the way for me to follow behind him.
Hojo was waiting for us in the Training Room. He was just finishing up entering the data for his program into the simulator when we walked through the door. The only time Hojo would ever smile is when he had a devious plan for an experiment, and his grin spread from ear to ear as he looked at me.
"How nice of you to join us, Senna Fair." He gestured to the simulator, "Please."
As I stepped into the simulator and grabbed a headset, I gave Hojo and Alexander a look.
"I want it on record that I'm only doing this under duress. This isn't my free choice to do."
"Of course, of course." Hojo waved off my statement and started the program.
I closed my eyes as I was thrown into the simulation. When the flashing lights faded from behind my eyelids, I opened them to see… nothing. It was dark. Very dark.
"Is there a reason I can't see anything?" I asked into the blackness.
"The first test is how you rely on other senses besides your vision. Find the way out in the shortest time possible." Hojo said into my ear.
"Excuse me?" I put my hands on my hips and glared, "The first test?"
"Clock is ticking, Senna Fair. Better hurry."
With an audible groan, I put my hands in front of me and started walking forward. I could only guess that he put me in a maze, so I felt around for a wall. The ground crunched beneath my feet, like broken glass on a wooden floor. In only a few steps, I felt an object in my way. It came up to my shoulders, and as I felt around the top of it, I ventured that it was a platform. I flawlessly jumped on top of it and looked around for a light that would show me the way out. There was nothing but the vast darkness of wherever I was.
Ok so… absolutely no sight whatsoever. Feeling my way out of here will take me way too long.
Closing my eyes, I concentrated on listening for a clue that would lead me out. I heard a whistle of air blowing, like what you would hear as the opening of a cave gets closer. That could be the way out. Carefully, I walked along the platform towards the sound. It shifted slightly with each step, like it was balancing on something, or hanging in midair. Deciding to go about this the smart way, I took my sword off my back and used it to test the area in front of me. The metal clanged around as I positioned it every which way in front of me, searching for objects or sudden drops in the floor. The pressure of a timer being put on me made me walk faster. I turned and avoided objects and walls in front of me as my blade tinged off them.
This test wasn't so bad. It was practically child's play. The cool chill of the rushing air gave me goosebumps as I got closer to it. I placed my sword back on my back and felt around for which way the air was going. It was almost deafening in my ears, but I couldn't feel it anywhere. The area was a dead end, no way up over the wall, and no crevice to crawl under. But the airflow was here!
"You're warm." Alexander said.
My lip curled in disgust as Alexander spoke in my ear. I didn't need his help. This was taking too long though, so I dropped to my hands and knees and felt around the ground. A fist sized hole near the wall blew my hand off the ground as I reached over it. There's no way that this was the exit. It was way too small to even think about jumping through, and I couldn't get my hands into it to dig it bigger. I stood up and felt above the hole, the aircurrent was strong enough to shoot my arm up, but I still didn't trust it. There was an empty potion vial in my item pouch from training this morning. I fished it out, held it over the rush of air, and let it go. There was no sound of it breaking off of anything or hitting a top, so maybe this was the way out. Taking a big gulp of air, I stepped into the gust and braced myself for a possible impact. The air screamed through my ears as I shot up like a bullet, then it stopped, and I felt like I was floating in water.
"Seven minutes and twenty-seven seconds... hmmm." Hojo said, "Not a bad time, but I expected better. Start the next phase of the test."
A white light surrounded me and I was thrown into the next simulation. They placed me in a plain concrete hallway. No doors or windows anywhere. The lack of anything made me feel almost claustrophobic.
"This next program will test your agility and reaction time. Good luck."
That was it? Just a good luck?! That didn't tell me anything about what to expect. Not that they would tell me anyway, but still! I heaved a heavy sigh and decided to just walk down the never ending hallway. Something glinted in the distance. I put a wary hand on the handle of my sword, slowing my steps to a slower pace. The object flew through the hallway at lightning speed. All I could see was a metal blur as I dropped to the floor. It whizzed past my head with a loud whistle and continued down the hallway.
What the hell?
I barely had time to react as three more blurs came screaming down the hall. They came in a horizontal line, blocking the middle.
"Oh screw this." I said as I held my sword in front of me to block the objects.
The second they came in contact with my blade, they exploded in a burst of fire. The impact of the explosion violently threw me down the hall. My arm scraped along the concrete floor as I attempted to stop from rolling over myself any further. Black soot covered my face and I was overcome with the smell of black powder.
"Ugghh… what was that?" I groaned as I got to my feet with a wobble, "Are you assholes seriously launching missiles at me?!"
"You were warned that it was an agility test." Alexander said with slight amusement tainting his voice.
I shook my head to try and stop the ringing in my ears from the explosions. They could have warned me all they wanted about what kind of test this was, that's still no excuse to launch missiles at me! My sword laid up the hallway, smoke still rolling off the blade. Not wasting anymore time, I ran to grab it, avoiding the start of the missiles as they came one at a time towards me. There was no logic with how they were placed in the simulation. Almost like they were actively trying to hit me. Some would move sporadically around the hall, others would have a straight shot through. The random flow made it impossible for me to adjust and figure out a pattern to avoid them. I jumped, ducked, spun, and slid through them like a messed up game of limbo. My joints were aching after all the acrobatics, and my lungs were dying for me to catch my breath after running for so long. I stopped and slouched over to breathe.
A new round of missiles glinted in the distance. There was no way to dodge the formation that came towards me. A giant, angry star shape blocked the way forward. In the mere seconds I had, I couldn't see a logical way to dodge it.
"Oh you're kidding me…" I breathed in disbelief.
Putting my faith into a Hail Mary maneuver, I held my sword in front of me, and waited for the missiles to reach me. Body shaking, and sweat forming on my brow, my blade sliced through the on coming missiles. The shards of the cut missiles fanned out and collided with the others in the formation. The hallway exploded in dust, smoke, and fire. I dropped to the floor in the fetal position, covering my face and neck to protect them from shrapnel and flames. Fire licked my skin, burning off the hairs on my arms. Sweat evaporated before it even had the chance to run down my skin or soak through my uniform. When the fire stopped, there was nothing but smoke in the air. I coughed as it burned it's way down my throat when I finally took a breath.
"What a finish!" Alexander yelled, "Are you still alive in there? We can't see."
"Yeah… I'm alive." I coughed.
"97 of 100 missiles avoided, if you even want to count that last charade." Hojo clicked his tongue, "Could have been better for SOLDIER, but I'll accept it."
"Hey what's this simulation even for? This is like a training program for 3rds or Infantrymen. I expected something more difficult from you."
The hallway disappeared in a blinding white light and I was standing in the simulation room again. Hojo and Alexander looked back and forth from the computer screen to their clipboards, scribbling like mad men and mumbling to themselves. I hung up the headset and walked out of the simulator.
"Is that it?" I asked.
They ignored me, still pouring over their data. I took a step closer and knocked on the computer screen.
"Was that the whole thing?" I asked with a tad bit of venom in my voice.
"Hm?" Hojo looked up from his work, scowl on his face, "Why are you still here? Go, we don't need you anymore."
His tone and attitude threw me through a short loop. I put my hands up and backed away like a scolded child.
"Don't gotta tell me twice." I said, "Later."
With that, I walked out of the Training Room, leaving them to their devices. Although I was slightly curious why that simulation was so simple and needed a tester right then and there. Hojo had a reputation for creating the most haneus and gut wrenching programs in the entire Shinra company. That was nothing more than a first level training program to get your feet wet as a newbie. Hardly anything worth writing home about for a science genius. But what did I know? I'm just a SOLDIER grunt, not a scientist.
Going down through the floors, the elevator filled to the brim with employees either going home, or dropping off packages or files on another floor. I picked loose skin off my lips with my fingers as I huddled in the corner. Crowded areas made me uncomfortable in the worst way. Usually I'm lucky enough to avoid the shift change crowd, either by being later than them or early. Guess today just wasn't my day. Seriously though, there were at least twenty elevators in this building, why was this the one that gets overloaded? When the doors slid open, I took my chance and pushed my way out of the crowd onto whatever floor we landed on. Some gave me dirty looks as I pushed without a care, I just wanted out. When the door closed the crowd behind me, I finally felt like I was able to breathe again. Finding an empty elevator would be my cup of tea for sure. The one across from the one I came out of opened, and only one person stepped out of it, leaving the rest wide open with nobody else inside.
Perfect!
I practically jumped into it and hit the button for the lobby. Before the doors closed, I heard footsteps running towards it and someone yell, "Hey! Hold the door!" My hand reacted before I could think about it and I held the door open for whoever was running towards it. They must have been running late for something if they couldn't pick one of the other elevators. He ran inside and also hit the button for the lobby. In a hurry to clock out I guess.
"Thanks!" He said with a smile, helmet hiding his face, "Oh hey, you're the girl from earlier."
He must have guessed from my confused look that I had no idea what he was talking about, so he took off his helmet. Unnaturally spiky blonde hair, and blue eyes glowing in the lights. I recognized him instantly.
"Hey, Cloud right? Fancy meeting you here. Where's your buddy at?"
"He's in one of the other elevators. It was way too crowded for me to get in."
I knew that feeling all too well.
"Shift change, am I right?" I joked, "Why were you in such a hurry to get to this one though?"
Cloud scratched the back of his head and looked away from me.
"We have a bet going." He said shyly.
"Oh?"
"It's more of a race really. Last one to the BBQ place on Loveless Ave has to pay the bill. Noctis usually always wins."
"Hmmm." I tapped my chin a couple times as I thought of a game plan. "What are the rules of this race?"
"Uh-Well there's not any rules really." Cloud said with a bit of hesitation.
Ideas started forming in my head to get him to the restaurant as fast as possible. Noctis playing dirty by taking a crowded elevator would slow him down some since there would be many stops along the way, and I couldn't just leave Cloud hanging. Nooo I was involved now since I held the elevator door open for him. He jumped when I clapped my hands together.
"Alright!" I yelled, "I'm gonna get you to that restaurant, Cloud, and Noctis is gonna pay for both of us!"
Blush crept onto his cheeks.
"You don't gotta do that-"
"Sure I do. I held the door open for you, that involves me immediately." I pushed the button for the parking garage, and gave Cloud a thumbs up, "I gotchya covered, Cloud."
The door dinged open and I rushed out into the parking garage, Cloud close behind me. There were no details shared in the elevator on what I planned to do, so he was completely in the dark. We darted through the cars to a closed off area. I flashed my keycard to the scanner, and the doors opened. Adrenaline surged through me as six bikes sat parked in the dark garage.
"Uhh..Senna?" Cloud said, "What exactly is your plan here?"
I turned to him, my eyes practically burning with excitement.
"These bikes are reserved for SOLDIER members. Some choose to use them all the time and ride them home and to work, but the rest of us leave them here in case we really need them. And we really need to use one." I said quickly and hopped onto one of the bikes.
Cloud stood by the door, awkwardly looking around like he didn't know what to do.
"Time's wasting, Cloud. Hop on and let's go!" He looked the bike over, then looked back at me. I couldn't tell if he was scared, or just didn't want to ride with me, "Oh come on, don't tell me you're afraid."
"I'm just not used to being the passenger is all."
"Ohhh, well welcome to the world of tough and shit. Now get on. I won't bite."
With a sigh, Cloud put his helmet on and climbed onto the back of the bike. I started it up and revved the engine. For months I've been waiting for the right excuse to use this, even though I didn't technically need one, why risk ruining a perfectly good bike just to come to work?
"Hold on tight!" I yelled over the roar of the engine and took off out of the garage.
The wind rushing past my ears and tangling my hair as it blew behind me felt amazing! I weaved in and out of traffic, not wanting to slow down for even a second. The day they trained us to ride these bikes, I knew I would be a speed demon. Cloud didn't seem too disturbed as he held onto the back of the bike. Every now and then I would take a glance behind me to make sure he was alright. Stone faced and stiff, not in a worried way, but making sure he kept his balance and leaned the way I leaned so as not to knock the bike off balance. Clearly he knew how to ride a bike if he was being such a good passenger.
A line of trucks blocked the passing lanes on the highway. None of them seemed like they were gonna be passing the other anytime soon, so I switched gears and hit the throttle to go faster. I weaved through the traffic to get to the end lane and as I came up on the trucks, I knocked it into high gear and rode along the edge of the wall. We were practically parallel with the top of the truck trailer. I could have reached out and signed my name on the dust if I wanted to. The driver honked his horn as I passed by him and settled back onto the road.
"How you doing back there?" I yelled over the bike.
Cloud was silent for a moment before saying, "Is this all the faster you can go?"
Shaking my head, I smiled and sped the bike up as fast as it allowed me to go. He wanted to go fast? We would go fast. Vehicles passed by us in a blur. There was no way anybody even knew what was passing them by as we screamed down the highway. When I came up on Loveless Ave though, I had to slow down. Too many pedestrians around, and I wasn't about to hit someone. I parked in front of the BBQ place and shut the bike off.
"I think we beat him. What do you think?" I said, looking back to Cloud.
His face was tinted red from the onslaught of wind, but he had a smile on his face.
"I think we did." He said, and took off his helmet.
Moments later, a truck pulled up with Noctis sitting in the bed. He gave us an incredulous look as he hopped out.
"How did you get here before me?" He asked Cloud.
I raised my hand before he could answer.
"Cloud told me about your little race, so I figured I would help him out and give him a ride." I said.
Noctis looked quickly between the two of us and pouted.
"That's so not fair!" He whined, "Using a SOLDIER to help you win a race, ridiculous."
I climbed off the bike and walked to the restaurant doors, gesturing to Noctis behind me.
"Cry to someone who cares. You lost, and I'm hungry." I opened the door and turned back to them, "So let's go. You're paying for all of us!"
Cloud chuckled and walked into the building, Noctis following behind him mumbling complaints under his breath.