I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of the characters.
Reprisal
Cody ran out of the bar and stopped, staring up at the support pillar holding Sector Seven's plate up. There was a helicopter flying around the plate, its main gun illuminating it every few seconds as it shot the safety locks running up it that would stop the plate from collapsing, even if the plate was manually released fro the others. The safety locks had been built on the pillar by people living in the slums, and therefor couldn't be controlled by Shinra, and likely wouldn't hold it for long, just long enough to evacuate in the event of a structural failure. Except, the helicopter was shooting them off.
"I don't believe it," Cody said. "They're going to drop the plate!"
Already people were scrambling to react. Men were grabbing guns and sprinting toward the base of the plate, women were grabbing their children and making for the gate leading to the next sector. Cody grit his teeth, fists clenched and body trembling with rage. This was too much. He had to do something. But he only had one option that might work. He needed to buy time by giving them a different target.
"We've gotta go!" Barret shouted.
"Right!" Jessie said.
"Go," Cody said. "I need to grab something from my apartment, then I'll meet you two on the tower. Be ready for them to send reinforcements. Right now, it's just two Turks. Soon it'll be an entire Shinra Army battalion."
"Right!" Barret nodded, turning and sprinting away.
"Don't keep a girl waiting!" Jessie called over her shoulder.
Cody nodded and turned, sprinting to his apartment, opening his closet and taking out his clean, pressed, mothballed suit. He had kept it on a whim, and now he was glad he did. He laid it out and walked into the bathroom, wetting his messy hair and putting a very small amount of gel into it, sweeping it back and to the right, his hair remembering its normal style from while he was in the Turks and retaking its proper appearance, even after months of being a rat's nest. Once his hair had been taken care of, he shaved quickly, holding his breath to do it, then rinsed his face, dried it, and put his mask back on. Then, he put his suit on quickly. Once his suit was on, including his gloves, the left with small, black, metal plates on the inside of it and the right fingerless, he looked in the mirror and straightened his tie, sighing. He had actually missed wearing a suit. he looked out at the pillar as something exploded. He had taken about ten minutes total. Not his best time to get ready, but much better than if he hadn't spent almost half his life wearing his suit.
He left his apartment, sprinting toward the pillar, summoning his gunblade from its sealing materia on the way. Then, as he reached the pillar, he jumped, holding his gunblade behind him and pulling the trigger. An explosion erupted from the cylinder, the force of the blast launching him through the air before he flipped, landing on the stairs three levels up, touching down just behind two Shinra troops who were about to kill a man Cody recognized as a part of the Neighborhood watch, but whose name he'd never learned. Cody spun, slashing both across the back the moment he landed and killed both.
"Evacuation duty!" Cody said. "Go now! Take anyone still alive below you!"
The man nodded and turned, sprinting down the tower as Cody continued up it, taking the stairs two at a time. He reached a flat platform that wrapped around the pillar as several Shinra troops finished the last of the Sector Seven residents on the tower and spun toward him. However, he wasn't in the mood to mess around. He held his sword behind him and squeezed the trigger, the explosion hurling him forward in the air. Then, he swung his sword around in front of him, the blade held out to his side, and squeezed again, a second explosion sending him spinning in a blur. He held the blade out in front of himself instantly and buzz-sawed his way through the group, slaughtering them all before slamming his feet and left hand into the ground, the metal on his glove and the soles of his shoes sparking against the metal floor of the platform, allowing him to safely skid to a stop in seconds. Then, he was off again, sprinting back to the stairs and continuing upward. As he rounded the corner, an explosion went off ahead of him, Wedge being blasted through a railing and falling. Biggs staggered out of the smoke at a wounded run, bullets flying after him but missing. Cody sprinted past him just as the smoke began to thin and rapidly killed the three troops left standing. Biggs sighed, leaning heavily against a support beam.
"You made it," Biggs said. "Nice sword. You look good all cleaned up."
"Head down the tower," Cody said. "See if Wedge is alright and help with the evacuation, both of you."
"Now that you're here, absolutely," Biggs said. "You've got this handled. Jessie and Barret are near the top. And there's two Turks in a chopper goin at it with Barret, last I saw."
"Leave them to me," Cody said. "Get going."
Biggs nodded and Cody turned, seeing a Helitrooper, a Shinra troop with propeller gauntlets to allow them to fly, rising quickly up the tower. He jumped over the railing, grabbing the trooper around the waist before putting his blade to his throat.
"You want to live, you'll fly me up the pillar until I say stop, then you'll leave," Cody said. "If you want to see your family, or live long enough to have one, go now!"
The Helitrooper held both arms over his head, the propellers spinning rapidly as they quickly ascended. Cody watched the floors carefully, looking for survivors. So far, he found no survivors from the Sector Seven residents. Then, finally, he found a small group.
"Stop here!" he said.
The Helitrooper flew him to the platform and he slashed the Helitrooper's throat, jumping to the floor as the Shinra troops spun to him, the Sector Seven residents all fleeing. Cody used his gunblade to explode forward, once again using his buzz-saw technique to slaughter the Shinra troops. As he skidded to a stop, the Sector Seven residents sprinted out of cover, grabbing weapons.
"All of you stay here!" Cody said. "When the other guy with a sword and blonde hair gets here, it'll be safe to go down the tower and evacuate!"
"Fuck that!" one of the men said. "We're going to help defend our sector!"
"This plate is coming down!" Cody snapped. "We're stalling for time to evacuate! Just do as I say!"
They hesitated before nodding. Cody turned, glancing at the stairs and seeing the stairs leading up had been destroyed, so he sprinted to the back of the catwalk running around the pillar, scrambling up the ladder there before resummoning his gunblade, slashing a pair of drones that had moved to attack him, then sprinting for the stairs, carving his way through a handful of basic Shinra troops and a grenadier on his way. Then, he was sprinting up the stairs again, reaching the next level in time to slash through a propeller gauntlet, splitting a Helitrooper's arm in half to the elbow. He stepped forward, splitting them across the chest before holding his sword pointed backward at his left side, pulling the trigger and launching himself forward in a blurred spin yet again, splitting two more Helitroopers as he passed between them, then slashing through a riot trooper's shield and torso both before skidding to a stop and slashing the wounded riot trooper up the back.
"Testing, testing," Reno said over a loudspeaker suddenly, his and Rude's helicopter down about a third of the way up the pillar now, shining their spotlight at it someone. "Attention AVALANCHE scum. We know all about your evil plans to destroy the pillar. But the Turks-uh-but Shinra, that's us, won't let you get away with it. So go crawl back into whatever whole you crawled out of, or something! That aught to do it, right?"
Cody looked down at them just as they opened fire at whoever was on the stairs, their bullets chasing whoever it was up the stairs to the next level before stopping, continuing to slam into a rack filled with thick pipes. Cody shook his head. If he had to guess who that was, it was Cloud. Cody looked up the tower at another helicopter three levels up. He needed to get the Turks attention, and blowing up that helicopter would probably do it. He turned to the stairs sprinting up it and slashing the lone Shinra officer there, then sprinted around the catwalk to the ladder, reaching it in time to grab the back of a Shinra troop's belt as he was climbing up it, then yank, hurling him over the edge of the catwalk. He quickly began to climb the ladder.
"Throw down your weapon and surrender," Rude's voice ordered what Cody assumed to be Cloud. "Shinra does not negotiate with Terrorists."
"No, they just stage attacks for them," Cody growled.
Then, Reno was shooting again. Cody reached the top of the ladder and dove forward out of the way of a spray of bullets, whipping his hand out to the side and sending a fira into the two soldiers, the explosion hurling one through the railing while the other crashed into the pillar, horribly burned and unconscious. Cody resummoned his gunblade and sprinted around the pillar finding a pair riot troopers heading up the stairs. Both died the instant he reached them, and he rounded the corner in the stairs, skidding to a stop on the next level when he saw a dozen troops, all of them instantly aiming at him. However, they stopped as an explosion suddenly lurched the tower from the level above, several Shinra troops screaming. Cody's eyes widened.
"Jessie!" he gasped, just as the helicopter he meant to destroy, which had risen a few levels, began to descend. "Dammit! I do not have time for this!" He yanked his mask down as the other troops turned back to him. "Get the hell out of my way!"
He grabbed his gunblade's hilt with both hands, pulling it back on his right and pulling the trigger. The explosion launched him forward and when he reached the troops, he slashed, splitting two completely in half at the diaphragm, then flipped, sending a blast ahead of himself to both stop himself from flying, and blast the troop at the back, the only officer, directly, killing him. His feet hit the ground and he pulled the trigger again as he slashed, his sword flashing around and splitting the three riot troops' shields, one of them being slashed across the side in the process and staggering away. He flipped his sword over so the blade was the other way and pivoted to his right as he squeezed, launching himself forward while slashing a horizontal arc, killing the other two riot troops and the two basic troops and one grenadier on his right side in one slash. As he spun, the three uninjured troops began to flee, along with the wounded riot troop, only for Cody to launch himself after them, his momentum beginning to die out just behind them and allowing him to slash all four across the back, then flip, landing on his feet and skid to a stop. Then, he spun, sprinting to the railing and leaping off the top of it while using a blast from his gunblade to fling himself into the air in front of the helicopter, just as its spotlight found Jessie. His momentum died in front of the chopper and he flipped, slashing downward. Just as his gunblade breached the glass and was aimed into the chopper, he pulled the trigger, the entire helicopter erupting into a fireball as he was hurled backward onto Jessie's level. He flipped backward, landing on his feet and skidding backward in a low crouch before standing, turning to his left to look back at her.
"Are you okay?" Cody asked.
"You made it!" Jessie sighed, putting the blue grenade in her hand away.
"Of course," Cody smiled, eyes softening slightly as he thought, I'll always be here to protect you, Jessie.
Jessie's eyes widened slowly as she stared into his before softening again as she smiled. "Always, huh?"
Cody's eyes widened in surprise just before he inhaled and winced as his lungs throbbed sharply. Jessie stepped forward, pulling his mask up for him, then cupped his face and pulled his head down so she could place a lingering kiss on his forehead. As she pulled back, she smiled.
"You clean up really well," Jessie said.
Cody smiled. "Well, I can't exactly play the hero looking like a homeless drunk, can I?"
"You probably still would have been able to at least get the girl," she smiled.
Reno looked up as the helicopter several levels above them exploded, frowning. "What the hell? Hey, Rude, did you just see someone jump from that helicopter as it exploded?"
"I didn't," Rude said, just as his phone buzzed. He looked at it and frowned. "It seems we've lost control of the top floor."
"Seriously?" Reno asked. "Our guys are struggling to deal with these assholes?"
"So it would seem," Rude said. "In any event, we may have to intervene personally."
"Whatever," Reno sighed. "Let's check out that level on the way. See who took down a chopper so completely."
Rude nodded as Reno brought them up to just above that level, shining the spotlight on the two people there.
"Oh, hey," Reno said. "It's that girl. The cute one from that video they were playing on the news. Huh?" He stopped, leaning forward and squinting as he stared at the man she was standing in front of, both ignoring Reno and Rude. he could see the suit, and the sword in the man's right hand. "Wait, I know that sword! I don't fucking believe it! What the hell is he doing here!?"
"And in a suit, no less," Rude said. "He's not hiding at all. Now that I think about it, there were reports of a man with a mask who was extremely good with a gun assaulting a munitions factory a couple days ago. But the reports were deemed unreliable since anyone actually involved in the fight was killed, besides on SOLDIER, who failed to make an accurate report, instead going on and on about dancing and engines, so no one paid it much attention."
Reno scoffed. "You mean to tell me that the man most likely to join an anti-Shinra organization after going rogue, was hiding from us by actively fighting us? That's just stupid! Isn't there a standing order to terminate him?"
"There is," Rude nodded.
"Hey boss," Reno said after flipping on the inter-aircraft radio."
"What is it?" Tseng asked.
"You won't believe who just took the stage in our little play," Reno said. "Cissnei's old partner, Cody."
"Interesting," Tseng said.
"Should we terminate?" Rude asked.
"The current operation takes priority," Tseng said. "However, if he gets in the way, deal with him as necessary, just make sure the plate comes down."
"Understood," Rude said.
"Why aren't they shooting us yet?" Jessie asked.
"They're asking permission," Cody said. "Jessie, you need to leave, now. We're not going to win this. Get out of Sector Seven. I'll find you when this is all over."
"You'd better," Jessie said, reaching up and kissing him on the forehead again before turning and sprinting for the stairs.
Cody turned to the helicopter just as the PA System turned on.
"Long time no see, Cody," Reno's voice said.
Cody pointed his gunblade at them, then lowered it and beckoned them closer with his free hand.
"This mother fucker," Reno said. "He wants to have a chat."
The helicopter began to move closer and Cody launched himself up to the helicopter's skid, the helicopter swaying for a moment before steadying out. Inside, Reno twisted around and nodded for the Shinra Officer riding in the helicopter as an emergency sniper to open the door. Once he did, Cody flipped up off of the skid, then used a blast to throw himself into the helicopter. He stood, looking to the officer, who had his helmet off and a headset on. He held his hand out and the officer looked to Reno and Rude, Reno lasily waving a hand over his shoulder. The officer pulled the headset off, handing it to Cody, who held the left earcup up to his head so that the microphone was in front of his mask.
"It's been a long time Reno, Rude," Cody said. "Still have a standing order to kill me?"
"That's right," Rude nodded.
"What the hell are you doing here, Cody?" Reno asked.
Cody glanced down at his gunblade. "Walking a better path." he turned, calmly stabbing the officer through the heart, the officer's eyes widening as he gasped for breath for a moment before slumping forward.
"Was that really necessary?" Reno asked.
"Meet me on the top floor of the pillar," Cody said. "And don't keep me waiting. You know what will happen if you do."
Then, he dropped the headset and dropped out of the helicopter, using his gunblade to launch himself back to the level he'd saved Jessie on, turning and continuing up the stairs as Reno and Rude rose past him. He heard Barret shouting in rage as his Gatling gun began to fire again, and after a moment, Cody reached the top, seeing Barret standing behind highly explosive tanks as cover, shooting at the helicopter, which was shooting back.
"I ain't done with you yet!" Barret shouted. "Yo hear me!? Think you can come up in here, do what you want, and we're gonna take it!?"
"Barret!" Cody called out, walking calmly toward him.
"Get your ass behind cover!" Barret shouted. "That chopper's gonna chew you up!"
Cody looked to the chopper as it stopped shooting. Then, Reno dropped out of it, landing on his feet, baton in hand, just as Tifa sprinted up onto the top floor, stopping.
"Stay back," Cody said. "This one's mine."
"Good," Reno said. "You're a traitor, and you killed your own partner on the way out! I'm gunna enjoy beating you into a bloody mess!"
He streaked forward, leaving a streak of blue light and electricity in his wake before his baton began to clash with Cody's blade rapidly, Cody shuffling backward as he fended off Reno's assault, blocking any punches or kicks with the flat of his blade before finally spinning around as downward swipe from Reno's baton and slashing, forcing him to flip backward over the blade, then leap away from a second slash.
"I didn't kill Cissnei," Cody said. "I loved her. but when we failed to save Zack, she couldn't handle it, so she used her poison capsule to follow him."
"Sure she did," Reno said sarcastically. "There's no way I'm buying that load of shit! Cissnei was more loyal and tougher than any of us! You killed her to cover your tracks!"
Cody sighed. "I see. So you loved her too, then."
"Don't try and turn this around!" Reno snarled. "I'll kill you for what you did to her!"
"Fine," Cody sighed. "If you won't listen to me, then I have no more words for you. I won't let you bring down this plate, and I won't let you hurt anyone else. Let's finish this."
"Thought you'd never ask!" Reno smirked.
Cody pulled his gunblade back on his left side and squeezed the trigger, exploding forward at the same time as Reno did, once again leaving a blue streak behind himself. As they passed each other, Cody slashed, his sword clashing against Reno's baton with a loud crash before Cody skidded to a stop, turning around as he did, and Reno did the same, holding up his newly broken baton.
"Well, how do you like that," Reno smirked. "You've gotten better."
"Yes, I have," Cody said, holding his gunblade up in front of himself, Reno's eyes widening as he saw blood running down the edge slowly.
Reno looked down at his left side, seeing a gash in his jacket and blood beginning to stain his shirt from a gash in his side. "Shit. You actually got me. That sucks."
He let out a tired laugh just before falling to his knees, sucking in a raspy breath before falling forward. A second later, Cody spun to the helicopter as Barret finally got several good shots at the base of the propeller and it exploded into flames, the helicopter swerving then flipping and crashing to the ground behind Reno, exploding into a ball of flames.
"Shit," Reno wheezed, reaching out slowly to the glasses lying on the ground in front of him. "Rude."
Just then, the door of the helicopter burst open and Rude walked over, kneeling and resting a hand on Reno's shoulder, taking the glasses. Reno chuckled weakly.
"Clipped your...wings...huh?" Reno rasped.
"I was planning to join you anyway," Rude said, pulling his right sleeve up and revealing a bangle filled with different kinds of materia, similar to Cody's, but with less in it.
A green one flashed, and Reno shone bright green for a second before standing, inspecting his fully healed side.
"Thanks partner," Reno said. "I think I'll have to repay him for ruining my suit too, now."
"He broke your baton," Rude said.
"That's not a problem," Reno said, pulling the sides of his jacket open and displaying a dozen more in pockets stitched into the inside of it. "Now, which should I choose? Ah, here we go. Let's go for something a little stronger." He pulled out a new baton and extending it, electricity instantly snapping and crackling as it lit up the entire length of the baton above the handle.
"Bring it on, punks!" Barret shouted, aiming at them.
"Barret, you're done here," Cody said.
"Excuse me!?" Barret demanded. "I just shot down a damn helicopter!"
"Exactly," Cody said. "Now that both of them are on foot and able to maneuver as needed to avoid your bullets instead of being big, slow-moving targets, you're officially of no use."
"Say that again!" Barret challenged.
"I'm saying it as a friend who wants you to live," Cody said. "You can't win this fight. Leave this to the two of us."
"Three," Cloud said, finally stepping up beside Cody, sword in-hand.
"What kept you?" Cody asked.
"I was making sure your girlfriend got off the tower safely," Cloud said.
"Thanks for that," Cody smiled. "Well Reno, Rude? Still feel like playing?"
"The more the merrier," Reno said, streaking forward.
Cloud slashed as he neared him, Reno flipping over the strike, landing on his feet and blocking several slashes from Cody before jumping and flipping, slamming a kick into his chest and throwing him back. At the same time, Rude and Tifa passed, rapidly trading blows, though Cody could tell Rude was hesitating. That was good. It would give Tifa a slight advantage. His attention was yanked firmly back to the present as Reno's baton crashed into his gut, only for him to twist his sword arm and squeeze the trigger, the blast spinning him and splitting Reno up the front. Reno shouted in pain, flying into the air, before one of two green materia on the bottom of his baton flashed and he healed. He flipped backward, and landed on his feet, glancing at the control system that could authorize the plate's release from the rest of Midgar. As damaged at the pillar was, if it was released, it would buckle under the weight of the plate. He shot toward the controls and Cody sent himself flying at Reno, slashing Reno pressed a single key before smashing his baton into the underside of Cody's blade, deflecting it upward before flipping backward, kicking Cody over him as well. He pressed a second before ducking under Cloud's sword, slamming his baton into him several times, then jumped and spun, slamming a reverse spinning kick into Cloud's chest as his baton pressed another key. As he landed on his feet, he pressed two more, then spun, fending off several slashes from Cody, then dropped, spinning and tripping him. He pressed another before batting Cloud's sword aside, then jabbing his baton into Cloud's gut, electrocuting him. Cloud shouted in pain before Reno push kicked him away, then spun aside from Cody's blade. Cody stepped forward, squeezing his trigger and using the blast to slash at Reno, only for him to flip over it, smashing the baton down onto Cody's left shoulder as he landed, pressing a key, then kicking Cody away and pressing four more.
"Plate separation authorized," the computer said in a synthetic female voice. "Awaiting confirmation."
"Got it!" Reno grinned, then streaked away from the controls as Barret shot at him, reaching Barret before Barret had time to react and beginning to beat him with his baton. After a moment, he leapt backward out of the way of Cloud's sword, then smirked. "All that's left is to hit the big red button, and this show's over."
"You're not going to get the chance," Cody said. "Either of you."
Just then, Rude slammed a kick into Tifa, hurling her into Cloud, who caught her, then made a break for the controls. Cody launched himself at Rude, but Reno stepped into his way, swiping at him. Cody's sword blocked it and Cody flipped, pushing off of Reno's head with his free hand to flip, slamming both feet into Rude's back and hurling him away from the controls. Then, as he landed, he held his sword in front of himself, blasting himself backward and exploding into Reno as he tried to attack, hurling him backward as Cody skidded to a stop. Rude lunged for the controls again and Cody moved to charge, only for Reno to fire a ball of lightning into his back. Cody shouted in pain, collapsing, only for the broad side of Cloud's blade to crash into Rude's face, knocking him away from the controls and toward Tifa, who jumped and slammed a kick into his face, throwing him to the side. Cody stood and turned to Reno as Reno stood, huffing.
"You really are annoying little pests," Reno said. "Let's go!"
He and Cody both charged, their weapons clashing rapidly and loudly as they fought. This time, however, Reno wasn't trying as hard to avoid attacks, receiving small cuts and gashes every so often. Then, he swept Cody's feet just in time to flip away from Cloud's blade, which crashed into Cody's blade as Cody stopped Cloud from accidentally splitting him in half. Reno instantly began to beat Cloud back rapidly with his baton, fist, feet, elbows, and knees, finally throwing him with a kick to the gut in time for Cody to use a blast from his gunblade to swing it upward in reverse grip, the back side of the blade shattering Reno's jaw and flipping him backward to the ground, out cold. He looked up jst as Tifa cried out in pain, flying away from a kick from Rude before Rude slammed a fist down on the button. An alarm began to scream instantly.
"Plate separation authorized," the computer said. "Evacuate immediately."
"Five minutes left," Rude said.
Cody sprinted forward, allowing Rude to pass by unhindered, as he sprinted to the computer, beginning to type. However, after a moment, Tseng appeared on the screen He looked exactly as Cody remembered, except that his hair had grown to his waist.
"Don't waste what little time you have, Cody," Tseng said. "As soon as we noticed your codes were used to open a door in Reactor One, we removed your clearance. We allowed you to continue working for them to try and draw you all out. I suppose this will work just as well."
"You can't do this!" Tifa shouted as she and Cloud stepped up on either side of Cody.
"Tifa!" a female voice shouted as a woman with brown hair in a ponytail held by a pink bow, soot and ash dirtying her face, and a pink dress under a red leather jacket appeared on screen. "I found Marlene!"
"Aerith!" Tifa gasped.
"Marlene?" Barret asked. "My Marlene!? What'd you do with her!?"
Tifa turned Barret toward her, shaking her head.
"Where are you!?" Cloud asked.
"I'm at the-" Aerith stopped as Tseng waved a hand and she was pulled away from the screen by a pair of Shinra troops.
"Your activities unwittingly brought you into contact with the Ancient, who is now back in our custody, where she belongs," Tseng said. "For this, you have my sincerest gratitude."
"She's a person!" Cody snapped. "She doesn't belong in our custody! She belongs wherever the hell she damn-well chooses!"
"You never did approve of our interest in her, did you?" Tseng mused. "No matter. You have more imposing matters to attend to. The sector in which you stand has been condemned." Tseng held a finger to his lips.
"Run!" Aerith shouted. "You have to go now!"
"And where exactly do you expect them to go?" Tseng asked, smirking.
Then, the screen switched back to the red alert as the computer resumed its siren and warnings just as there was an explosion above them, chunks of metal and embers from fires falling. "Total plate separation imminent. Evacuate immediately."
"Shit!" Cody swore as there was another blast above them. "They're using bombs to speed up the process! We have seconds!" He flinched and looked up as several massive explosions went off around the top of the pillar, gigantic chunks of steal beams and struts crashing down around them, along with chunks of burning metal. "There! Zipline!"
He pointed to a cable designed to transport cargo, but which could be used as a zipline, if you didn't mind risking broken bones, and they all sprinted for it, dodging falling metal along the way. There were two brackets for cargo to be attached. Barret grabbed one, Cloud all but hurling Tifa, who had been unresponsive an on her knees until he began to drag her, at Barret, who wrapped his gun arm around her to hold him, pushing off. Cloud leapt onto his back as he shot away from the pillar and Cody followed immediately behind them on the other bracket. They sped down the line as explosions tore along the pillar before blooming across the entirety of the Sector Seven plate like giant, horrible flowers opening in a wave spreading outward from the pillar until it had consumed the entirety of the plate. Cody looked ahead of them as best he could, seeing a massive metal gate closing to try to keep the inevitable explosion and debris from the now falling plate from going into the next sector, whichever they were heading for, but it wasn't going to close in time. Or, at least, he hoped not, because if it closed in time, they wouldn't make it. Then, at the last second before it was closed, the four of them slipped through as it was about four feet open, Cody feeling the wind from passing between them too close, then again as he whipped past over a playground, barely a foot higher than the four foot domed playground equipment. Then, just as he cast Barrier on the four of them, they crashed tot he ground at the same time as the plate, a massive explosion and a wave of debris chasing them through the gap between the metal walls, followed immediately by a wall of dust and scaldingly hot air.
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