Cloud, Tifa, and Cid were able to make their way down to the main bridge using the emergency lighting. The lights around the bridge leading to the mako chamber room were a little brighter and Tifa could see all the way across.
Being in this room reminded her of the time she watched her father die in her arms on this very bridge after Sephiroth burnt down her hometown. Although the memory no longer brought tears to her eyes, she would never be able to forget. It didn't take long for Tifa's wondering thoughts revert to her main objective, tracking down Miles and Genesis.
Suddenly, three entities emerged from the main room located across the bridge. Thanks to her improved eyesight, Tifa could make them out in the dim lighting. They were two unknown men and an unknown woman, all wielding weapons.
Spotting them, the dark-haired male and the woman jumped high into the air with their swords drawn. The big man rushed towards them on the narrow catwalk with his huge sword raised high above his head.
Cid and Cloud drew their weapons while Tifa raised her fists. She was expecting to be attacked first by the big man running towards her due to being closest to him but to her surprise the man avoided her and went straight towards Cloud. She turned around to see Cloud fighting the big man and the woman simultaneously while Cid was blocking blows from the dark-haired man with his spear. It was like their attackers didn't even know she was there.
Tifa was about to go to help Cloud when she suddenly stopped and looked towards the entrance to the mako chamber room. She knew she should help her friends, but the thought of confronting Miles was drawing her towards that room and the feeling was starting to overpower her. Without looking back, Tifa suddenly took off across the catwalk leaving her friends fighting a one-sided battle.
"Tifa!" Cloud called out in the midst of fending off two attackers.
"Where's she goin'?" Cid called out to Cloud using his spear to throw back the dark-haired man.
"I don't know, but I need to get to her," Cloud said as he blocked the male attacker's blow with his sword while kicking the woman in the torso causing her to fly a few feet back.
"Leave them to me," Cid told Cloud. "You go find Tifa."
Cid planned to draw the SOLDIER's outside the reactor where they had reinforcements, but first he needed a distraction. Cid then proceeded to jump away from the dark-haired man onto the catwalk above and lit a cigarette.
"Hey, up here!" he called out to the three SOLDIERs.
The two fighting Cloud did not pay much attention to Cid as they focused on Cloud. The dark-haired man was about to jump up towards the captain when Cid pulled out a stick of dynamite and lit it with his smoke. Upon seeing this, the dark-haired man to stop in his tracks.
The other two SOLDIER's had Cloud surrounded on the narrow bridge with one on either side of him. Seeing what Cid was doing, Cloud jumped just as his two attackers rushed him. As soon as Cloud jumped, Cid threw the dynamite causing it to land between the two SOLIDERs. It exploded instantly causing part of the catwalk to break away with smoke and debris surrounding them.
The dark-haired man and woman managed to jump up onto piping above right before the TNT detonated. The bigger man was a little slower to react and was thrown off the bridge falling towards the mako pit below. He was able to catch himself by driving his big sword into the wall, but it was a long way down and Cid was hoping he was trapped. This distraction allowed Cloud the opportunity to escape to find Tifa.
"Come get me!" Cid shouted to the pissed off SOLDERs before running towards the exit. They took the bait and proceeded to follow him.
Reno, Rude, and Barret had just finished arming the explosives and were walking back to the helicopter when Cid came running out of the reactor entrance. Seeing them in the distance, Cid started running towards them as fast as he could.
"Get ready!" Cid shouted at them while running and waving his spear.
The others didn't have time to react before a man and woman emerged from the reactor. Spotting Cid's pursuers, they rushed towards him with their weapons drawn.
Barret started shooting at the attackers while Reno and Rude drew their guns. When he reached his comrades, Cid stopped and turned to face his aggressors.
"What the fuck Cid?!" Barret called out to his friend. "Where the hell did they come from?"
"I donno!" Cid yelled back. "They just came from inside the reactor and followed me out here."
Then suddenly the big blond-haired man with the large sword rushed out of the reactor and joined his fellow Deepground SOLDIER's in battle.
The dark-haired man and the woman seemed to be focused on Cid while the big man rushed the other three. Reno, Rude, and Barret tried their best at firing upon all three of them, but they would just dodge the bullets and continue attacking. No matter how much they fired at the aggressors they could not get a hit in, all they could do was block the relentless attacks.
"Anyone got any ideas?" Reno called out to the group after firing another shot.
"I have an idea, but we are going to need to create some space between us and them," Cid yelled to the redhead after blocking a blow from the woman's sword with his spear.
Cid leaped into the air narrowly avoiding a strike from the dark-haired man. When he landed, he was a few feet away from the attackers. The other three tried to draw their attention away from Cid by firing more shots which appeared to be working. Cid pulled out his phone and put it to his ear while the female SOLDIER rushed towards him with her sword raised. Cid blocked the woman's attacks with his spear in one hand while talking on the phone with the other. After talking for a few seconds, Cid closed his phone, put it back in his pocket and continue fending off the female SOLDIER.
Reno, Rude and Barret were a few feet away from Cid and his attackers when Barret noticed the Shera approaching in the distance. Barret knew immediately what was coming.
"Get ready to run," Barret told Reno and Rude as they reloaded their weapons.
When the Shera was almost overhead, Barret started to back away from the fight and the Turks followed. Suddenly, multiple giant guns emerged from the side of the airship and pointed directly at the SOLDIER's and Cid. Cid jumped up high in the air just as the airship opened fire sending an array of bullets, missiles, and explosives towards the aggressors who didn't have enough time to react.
Cid landed right next to his friends while they watched the Shera bombard their enemies. The explosions caused a mound of debris to fill the surrounding area. The four of them stood waiting for the smoke and dust to settle.
"Damn Cid, you're meaning to tell me you can just do that at any time?" Reno asked, admiring the destruction.
"Yeah," Cid replied as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
"Do you know how many times this week we could have used this?" Reno informed him.
Cid took a drag of his smoke and paused few seconds to think about that before he answered.
"Yeah, I guess you got a point," he agreed before taking another drag.
Tifa entered the main chamber and came face to face with Miles standing at the bottom of the stairs. Seeing him caused a wave of adrenaline to rush through her body. Tifa lunged for him but as soon as she was less than a foot away from the scientist, a wave of pain rushed from her head down her body. It was the exact same pain she felt in Healen but more intense. The pain was so powerful it made her stop in her tracks and fall to her knees. Miles just stood there like he was expecting this to happen.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Miles said, looking down at her. "I should have warned you earlier that I have implanted something in you preventing you from harming me. You actually risk releasing a deadly poison the more you try to attack me, so I would stop if I were you."
Tifa heard what he said but did not respond, she was in too much pain. Her head was throbbing, and her breathing was shallow, she needed a few seconds to regain her composure. She was furious but there was nothing she could do about it right now. She was not going to risk her life trying to hurt this evil man. She glared up at him, she was outraged but she tried to pull herself up.
"Why are you doing this to me?" she snapped as soon as she was back on her feet. She noticed that as soon as she calmed down the pain started to subside.
"I really didn't want to do this," Miles said sincerely. "But I had a feeling you weren't going to appreciate everything I did for you."
Before Tifa had a chance to respond, Cloud ran into the room. He was surprised to see Tifa just standing there casually conversing with Miles.
"So glad you can join us," Miles said, smiling at Cloud.
Tifa turned to look at Cloud with a troubled expression on her face.
"Get away from her," Cloud warned Miles, raising his sword.
"Why?" Miles shrugged. "I'm not going to hurt her, I was just about to thank her for all her help."
This whole time Genesis had been hiding overhead listing to the conversation. He flew down and landed a few feet away from Cloud
"You were right," Genesis informed Miles. "She has been a great help to us." At first, he was not sure about Miles plans for Tifa but after seeing how well it worked out, Genesis was impressed.
"You see Cloud, she had been helping us this whole time," Miles explained. "Dropping you hints about the satellite and explosives, her little episode in Healen when she attacked me. Of course, she didn't realize it, but she was doing exactly what we wanted her to do."
Tifa's escape from the excavation facility was planned this whole time. Miles intentionally let her regain consciousness in the mako chamber, dropping her hints about the fake explosives in order to help them on their wild goose chase. However, not everything went according to plan. The Healen bomb was very real and he was planning on detonating it until the Turks showed up. Luckily, he was able to provoke Tifa enough to have a little episode to buy him some time in order to stay in Healen until Weiss could rescue him.
"I'm sorry," Tifa said to Cloud looking upset. She felt bad for allowing herself to be played so easily.
Miles took a step towards Tifa causing her to instantly back away from him. She wanted nothing more to hurt him, but she was afraid if she moved too close to him, she would set off her chip. With the way the pain had been intensifying, she feared what the next one would feel like if it happened again.
As soon as Tifa backed away from Miles fearfully, Cloud rushed him with his sword raised. Before Cloud could reached the scientist, Genesis stepped in engaging him in battle. Tifa wanted to help Cloud but she didn't know if the chip worked on Genesis too. Less than a minute later the four of them felt a low rumble shake the reactor. It only lasted for a few seconds before it stopped.
Genesis and Cloud hardly noticed and continued battling but Miles took it as a signal. He pulled out a green materia from his pocket and placed it in the bangle he was wearing.
Tifa was watching the battle but noticed Miles out of the corner of her eye. He was about to cast something on Cloud who was too busy battling to notice and Tifa knew she had to stop him.
"Cloud!" Tifa warned, then she rushed over towards Miles and gabbed his arm just as he was about to case the spell. Instantly, an unbearable pain rushed through her body as soon as she contacted the scientist. As she tightened her grip on Miles' arm the pain in her head intensified. The pain was so great she couldn't do anything else other than hold his arm to prevent him from using the materia.
Miles was trying franticly to free himself from her grip to prevent her suffering, but she would not let go. He stepped back just as Tifa fell to the floor unconscious.
"Tifa!" Cloud yelled as soon as he noticed her hit the flood.
Genesis used Cloud's distraction to his advantage. He impaled Cloud's right shoulder with his sword forcing him to continue the fight or risk death.
Miles was not expecting this. He just wanted to use his time materia to stop Cloud. He glanced down at the unconscious Tifa and looked around franticly. He then ran up the stairs into the Jenova room, searching for something on his desk. He knew he only had seconds to administer the antidote. He really didn't want to see her die like this and just wanted to use the poison as a deterrent. After a second of searching he found what he was looking for and ran back down the stairs.
Vincent had just heard the commotion in the main chamber and walked in to see an injured Cloud fighting Genesis and Miles running down the stairs towards an unconscious Tifa. He could see that Miles had something sharp in his hand. Thinking the scientist was about to harm Tifa, he fired a shot at Miles, hitting him in the torso. This caused Miles to fall backwards and slid down a few stairs before stopping himself. Trying to catch himself on the stairs, the syringe holding the antidote shattered in his hand.
Vincent then took a shot at Genesis who dodged the bullet. The winged man then jumped away from Cloud with his sword raised. Cloud tried to raise his sword, but it was obvious his wound was making it difficult.
Cloud was standing next to Vincent by the entrance with Genesis standing closer to the stairs. Cloud was about to attack when the ground the ground started to quake again. This time with a lot more force and a loud rumble sound could be heard from under them. The reactor was shaking with so much force that parts of the reactor were following down around them. If the reactor continued shaking like this, it felt like the reactor was going to collapse very soon.
Suddenly a big section of the ceiling consisting of piping and debris fell between Genesis and Cloud separating the two. Genesis took this opportunity to rush over to Miles who was sitting next to Tifa leaning on the stairs holding his bullet wound.
"We are taking her with us," Miles told Genesis, changing the plan.
Genesis reluctantly agreed. He then proceeded to pick them up, one in each arm, and take off flying towards a maintenance latch located above them. Genesis was lucky they were both very light or he wouldn't have been able to make it. Despite the excess weight he successfully dodged the falling debris as flew them to safety.
Cloud tried to find a way around the blockage nut he narrowly missed being crushed by a big piece of rubble falling from above. Cloud found an opening and looked past the debris to where he last spotted Tifa, only to discover that she was gone along with Miles and Genesis. The reactor was still shaking rapidly, the piping and metal continuing to fall around them.
"Cloud, we have to get out of here before it collapses," Vincent warned him.
"I can't leave without Tifa," Cloud told his friend.
"They must have taken her with them," Vincent informed him. The ex-Turk knew they were using the earthquake as a cover to escape. If he left now there was a chance he could catch up with them.
Agreeing with his friend, Cloud and Vincent rushed out of the reactor as fast as they could.
Weiss managed to use the back exit while all the commotion was going on out front. Although he did not personally like the scientist, he was pleased with his plan. The Turks planted a lot of powerful explosives in one single location in the back of the reactor. Weiss' job was to use the quake materia Miles gave him to shake the reactor as a warning. Then 5 minutes later he was to use the quake spell again to continuously shake the reactor until he saw Genesis exit. Weiss was impressed with Miles' materia, it was the most powerful quake materia he has ever used.
Then, as soon as Genesis exited the reactor, Weiss was to set off the explosives and retreat through the exit into the mountain located behind the reactor. If everything went according to plan, Cloud, and hopefully some of his friends, would be trapped inside the reactor when it detonated.
Weiss didn't like the idea of leaving his fellow Deepground members fighting a battle out front, but they knew the plan and was told to retreat as soon as the reactor was destroyed. He then proceeded to hike through the mountain by himself to meet his brother and Miles at the rendezvous.
Less than a few seconds after Vincent and Cloud exited the reactor, it went up in a big explosion and engulfed in flames.
Barret, Cid, and the Turks were all standing next to the helicopter. Nearby, the three SOLDIERs propped up against each other, unconscious, battered looking, and secured with chains.
Everyone was startled to see the unexpected explosion, prompting Reno to check the detonator to make sure he didn't press anything by accident.
Instantly, Vincent transformed into chaos and took off into the sky while Cloud ran over to the others.
"Where's Tifa?" Cid asked with a concerned look.
"They have her," Cloud informed his friends. "We need to look for her before they get too far."
With that said, the Turks and Cloud quickly took off in their helicopter to go search. Cid and Barret waited for the Shrea to arrive so they could load the prisoners and assist with the searching.