Chapter two: Should five percent seem to small, be grateful I don't take it all, because I'm the tax man.
Getting back to Sector Seven was easy, with everyone trying to figure what had happened to the reactor even James didn't draw too much attention. Sephiroth had been pleased with the results, and thus concluded James' first combat mission. "So we got away with it?" Sephiroth silenced, or at least subdued James with a quick hand gesture. He then gestured to Mirri to continue her explanation. "If Shinra had any backups for the video records they where stored inside the reactor, and went up with it. Typical Shinra, no sense of building redundancy into the system. I've got plenty of explosives left, should we make another night run?"
Sephiroth crossed his arms and glared at James. "That depends; did you get what I asked you to get for James?" Mirri pulled out a small object that looked like a wallet, and tossed it to James who caught it. "One fake ID. Or maybe 'fake' isn't the right word. It's a real ID. I scanned James eyes with a portable scanner, then I used that data to make an ID. Same way normal ID's are made; I just didn't have him present at the occasions. So now 'James Lufkin' can ride the rails just like anyone else. Oh, and I got the other thing too."
A moment later Mirri calmly walked over to a bookshelf, and removed a wide brimmed red hat. Without further ado she half placed, half slammed the hat on top of James' head, hiding his ears. James felt the hat and adjusted it some before nodding and giving a smile to Mirri. "Thanks Mirri! It's my favorite color, how'd you guess?"
Mirri shrugged, and Sephiroth's eyes slowly went to a black sheath lying in a corner of the room. "I'm going with you this time; we're going after the sector five reactor. With two reactors off line Shinra might realize that we mean business." As he spoke Sephiroth stood up, walked over to the black sheath, and strapped it to his back.
The thing was almost as long, if not longer than he was tall and Sephiroth had to wear it at a slant. Mirri was unable to hide a small smile at this announcement. "Well then, I guess the Angel of Death rides once again." For response, all she got was a nod.
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It was an odd experience for James, for once in his life (not that he had lived that long) people didn't seem to be paying any sort of attention to him. Instead the eyes of those on the train where focused on Sephiroth. Something about a man in black with silver hair hanging down to his waist just drew peoples' attention.
Meanwhile James (with his hat on) could pass for a perfectly ordinary person, with red eyes and hair. However it seemed to James that no sooner had they gotten onto the train, then Sephiroth was suddenly giving more directions to Mirri. Something which James was easily able to overhear, given the size and acuity of his ears. "Listen up Mirri, I want you to make a distraction. Stop this train any way you care, just don't start having sex with anyone. Anything else is acceptable."
James ears suddenly went back and forth with great speed. A moment later, Mirri very calmly gave James a very intense kiss. This was followed by a well placed tip back of the hat, revealing James ears. A moment later, someone saw James ears, and hit a alarm button, causing red lights to flash all over the train. Sephiroth yanked Mirri off of James, but she just shot him a demonically innocent smile.
Sephiroth didn't have time to argue with her. "Keep moving, we need to get to the front of the train before it gets sealed off." Mirri calmly tilted James' hat back over his ears, (not particularly trusting James to do it for himself) and then the three of them were racing along the train, Sephiroth easily keeping people out of the way.
When they reached the front train compartment, Sephiroth unsheathed his blade. With one slash of Masamune, Sephiroth took the train's door off its hinges. Then, with no regard for the rapidly moving train, he jumped out. A moment later Mirri jumped out, and James after a moment of applying his traditional thought process (Mirri does something, Mirri doesn't tell James not to do same, James should do same) he jumped out.
James landed on his feet, but was unable to successfully transfer the force of the landing to his les, and tripped. His hands shot out to brace him, and James got bruises on those too. Thankfully, in keeping with the traditional rule of people with Jenova cells, James got over bruises very quickly.
Mirri was about 50 feet down the subway and Sephiroth 10 feet to the left of her. James was quickly by Mirri's side, at about the same time as Sephiroth, regardless of the difference between distances. "In case you weren't listening Catwarrior, I said you couldn't have sex with him."
Mirri just gave Sephiroth an innocent smile, and almost batted her lashes. "I wasn't having sex with him; if you had spent any time studying the opposite sex like I have you would know that kind of thing. I was making out with James. Making out can seem similar to having sex, but isn't. Making out involves only the upper body parts.
Thus, it is an act of mutual affection completely independent of the people partaking of its' sex. In fact my personal study of the male race indicates that much of their otherwise perfectly useful brain space is cluttered with thoughts of two women making out. So why did you want to blow our perfectly stealthy entrance?"
It had been five years since Sephiroth had worked with Mirri, and he had forgotten her more eccentric tendencies. She could frequently make it sound as if she was writing her collage thesis on the behavior of men.
He pushed that aside and glared at Mirri, instantly causing her to snap to complete attention. "It's called the margin of human error. No reason to let Shinra know just how good we are at what we do, let's make it look like we wouldn't have passed the train's ID check. It'll lull them into a false sense of security. From this subway we should have no trouble finding a way into the sector five reactor. Just keep away from the rails unless you want some major shock therapy."
That last sentence was directed at James who was busy retrieving his hat (having it blown off his head when he jumped out of the train) he slammed the hat back over his ears, spun around and saluted. "YES SIR! As Chief Reconnaissance Officer, I will do my utmost to try and find a way into the reactor!"
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"This is all you could find?" James looked back at the small vent, and then back at Mirri, the hat lowering slightly as his ears drooped underneath it. "Yeah, sorry. The military supply train entrance is guarded by a laser fence, and it's passcode activated, so we can't use it. But if I remember my Midgar design correctly, this vent should take us into the reactor. It's normally used for repair men so they don't have to go past a dozen military checkpoints. Of course due to the design of the thing, it can only be used to enter, we're still going to have to shoot our way out."
Then as if not quite sure what to do next, James crossed him arms in a mock version of Sephiroth's "Don't argue with me" pose. "Sorry guys, it's the best I could do on short notice, but I'll go first in my duties as reconnaissance officer!" Hearing no countermanding order from either of his two superiors James began to climb into the vent.
Just before he shoved off however Mirri provided him with some sage advice. "Hold onto your hat." James nodded and pushed off. A moment later his entire world became a metal cylinder that he was very rapidly plummeting through.
Heeding Mirri's advice as always he kept both hands on his hat, and then as an afterthought, pulled its brim down over his eyes. There was a prolonged sense of near weightlessness, large bump, several smaller ones, and then another large one.
He finally opened his eyes, and removed his hat from his field of vision. He was laying all limbs akimbo on a hard metal floor, and there was a guard in the room. He had come reasonably close to inspect James, and in removing his hat so he could see the guard, the guard saw James' ears.
In the brief moment of surprise before training could take over James acted. He grabbed the man's legs and yanked them out from under him, causing the man's arms to flail widely. James twisted on the floor rolling farther along the guard's body and struck. James's feet slammed into the guard's unprotected throat, smashing his voice box and airway. Then with complete professionalism James took the guard's rifle, and emptied a short burst into its previous owner's chest, just to be sure.
A few moments later James heard another series of thumps echoing from the same ventilation shaft he had come in through. James didn't have to think twice about what to do, he didn't even think once. He slung the rifle over his shoulder, and looked away. Several more moments later he finally turned around and found Mirri slightly ruffled in body but not in spirit.
She looked at the dead guard and nodded slowly. "That'll do Firecat, that'll do." Another series of thumps began emanating from the ventilation shaft. James and Mirri both looked away.
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By the time Sephiroth had gotten himself fully together, James had already found the next device he was looking for. It was a long piece of tubing that was apparently also for engineers only. It had several hand holds along the roof of it to allow someone to climb down it safely, but since when did James Firecat have a need for safety?
"See you guys at the reactor control terminal... WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" James shot down the shaft sliding down it rather than climbing down it, and doing it with one hand in order to maintain his grip on his hat. To judge from the lack of an overly loud "THUMP" James must have come to a fairly soft landing even if his descent could not have made more noise without an armored battalion in tow.
Mirri and Sephiroth looked at each other, and Mirri finally managed to summon words for the situation. "So are you going to follow him next, or am I?" Sephiroth transferred his indignation at James' antics to Mirri. "To inspire others to follow you must lead the way, I'll go next." Sephiroth slid into the tube and grabbed the first hand hold before starting to work his way down.
He made quick progress, quick enough progress to see the end of James' work. James stood on the center of the platform with several Shinra guard robots on it as well. Most of them were already smoking wrecks but one of the badly sparking robots was still powerful enough to function, and raised its gun to fire at James.
James was apparently out of bullets because he didn't even go for his gun. He simply dogged the things erratic fire, and then proceeded to knock the robot sentry of the platform with a little well applied pressure.
A moment later another robot guard, this one still fully operational, entered the platform from outside the control room. It was an old model, Sephiroth could tell by the fact that instead of having guns built into its arms, it was actually carrying two automatic rifles.
Before it could fire a single shot, James spun around, and leapt at the robot, and landed directly between its raised hands. The robot was slow, it would need time to adjust its bulky arms to allow it to fire at something between them. James did not give it that time. He pivoted slightly and drove his red sneaker through the very center of the robots body. Sparks played across it, and it fell backwards as James took a moment to take the robots weaponry as it no longer needed it.
Sephiroth felt something tap him from behind and looked up to see that Mirri had caught up with him and was waiting for him to get out of her way so she could proceed. Sephiroth shot an irritated glare at her, but followed her unvoiced request and dropped from the shaft and Mirri followed on his heels (almost literarily) to land on the platform.
James spun around and gave them both a thumbs up as he strapped the rifles over his shoulders. "Okay, this area is clear, its demolitions time." Mirri instantly responded by reaching into one of her many pockets and pulling out a small box. She attached it to the panel and bent over it carefully so neither Sephiroth or James could see what she was doing.
Once she was satisfied with the results of her work, she turned back to her two male partners and nodded her satisfaction with the situation. "We're all set." Sephiroth pointed back to the shaft that they had entered through and no actual orders were needed.
The piece of tubing was too high for a normal person to have been able to jump back into it, but none of the three present qualified as normal people. James jumped twice his own height to get back into the shaft, grab onto a hand hold and began to shoot up the shaft with a touch of inhuman speed.
Mirri and Sephiroth followed not far behind though neither of them needed to spur James on to greater speed at any point because they needed to pass him. Once they had returned to the passageway through which they had entered, Sephiroth didn't need James to point the way out. He pulled out a small silver card and ran it through a slot by the door.
After a few moments of beeping the light turned green and the door finally slid open, Sephiroth was through it in an instant, Mirri and James trailing not far behind. Sephiroth allowed himself a small smile as rooms flew by him, and then turned a corner coming face to face with a guard over a catwalk. Masamune went from Sephiroth's sheath to his hands in the blink of an eye.
Then with one swift movement Sephiroth sliced the guard's weapon in half, before he separated the guards head from his neck. It was a slice so perfect that no blood stained his blade, and, its purpose served, he returned Masamune to its sheath.
That's when he heard it coming from directly behind him. Clapping. He spun around, and saw three first class SOLDIERS all with blades. Mirri and James faced them, both of them emitting an aura of supreme confidence, regardless of the odds. However it was the man standing behind the SOLDIERS that drew Sephiroth's eyes. "Splendid, splendid, but then I must guess that you are the real Sephiroth."
Sephiroth's hand stayed steady as another three first class SOLDIERS entered the room taking the place of the single guard he had cut down. President Shinra's smile only broadened. "I decided to come here personally, and see what mice my trap would catch. You should have known that I would have mobilized a force to respond instantly to any and all threats after you destroyed a reactor. But then here you are, a traitor, an escaped science project, and you. So tell me Sephiroth, what part do you play in all this?"
Sephiroth's face was a mask of iron, and his hand made no movements towards his blade. "I'm here to put an end to all of this Shinra. I know just how much you've bloodied your hands, both with that of others and of the Planet itself." President Shinra just laughed at his response.
"You always did take everything seriously, Ex-General Sephiroth. However I would have expected something better from you, I already have people sent to disarm your bomb." "It won't go off for another five minutes which is plenty of time." The reaction to that statement came not from Sephiroth, but from Mirri.
As she spoke she reached into her pants and pulled out a small box. "Ohh my, was I suppose to use another 10 minute bomb? How foolish of me, I used one of those special ones instead. How could I possibly plant one of those bombs that you made just for building demolition?
You know Mr. President, the ones with remote detonators? The kind that automatically exploded if anyone tampers with them after they've been set? You don't have five minuets, you could have one, or you could have 5 hours. It all depends on when I push this button, or your men get to work. So why don't you call off your guards, or my finger just might slip."
"Absurd!" "Oh really? What, pray tell, do I have to live for? A few hours in a cell before an execution? On the other hand, I'm a Seraphim, we're notoriously hard to kill from anything not specifically designed to kill us. So we just might survive the blast, you're pure human, you'll be fried to a crisp before you end up in the lake of fire. Now if I was you I would be getting out of here right this instant."
Beads of sweat rolled down the president's face as he took a step backwards, and snapped his fingers. In the same instant two things happened, a helicopter entered through the reactors glass skylight, and a huge mechanical monster rolled into the room from the other side of the T the catwalk made.
The helicopter came in low, and President Shinra jumped for it, just as James and Mirri jumped for his guards. Mirri came through, her gloves instantly sprouting blades, which she pitted against the SOLDIERS swords. Those swords where of the traditional Shinra make, heavy, not so much long as wide, almost axes.
Mirri easily cut past the three men, dodging to the side of the last one. While they turned to follow Mirri, James opened up on them with his guns. First Class SOLDIERS don't die easily from gunshot wounds, but they are hardly immortal. The storm of lead took their feet out from under them, and the second burst blew their heads apart. President Shinra just barely managed to get behind the helicopters armored doors before Mirri's blades reached him.
The other three first class SOLDIERS tried to jump Sephiroth while he was looking the other way. It was the last mistake they would ever make. Sephiroth spun around, and drew Masamune again. The SOLDIERS had increased speed due to their enhancements, but they where overmatched in body and in weapon.
Sephiroth blocked the first blade slash, and then forced the man to drop his blade. Sephiroth cut him in half at the navel. Then he turned, and drove Masamune through the face of the second SOLDIER, killing him. Sephiroth pulled his blade out, rolled to the side of the final SOLDIER's slice, and as he rose to his feet drove his blade upward. It cut the man in half vertically starting with the legs, and ending with his head. That left only the mechanical monster which was slowly lumbering towards him.
He danced backwards, and it continued onwards towards him. Mirri loaded new blades into her gloves, as James pulled out new clips for his guns and chambered them. Facing the huge thing from the front, Sephiroth yelled out orders (though his voice was perfectly calm) to the other two. "DISTRACT THAT THING. IT'S BACK CAN'T BE AS HEAVILY ARMOURED AS ITS FRONT. GIVE ME ONE GOOD SHOT AND I'LL TAKE IT DOWN!"
As he spoke a panel folded open on the monsters front and a gatling gun popped out. Any other man would have been shredded on that tight catwalk against such a weapon. Sephiroth stood his ground, and raised Masamune before him. He swung the blade in a quick figure eight as the bullets came for him, and the small deadly shots bounced harmlessly off Masamune.
A few bullets hit Sephiroth, but he didn't bleed. The mechanical monster apparently began connecting another belt of ammo to the gun inside itself, but at that point it became aware of another problem. James was spraying both of his guns almost blindly (as it was sort of a hard target to miss) into the things back while Mirri fired off her blades with complete precision trying to get them stuck in the gears.
The thing slowly began to rotate, pointing its gun at James and Mirri. However Mirri still had one blade left in her right glove. She aimed and fired, and it was a perfect hit. The blade slammed through the middle of the weapons barrel (or between the barrels in this case) and stuck there.
The gatling gun fired one measly shot before it realized that it was unable to spin its barrels any more, and thus unable to fire. It began to emit noises as if about to reveal some new weapon, however that's when Sephiroth struck.
He drove Masamune through the thing's weak back amour in one perfect thrust, its blade emerging from the thing front. Sparks began to crisscross along the machine, and Sephiroth tried to pull Masamune out of it, but apparently his sword has meshed with some gears inside the thing. More and more sparks arced along the thing, but Sephiroth's face maintained the stony composition of a determined man who had faced death before. "Get out of here now, you two!"
A moment later, James and Mirri dashed past the machine. However both of them turned to look at Sephiroth as he hopelessly tried to extricate his weapon from the beast it had slain. "Can't you just leave it behind?" Sephiroth returned James' innocent question with a glare so cold that got even James to flinch.
"No, I'm not going to lose Masamune that easily. You two get out of here, I'll be fine, wait for me back at the place, and Mirri, in 10 minutes, blow this place to hell." James and Mirri both saluted, and then dashed around the corner.
Sephiroth stared up the machine's whose rapidly increasing sparks clearly showed it would soon be exploding. "Go ahead and do your worst you tin bastard. I'll get Masamune out of you if I have to reduce you to scrap metal with my bare hands." The explosion ripped the catwalk to shreds.
End chapter two