Chapter 32 I went to the store to get more fire to start the war!
It had been three days since Vincent and Niro had found James. He of course had a thousand tales about his escapades while he had been roaming around Midgar alone. Vincent didn't believe half (to 75) of them, but he listened nonetheless because he was in a good mood. Lower Midgar was a vampire paradise, you couldn't swing Death Penalty around without hitting someone who no one else cared about and sunlight never made it past the plate. He didn't even have to drain them dry; just take a pint from one person before finding another.
Just as James was about to go into another story, his jacket beeped. He reached into it and removed a small TV that apparently Sephiroth was at the other end of. At the moment his face was scowling, and even James was affected by it. He placed the device on the table and scooted himself around it so that Sephiroth could see all three of them. Of course the general didn't wait for James to get into position before he began talking.
"Niro, Vincent, James, I need you three to execute operation Eleventh Hour. Now. Deliver this device to the Shinra boardroom one way or another. They'll be meeting there soon enough. Also, there's a WEAPON heading for Midgar, not that it should affect your mission in the slightest." All three of them stood up, and then Sephiroth spoke words which made Vincent's blood (and the blood of anyone else in his body) do a decent impression of ice water.
"Vincent, I want to talk to you privately." There was no argument, James and Niro left the room almost instantaneously. This was it: Vincent was alone with Sephiroth regardless of the actual distance between them. Words were unnecessary; Vincent and Sephiroth simply gazed into each other's eyes, Sephiroth apparently unready to say the say the first word, Vincent unwilling to break the silence. The calm before the storm would not last, however. "Tell me about my mother."
Vincent took a very deep breath, at least the distance between should keep Vincent from coming to any physical harm. "She was a wonderful woman. She never used her intelligence for anything but to try and help others. I won't lie to you and say it was love at first sight. I can only say that what grew was so strong not even our deaths could break it."
Sephiroth sneered at Vincent in contempt. "Actions speak louder then words. You should have killed Hojo while you had the chance." "She asked me not to." "You still should have..." "If Aeris asked you to do something that you knew in your heart and head was a bad idea, would you do it?"
It was desperate, but then Vincent didn't mind sounding desperate when he had to concentrate to keep his body from turning to shadow. He and Sephiroth stared each other down, for a long time, and Vincent played his last card.
"I'm going to bring her back to life." "What?" "I'm going to bring her back to life. I have almost everything I need. Vampiric blood, soil from Midgar, where she was born, Lifestream, and during Eleventh Hour I'll get the final ingredient, her blood." Sephiroth's glare intensified as he probed every part of Vincent's response. "You're going to rob Shinra's blood bank, they have samples from everyone who ever worked for them on ice, clever. But what makes you think that combination will work?"
"It works on me." "You'll need her body. She died about the same time you did, a skeleton will be the only thing left, if you're lucky." Vincent crossed his hands in irritation. "Hojo was kind enough to supply me with that. He treated your mother's body with a chemical to prevent decomposition, I saw it. It's hidden in the Nibelheim Mansion, a secret passage in the secret passage. I checked it myself." Sephiroth's glare did not lessen.
"You realize you're playing god, bringing a dead women back to life, even as much as you can call what you have 'life'?" Vincent finally straightened up and fully met Sephiroth without fear in his eyes. "I know, but don't try to tell me that you wouldn't boil the Lifestream and shatter the Planet for someone you cared about."
Sephiroth finally relented and looked wistfully at nothing. "What was her name?" Vincent drew a slow breath. "Lucretia." Sephiroth terminated the feed and Vincent picked up the small device. He walked out, and handed it back to James. Then he drew another breath. Compared to what he'd just been through, attacking Shinra HQ would be easy.
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Melkore Morningstar looked out at the huge thing making its way slowly towards Midgar. They were going to need a lot of firepower to stop that WEAPON. More firepower then the Valar had. He looked back at Midgar, and the city's new crowning jewel. His Mako Cannon had been moved to Midgar, and apparently hooked up to the reactors. He could only hope General Sephiroth's tongue was every bit as silver as his hair.
------------------------------ Rufus Shinra glared at the four other people in the room, Heidigger, Scarlet, Hojo and Reeve. "Those damn rebels have been a thorn in our side the entire time. Bad enough all the things they've done before, but by stealing the Huge Materia from every reactor, they've doomed the entire world. What are we going to do now?" Amazingly the answer came from Reeve.
"Well sir, if we could possibly angle the Mako Cannon -I mean Sister Ray- upwards we might have a chance. We all saw what it did to the WEAPON. If we could possibly find a way to hit Meteor with it, Meteor might be destroyed. Besides, in our current location, we can fire the cannon close to a dozen times, granted firing more then twice would put a strain on the city's power grid, but I think people will be more concerned about being killed then having blackouts."
There was a long pause in the room as Rufus mentally wondered how Reeve got so smart. Maybe it was just because he was normally in a job where he couldn't show it very often. After all he had been picked by his father and all of the board heads were quite intelligent, (insane sometimes, but intelligent). Granted, Horse Laugh was the exception, but he had only been a replacement for Sephiroth. "Heidigger, Scarlet, do whatever you have to do to implement Reeve's plan, it's the only thing we have to go on..."
"Oh I wouldn't be too sure about that!" All ten eyes turned to a private elevator leading into the room, and the man who had just left it. He wore a red jacket and T-shirt, red l pants, and a red hat tilted at just the right angle to let people see the red cat ear emerging from the left side of his head. He smiled at them and Hojo instantly rose to his feet. "PROJECT PATCHWORK!" The man leered right back at Hojo's words.
"That's right! But the rest of you may be more familiar with my code name, Firecat Firecat! I'm here as a messenger from SERAPH, an organization for the promotion of the institution of the supreme ideological ideal, on this planet! I'm here with a few words to deliver to you from my master, Lord Ilsephirotho! Now I suggest you pay attention to what I have to say."
A moment later a resounding "THUNK" was heard. The man dressed in red moved to the side slightly and turned around. Behind him was a man dressed all in black with sunglasses covering his eyes. "OUCH! Hey Niro, what was that for? It hurt!" The man in black just scowled at the one in red. "We weren't sent here to make fools out of ourselves for their amusement. Let's do our job."
The man in red continued rubbing the spot where the man in black had struck him with the butt of his pistol. "Okay fine, I'll get it right. No reason to hit me! Now here in the city of Fukuova, one can easily witness how the world has become corrupt!" There was another resounding whack as the man in black pistol whipped the one in red a second time. "James if you do that again I'm going to use the other end." Rufus turned back to the invited members of this meeting. "Who the hell let these idiots in?"
The man in red scowled at discovering himself no longer the center of attention. "Hey I'm no idiot! I'm James Firecat! I was only about a month away from be a certified killing machine, just ask the people who worked on me, oh, sorry, they're all dead! Now, since Senior Niro seems so intent on me actually following the script rather then having fun, I'll just do it."
With that James reached into his pocket and pulled out a small screen. He then calmly half walked half danced over to the table and slammed the device down it on it before walking away, his back completely to Rufus. That particular image, of course, made Rufus wish with all his heart that he had his shotgun. James pulled out a small remote and clicked it, causing nothing to happen.
He then hit a different button and still nothing happened. "Aw man, I told you that Sephiroth should have gotten me the one with just a power button, all this stuff is so complicated. Oh, right! The red button! I knew it was color coded!" He hit a third button and the screen came to life. James got out of the way and all four men (And one women) were drawn to the screen with the picture of a dead man on it.
General Sephiroth glared back out to them, although his eyes seemed to focused elsewhere. "Took you long enough, Recon. I trust the infiltration phase of the mission wasn't the problem?" James gave a quick salute to the screen with his left hand. "Of course it wasn't! I got past those guys like they were sound asleep... with help from Infiltration and Black Ops. I just had some trouble with the technological bits, anyway I present to you guys… General Sephiroth!"
James moved to the side and Sephiroth nodded slowly to all those present. "Welcome, I am glad to see you are all gathered in one place. Mr. President, it would seem to me that your business is no longer running, in fact thanks to us it is crawling along with a pair of broken legs and a splintered collarbone. If you haven't noticed, that means that despite your 'superior' forces my men have outmaneuvered and outfought yours consistently enough that I don't even have to threaten you in person. I'm going to give you a chance to surrender while you still exist." "SURRENDER? ABSURD!"
Sephiroth shifted his gaze slightly and leveled an armor-piercing stare at the speaker. "Excuse me 'General' Heidigger, I was talking to President Shinra. Granted I use 'General' loosely as I don't know of any army you command, more like a group of extortionists who happen to share both means and motive. Now President Shinra, I am on the airship Valar, currently out somewhere over the ocean, take a look."
Sephiroth motioned to his left and the camera moved. The camera focused on a distant dot, then zoomed in to identify it. The thing was a giant mechanical monster, like the WEAPON that had attacked Junon but of different design. A moment later the camera turned back to Sephiroth and zoomed out so that you could see his face just the same. "The current name we're using for this thing is Diamond WEAPON, it may seem small now, but it's moving very fast. From our calculation you have only about 10 minutes until it hits land. After that, another half an hour till it gets in range of Midgar. After that, who knows? Personally, I'm inclined to think it'll be a premature end to your fiscal year."
Sephiroth paused and two small timers appeared below his face. One ticking down from ten minutes and the other from forty. "Frankly this thing could wipe you off the face of the Planet and I wouldn't care. However, if it takes you, most likely it'll also take most of Midgar, and a lot of innocent people are going to die. I'm willing to offer you a temporary alliance right now." Sephiroth calmly raised his hand in a small gesture of peace, ever the perfect gentlemen.
"Sir, this man is insane."
"Am I 'General?'"
"Of course you are, not one of you is of sound mind! An alliance? With you terrorists?"
"I see, the soundness of your minds guaranties the frailty of mine. But who guaranties your sanity? Perhaps you people don't realize who you are talking to. Maybe it would help if I was wearing all the medals you showered me with for meaningless slaughter, all together they must weigh almost as much as Masamune. You clearly have no idea who we are, so let me introduce you..."
As Sephiroth spoke the camera adjusted slightly and came to rest on a woman with brown hair and green eyes who winked flirtatiously at the camera. One could hear Sephiroth growl under his breath. "Don't feed the tourists Mirri." The woman just smiled at the camera and clenched her fists, causing blades to instantly shoot out of them. "This is my second in command Mirri Catwarrior, suffice to say she'll slurp down your soul and leave you with the check."
The woman's smile only widened. "Oh and don't forget the side order of cinnamon tea." The camera shifted again and this time it settled on a wolf, a very big wolf. It was easily as long as Sephiroth was tall. The wolf suddenly managed to grow even bigger as it growled and made all of its fur stand on end.
"This is Alexander Diamondclaw, a Cetra. He's not much for public speaking but he tells me 'he'll personally disembowel every one of you Weave worshipping vermin and piss on your graves.' Well that and a few other things, he's become quite adept at the more vulgar aspects of the human languages, kind of makes you proud doesn't it?"
The camera shifted again and stopped on another woman with green eyes and brown hair, but unlike Mirri she looked apprehensive. "This is Aeris Gaste, Half-Cetra. Dr. Hojo, I know what you did to her father, and don't think I won't repay you in kind." The camera shifted another time, but this time it took longer, as if it was getting handed to someone else. Finally it settled on a blue eyed man in a white labcoat.
"My name is Dr. Morningstar, but I'm sure you all knew that. After all, it's my weapon of mass destruction that you have sitting in central Midgar right now. By the way, changing the name from "Melkore's Mako Cannon" to the "The Sister Ray"… You people are making Ernst Stavlo Blowfelt's body double roll over in his shallow grave!" The camera changed hands again and once again Sephiroth was the center of attention.
"You've already met Reconnaissance Officer Firecat, and Infiltration Officer Niro Rose. Sadly, our Black Ops specialist, Vincent Valentine, is a bit busy at the moment. But I'm sure by now you realize something. We are the Seraphim, the reincarnation of a select group of first class SOLDIERS chosen to serve first and foremost in battle, said to have operated as if we had been weaned on blood and breathed death. You say we're insane? I say you're at least a decade too late!
Besides, the time for questioning our sanity has passed, you should have done that while we still worked for you. You made every single one of us what we are, so what right have you to accuse us? The blood we shed is on your hands and not our own. You can try and stop us if you wish, but it won't do any good.
My war is not against you, President Shinra, or you, 'general' and your 'armies'. My war is not against a simple power company. My war is against the monster who resides in the depths of North Crater at this very moment, the monster called Jenova. You don't have much time to make your choice, but I can tell you this. I will not allow the citizens of Midgar to be exterminated like so many bugs just to deal with a few fools like you.
I am going to do everything I can to stop DIAMOND WEAPON when it strikes land, which it will in another handful of minuets. I suggest you do the same. My operatives will be waiting for an answer, any attack on them will have profound repercussions sooner or later. Goodbye." The screen went dead.
FN: Ignore the pseudo science of the idea that at the moment we can only store frozen blood effectively for up to 20 years and the sample Vincent plans to steal is probably well over 30 years old. Jenova cells and mako make it possible somehow, a wizard did it, THERE ARE NO PLOTHOLES, DAMN IT!
FN2: I know what your thinking, two short chapters in a row? When is all this actually going to pay off? Well the answer is the next chapter! Check in at the same Twilight time and same Twilight channel when we'll be having action, adventure, aliteration, chaos, catastrophe, calamity, danger, death, destruction, lights, lazers, and show stopping numbers? You think I'm kidding? There's only one way to find out!
OWAN: James, you should probably spell-check these 'notes' of yours. FN3: I know this chapter was short, so you can have this as well.
Mirri: This is the story of three different redheads.
(Shot of kitten sized James licking his ear)
(Shot of wolf cub Alex getting his fur licked by another wolf)
(Shot of Reno standing in front of a mirror. He licks his hand and smoothes down a cowlick which springs back up as soon as he takes his eyes off of it.)
Mirri: At least as different as you could expect three red heads to be. Granted they're not even the same species. Firecat...
(Shot of James laying on some rocks pawing at his tail as it hovers above him)
Mirri: Garou.
(Shot of Alex pumping 100 pound weights in either arm)
Mirri: And the jury is still deadlocked on this one.
Reno: I know I put the floor somewhere around here!
(Shot of Reno standing in a room whose floor is covered with dirty clothing)
Mirri: Of course they all have three things in common. They're desensitized towards violence.
(Shot of Alex lying down and suddenly someone casts a shadow over him)
Alex: I don't know your scent, so you have all of ten seconds to get out of my sunlight.
(Shot of Reno in a bar)
Reno: What do you mean you're closing? Get me another drink or I'll make myself a holy bartender!
(Shot of James facing off with a SOLDIER)
SOLDIER: You cut off my index fingers!
James: Seemed the quickest way to keep you from shooting me without killing you.
SOLDIER: (Flips James off) Damn it, now they aren't even middle fingers any more!
Mirri: Lack of survival instincts...
(Shot of Reno facing off with Sephiroth)
Reno's thoughts: I might get lucky.
(Shot of Alex cornered in Midgar)
Alex: There are a score of you with silver bullets against me. So… Should I fight with only three limbs to make it more fair?
(Shot of James going down a bar drinking from random shot glasses)
James: Water, 40 proof, 80 proof, 100 proof, cyanide, and ooh! Cinnamon tea!
(Reno holds up a card saying "6.0!")
Mirri: And they all work for me. That's why they're called Mirri's Seraphim.
(Shot of James, Alex, and Reno standing back to back)
OWAN2: James' mind is… different. I'm sure you've noticed that by now. Uh, I'm referring to the author version, not the character. We worry about that boy.