Author's Note – This story is finally coming to an end. One more chapter after this one. I want to again thank everyone for reviewing and making me laugh…and inspiring me, of course. Just a small warning, Cloud is pretty lethal and violent in this chapter. He has no qualms about taking care of the bad guys. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 23 – Escape

I was falling pretty fast and it was a long way down. The air I whipped through was freezing cold. My teeth were chattering violently and the wind threatened to rip the clothes right off me.

As the landmass became larger, I closed my watering eyes and concentrated. I could feel my body temperature increase, felt the blood running through my veins…the alien cells of Jenova among them…my bones were light as a feather, just like a bird.

I opened my eyes and stretched my arms out on either side, tumbling head over heels to complete a four-roll somersault in the air before landing on one bent knee on the rooftop of the complex. The floor beneath me cracked a bit from the impact. Not a scratch on me, I thought proudly to himself.

But there wasn't time to dwell on my personal accomplishment. I immediately jumped up and sprinted toward the door leading down into the building.

At the other end of the rooftop, I noticed a startled guard rushing over to investigate, his rifle cocked and ready to fire.

I pulled Apocalypse from my harness and swung the sword at the guard as he appeared from around a corner. The guard didn't even see me as I sheered his head from his neck.

Keep going. Don't stop for anything. Not time for remorse.

Without missing a beat, I moved to the door. As I swung it open and bolted down the stairs, several guards were disturbed by my sudden appearance. They aimed their rifles and let loose a rain of bullets.

I blocked the oncoming bullet storm with my weapons before calling up a Shield spell. The bullets bounced off the invisible barrier surrounding me. In a split second, I attached Organics to Apocalypse, freeing my left hand. Summoning the magic from the green materia embedded in my wrist guard, I sent a wall of fire at the five guards blocking my way at the foot of the stairway.

The high-pitched screams of the burning guards echoed down the corridor, alerting the rest of the force. I was going to have more company soon.

No time to dwell on it.

I charged down the stairs, jumping the last six steps before turning down the next flight. Bullets came at me from above. I paused to shoot more fire balls. Screams followed, but no more bullets. More guards appeared below me. Time to lower the temperature. I aimed my fists and summoned the Ice spell. The three guards below turned into ice cubes.

I jumped over them and continued down the stairs. Two more floors before the sublevels.

Several guards were blocking the next stairway. I forgot I had also grabbed a Manipulate materia. I focused on the guard ahead of the others. His eyes went wide before he spun around reluctantly and sprayed his automatic at the other men behind him. Then he turned the gun on himself. Gotta love that Manipulate spell.

Sub-level three was a tunnel of death. In every corner, someone wailed in pain from injuries I inflicted that would prove fatal in the end. Too bad. They chose the wrong side to be working for.

Vincent once referred to me as a virtual killing machine…because nothing stood in my way when I was determined and focused. This was one of those times. I had only one objective…get Tifa out.

I passed a sink with a mirror on the wall, pausing to retrace one step. As I looked in the mirror, a pair of incandescent, aqua and green colored eyes glowed inhumanly, piercing the darkness surrounding me. So this was what others saw when they looked at me.

Pretty frightening.

I moved forward and reached a pegboard, staring at a piece of paper pinned there. My finger trailed down the list of names, stopping at the one in Cell Number 3-14.

Tifa Lockhart.

The sound of running footsteps reached my ears, followed by a hail of bullets. Stupid fools didn't know when to quit. Didn't they know I'd kill them without prejudice? I turned to face the approaching guards and threw both fists out in front of me. Lightning shot from my knuckles, hitting the guards and locking them in a bizarre, shuddering death dance before they finally fell to the ground.

I jogged toward the dead guards, briefly disturbing the smoke rising from them as I leapt over their charred bodies. My eyes quickly scanned the heavy wooden doors. There were no numbers on them. Nor anywhere on the stone walls. How was I going to know which cell she was in? "Tifa!" I called out desperately.

In the midst of crackling human flesh and pitiful cries of the dying, I heard a faint voice. It was lethargic and full of pain. In desperation I began kicking in doors, my heavy boots successfully cracking the wood around the locks.

I considered myself to be pretty impervious to the gore of battle, but what I found in some of the rooms made me want to retch. And there was hardly much in my stomach to begin with. Mutilated, disfigured bodies…mutated human beings…maimed and forced to remain alive. It was revolting.

I paused in the dark corridor, sucking in air in huge gulps. What would I discover when I found Tifa? What condition would she be in? I squeezed my eyes in unrequited rage and let out a frustrated growl. No, I wasn't going to give up hope.

"Cloud…" the voice called again, followed by a desolate sob.

I jumped back into action and followed the voice to a door at the end of the corridor. "Tifa!" I proceeded to bash the wood with my boot. The door broke free of the lock and swung open.

What I found brought a huge lump to my throat. I was both relieved and furious at the same time. Relieved that Tifa still had all her limbs, but furious to see the condition she was in. She was stripped down to her underwear and filthy. I could see deep, bloody gashes on her back, like she had been whipped.

Tifa was silently sobbing when I crouched down and gently lifted her upper body. She didn't have the strength to pick herself up.

I cradled her head to my chest. "Tifa…" I couldn't control my own tears as I bent to press my face against hers. "I'm here, baby. It's okay." I kissed her face repeatedly, ignoring the filth and blood streaking her skin. Just to convince myself, as I held her to me, my hands traveled up and down both her arms and legs, making sure they were still attached and that nothing was broken. "I'm getting you out."

With my arm around her back, I slipped my other arm under her knees and lifted her up. She screamed in agonizing pain. I knew I was hurting her, but there just wasn't any time for me to assess her injuries. "I'm sorry, Teef. I know it hurts."

I carefully carried her out of the cell and suddenly felt the Shield spell beginning to wear off. It would only last a few more minutes so I needed to move fast.

As I made my way back through the corridor, I deeply regretted that I couldn't do anything to help the poor souls in the other cells. Some seemed beyond help anyway.

Tifa continued to sob in pain, screaming with every jarring move I made to climb the stairs. One flight after another. I wasn't going to make it to the roof.

When I reached the ground level, I knew I only had seconds before the Shield spell wore off. Guards appeared from every direction and converged on where I stood with Tifa. They fired their weapons, the Shield effectively deflecting the bullets. I gently lowered Tifa to the ground at my feet.

"Hold your fire!" yelled a voice.

I turned toward the front of the building. A man in a motorized wheelchair was making his way toward me. Walking beside him was the Zack clone.

The Shield spell faded and Tifa and I were now left unprotected. I pulled my swords out of my harness and held them up defensively.

Floyd Dalton stopped several yards away from me. "Do you really believe you can fend off the firepower surrounding you?"

Without turning my head, I panned my eyes around. The guards had stopped shooting, but their weapons were still raised and ready to fire. There were more than fifty of them, I was sure of it.

"You don't have a chance in hell of walking out of here alive, Strife."

"You have what you want," I yelled back. "Let us go."

Dalton snorted in disgust. "That snot-nosed punk thinks he could fool me with that grisly piece of swine flesh?"

So much for Rufus thinking it would take Dalton awhile before he'd figure out the piece of flesh he had wasn't from the extraterrestrial, Jenova.

I briefly glanced around again. The odds of me hitting the fifty-something guards with whatever spells I could caste…and not get sprayed with bullets…well, they weren't very good odds. I looked down at Tifa. She was squirming in pain. Anything fired at us would hit her for sure. But I had to consider the circumstances. If Dalton captured us, there was no telling what he'd do to me and Tifa. I wasn't going to end up in one of the cells, with pieces of me missing. What the hell was Dalton doing with them anyway? Most of all I wasn't going to let Tifa suffer anymore. If I had to, I'd make sure he didn't take us alive.

"Why'd you have to hurt her?" I asked, trying really hard not to just lunge at the man in the wheelchair and rip out his eyes.

"That young girl managed to incapacitate fifteen of my best men. Hurt her? She's lucky I didn't toss her into a pool of Mako to drown."

I wasn't pleased to hear the reason Tifa received the beating was because she had fought back, but I was gratified to know that she had at least taken a few of them down. Her injuries would heal, but I needed to get her the hell out first. "Let her go and you can have me."

Dalton started to laugh, an annoying cackle that sent a chill up my spine. "You don't seem to understand. I don't want you anymore than I want her. What I want are the remaining pieces of Jenova and I want Shinra to deliver them to me on a silver platter."

"He's not going to do it." I wasn't one hundred percent certain of my answer, I just hoped Shinra wasn't stupid enough to do such a thing. Dalton would kill us anyway.

"Well, then both of you are going to die a slow, painful death for his lack of cooperation."

My eyes shifted to the man standing beside Dalton, his Mako-enhanced blue eyes glowing in the darkness, similarly to mine. His buster sword was hanging off his back and his arms were folded across his chest. There was a small smile on his face…just the way Zack would look if he were alive.

There's a chance, Cloud. Dalton doesn't have full control.

I don't know what to do, I thought to myself.

You'll find a way.

"Why're you doing this?" I asked Dalton. I needed to stall him so I could think of a way out of here.

"To begin with I want that spawn of Shinra dead. I helped him get what he wanted and when I asked for help, he kicked me to the curb. I asked for a piece of Jenova and he sent me an executioner. A bullet to the back of the head. Didn't kill me but this is the result," he motioned to himself in the wheelchair. "I used to be the best."

I decided to sting him alittle...right where it would hurt the most. "Sephiroth was the best."

"I made Sephiroth!" Seemed like I struck a serious nerve. "He was nothing until I took him under my wing!"

I motioned toward Zack. "Zack would know. He's a First Class SOLDIER."

"Zack is dead." Dalton waved a dismissive hand toward the man standing beside his wheelchair. "He's just a clone, hardly worthy of Zack Fair's reputation."

A noticeable flinch crossed Zack's face. Seemed like another nerve was struck. It was obvious to me that the clone really believed he was the one and only Zack Fair.

If I could just get him riled up alittle, maybe I could create a distraction long enough to make a move. "He does what you ask? All your dirty work?"

"He does exactly what I ask. He's merely a remnant in the grand scheme of things."

That produced a growing scowl on the Zack clone's face. Perfect, he was really getting pissed.

"What're you going to do with the remaining pieces of Jenova?" I asked.

Dalton grinned maniacally. "She will lead me to power, paving the way for me to obtain full control."

"World domination. How original. I should have known." I gave him a crooked smile. "So what're you going to do, grow the missing pieces of Jenova and make her whole again?"

"You are a very perceptive young man, Strife."

My smile faded. I meant it as a joke. I didn't think he'd actually consider such a thing. "You have no idea what you're doing, Dalton. If you resurrect that creature, it'll kill you and everyone else on this planet. It tried to destroy the Cetra centuries ago"

"The Cetra were weak. They didn't understand the power they were dealing with."

"There's one Cetra left that would disagree with you."

"Ah, yes. The last Cetra. Perhaps I will focus my attention on her next."

"You leave Aeris out of this!" Zack suddenly blurted out.

I was surprised at his outburst. Apparently Aeris held a piece of his heart, just like the real Zack.

"Shut up!" Dalton yelled toward Zack and touched a button on a small panel installed on the arm of the wheelchair.

The Zack clone spasmed, face cringing in pain. Dalton just zapped him through the Capitulation Patch.

Dalton continued to yell. "Don't ever tell me what to do! Is that understood?!"

I could tell from the expression on Zack's face, he was about to snap.

Dalton turned back to me. "Enough wasting time, Strife. Your friends are not coming to save the day. Drop your weapons and remove your wrist guards."

My eyes traveled to the clone. He was looking right at me, teeth clenched, his face red with anger. But was it directed fully at Dalton?

You've got him, Cloud. It's now or never.

The voice of the real Zack rang in my head as the clone reached up to the side of his neck.

I tossed my swords several feet away on the ground, drawing Dalton's attention away from the clone.

With teeth clenched, the Zack clone ripped the Capitulation Patch off.

"Pick up his weapons, Zack," Dalton said over his shoulder. "And make sure he removes those wrist guards. I don't want him using his materia."

Instead of following Dalton's orders, Zack sent a wall of ice toward the guards to my left. At the same time he caste a Shield spell over me and Tifa.

A second later the shooting started. Bullets rained on us, effectively bouncing off the invisible shield.

Dalton's eyes widened and he pounded his fist on his instrument panel, realizing that he no longer had control of Zack. "No!"

It was time to end this now. I had had enough of Dalton and his bullshit. I raised my fists and summoned Ifrit.

Then I threw myself to the ground to cover Tifa just as the denizen of Hell exploded from the ground with a bone-jarring roar. The guards all froze in terror, staring at the giant God floating several feet above the ground, breathing flames from his mouth as he assessed the enemy.

"Shoot him!" yelled Dalton and he spun his wheelchair around, trying to flee back into the building.

As the guards all focused their weapons on Ifrit, the Fire God sent a dozen massive fireballs in every direction, the flames engulfing everything in their path.

I closed my eyes and buried my face in Tifa's hair as the destruction continued around us.

Minutes later, as an eerie silence filled the air, I raised my head. The wall of fire receded and there was nothing left alive. The motorized wheelchair stood empty, smoke rising from the charred leather seat, Dalton's body gone completely. So much for his world domination plans.

Exhaling one final breath of fire, Ifrit vanished back into the earth. He left a harsh wind in his wake that lasted several seconds.

Tifa was panting breathlessly beneath me. I hadn't meant to put my weight on her scarred back. I just wanted to protect her from Ifrit's fire. As I carefully raised myself off her, I looked around again. The ground in every direction was littered with smoldering bodies. Some were still on fire. The smell of burning flesh was sickening.

I reached for my cellphone and called Cid. "Any day now, Smokestack."

"Be there in a flash," replied the pilot of the Shera.

I stood up and caught a movement to my right.

It was the Zack clone. He dragged himself up on his hands and knees before standing up. He brushed the dirt off his SOLDIER uniform and gave me a surprised look. "I should be dead."

I gave Zack a half smile. "I bet you're going to get that a lot." Ifrit obviously sensed the good and spared him. But I was still a bit leery though. I don't trust him, I thought to myself. He tried to kill me.

So did the Turks, but you trust them now.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the Shera emerge from the cloudy sky. The airship came down at an alarming rate, but I trusted the pilot without question.

I bent to gather Tifa in my arms again. She whimpered in pain. "I'm sorry, Teef. Just alittle longer." I turned toward Zack. "If you don't have anywhere else to go, you're welcome to tag along."

"You think Aeris will be surprised when she sees me?" he asked as he walked to my discarded swords and picked them up.

My thought was that she'd probably faint. But I knew it would totally draw her attention away from me. Zack was her first love and I was still certain she only liked me because I reminded her of him.

I patiently waited for the ramp to come down before I carried Tifa inside the airship, the Zack clone behind me.

The second we appeared in the bridge, a dozen guns…and a gun arm…cocked and aimed in Zack's direction, ready to fire.

I glanced around at the angry faces, all eyes staring at the man behind me. "It's okay. He helped me."

"What happened to Dalton?" asked Rufus as he holstered his pistol back inside his jacket.

Zack spoke up before I could. "He's roach food."

"His plans involved resurrecting Jenova," I added and stared into Rufus's eyes. "But that's never going to happen because you're gonna destroy the remains, right?"

Shinra smiled smugly. "Of course, Cloud." Then his eyes drifted to the burden in my arms. "Is my sister all right?"

"They worked her over real good."

"Can I take her?"

Tifa tightened her grip around my neck and protested with an agonized moan.

"No. Just stay away," I warned and carefully sat down on the floor, Tifa cradled in my arms.

"So we're supposed to trust this fuck?" snarled Cid, still glaring toward Zack. "No offense."

Zack smiled. "None taken."

"Just get us back to Healin, Cid," I insisted. "We'll have plenty of time to debate your concerns later."

As Cid headed back to the ship's controls with a disgruntled growl, the others all put their weapons away. But I knew they were still vigilant.

Yuffie walked over with a blanket and carefully tucked it around Tifa. "Is she going to be all right?" she whispered.

I didn't want to give Yuffie false hopes, but I wanted to believe Tifa was mentally fine, if not physically. "We'll find out soon enough."

"I want to help. If there's anything I can do…"

I nodded. "Thanks." As she walked away, I bent to place a gentle kiss on Tifa's forehead. My eyes shifted toward Zack.

He walked over and sat down beside me against the wall. "I want you to know that I stopped them from touching her."

I was afraid to ask what he meant by that. But I had an idea. "I appreciate it."

"I didn't do it because I cared. I just thought it was pointless."

"You helped us, so you must obviously care now."

He shrugged. "It feels good knowing I'm no longer anyone's pawn."

I knew exactly what that felt like. Back in the days of AVALANCE, Sephiroth had me believing I was a pawn. He forced me to hand him the Black Materia that summoned Meteor and he nearly forced me to kill Aeris.

Tifa moaned softly.

I shifted my arm so it wasn't directly touching her back. It was disturbing to think how she must have screamed when they delivered the lashes. A wave of guilt threatened to overwhelm me. I should have been protecting her. It was my fault she was hurt.

I was glad Dalton and his men were dead…every last one of them.

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