Chapter 2: The Job
Tifa moaned in her sleep as she went over the events of the night before in her head. She had met strange people and creatures who bore uncanny resemblances to people she knew. Of course they much to her frustration didn't seem to recognise her as they were entirely different people with different names and different personalities.
"Tifa..." A familiar voice echoed in Tifa's ear as she turned on to her side.
"Uhhh...Cloud..." She muttered in her sleep. "I thought you weren't gonna be back for a couple of days..."
"Tifa...wake up..." the voice answered again as Tifa felt a hand gently shake her.
"Uhhhh...huh..." Tifa uttered as her eyes snapped open and she quickly sat up. "I'm awake!" She shouted quickly as she leapt out of bed, "Cloud I just had the strangest dream that I was in..." Tifa started to say but she quickly stopped when she saw the White Rabbit stood there and she looked around to see that she was in a room at the Wonderland Resistance HQ.
"This isn't a dream is it?" Tifa asked disappointed as the White Rabbit nodded.
"I'm afraid this is real," he told Tifa as she sighed and sat back down on the bed again. The White Rabbit stared at Tifa as his giant ears twitched, "is there something wrong?" He questioned as he gave her a concerned look.
"Your resemblance to Cloud is so uncanny, it's kind of creepy," Tifa admitted as the White Rabbit laughed.
"Well they do say that somewhere in the world there's an exact copy of you," the White Rabbit informed Tifa as he sat down next to her. "Maybe you'll meet the Wonderland equivalent of you."
"Somehow I doubt it..." Tifa responded as she buried her head in her hands.
"Well I have to go to the main bar area for the debriefing," the White Rabbit informed Tifa as he stood up again. "Come join me when you're ready." Tifa looked up and watched the White Rabbit leave the room before sighing.
She slowly stood up and walked over to the bedside table and looked in the mirror. She sighed again before she turned away from the mirror and left the room. Tifa entered the main bar area where the White Rabbit and the other Resistance members were waiting for her.
"Good you made it," the White Rabbit stated as he waved at Tifa as a signal for her to approach the group.
"So what's the plan?" Tifa asked as she stood between Tweedle Dee and the Mock Turtle.
"Alright," the White Rabbit began as he unrolled a map he was holding and placed it on to the table so everyone could see. "Our sources informed us that the Red Queen has a weapon storage house in the west area of the city." The White Rabbit explained as he pointed to the west area of the map.
"That's the industrial sector," Tweedle Dee stated as Cloud nodded.
"That's right, the Red Queen stores a good number of her weapons in the warehouse," the White Rabbit responded. "Hence it's heavily guarded by patrols 24/7, if we can incapacitate the guards and set explosive charges in strategic places of the warehouse we can take out the Red Queen's weapons and put her out of commission for at least a while."
"So...do we need everyone here on this mission or is there gonna be just a small group of us?" Tweedle Dee asked as he looked at the White Rabbit.
"I think that this is one of those mission where the fewer of us there are the less chance we have of getting caught," the White Rabbit answered as he looked at his friends. "Ok...the group will consist of myself, Mock Turtle, Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, Dodo and Tifa."
"What?" They all yelled at once as they all looked at Tifa.
"Are you sure that's wise?" a voice Tifa didn't hear before spoke, she turned round and she saw a blue coloured Chocobo stood there wearing a red and gold open jacket looking at her with a concerned expression. Tifa was a little unnerved at the fact that a Chocobo could talk but she knew that now wasn't the time to bring it up.
"After all she is new to the Resistance," the Chocobo continued not taking his eyes off Tifa. "
"I can understand your concern Dodo," White Rabbit told the Chocobo as he nodded. "But Tifa said that she's had experience in this kind of work also I think she can hold her own...right Tifa?" He asked as everyone in the room looked at Tifa.
"Of course," Tifa stated as she nodded.
"Alright, we'll make our way to the weapons warehouse in the Industrial sector of the city and we can make our next move there." The White Rabbit informed everyone as they nodded.
"Alright, let's move out," the White Rabbit commanded as he, Mock Turtle, Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, Dodo and Tifa walked towards the door. White Rabbit turned round and faced the remaining members. "Take care of the base for us, if anything happens let us know," the White Rabbit ordered as the remaining Resistance members nodded and the White Rabbit's team left the hideout.
The group crept through the city being careful to avoid the Red Queen's soldiers who were patrolling the streets. "This is impossible..." Tifa uttered as the group crept down an alleyway to hide from incoming patrols. "How do you deal with this every day?"
"It ain't easy I can tell ya that," the Mock Turtle answered as he looked at Tifa.
"There seem to be more and more patrols every day," Tweedle Dee stated as he peered his head round the corner to see several more patrols march by.
"Dodo...you be the lookout, let us know when it's safe to move," the White Rabbit ordered the Chocobo as he nodded and slowly crept to the edge of the alleyway and peered his head round.
After a few minutes Dodo looked back at the group," it's clear," he informed them as they crept out of the alley and down the main street. Eventually they reached the industrial sector.
"Ok, we made it," the White Rabbit stated as they crept towards the warehouse and hid in another alleyway.
"What's our next move?" Tweedle Dum asked as the group looked at the White Rabbit.
"Ok, the place is heavily guarded by the Red Queens soldiers," the White Rabbit explained. "However if we can find a way to shut off the security system we can sneak in there and plant the charges with no problem."
"How do we sneak in?" Tifa asked.
The White Rabbit pulled his pocket watch out of his pocket and looked at it. "I'll sneak in and turn the alarm system off," the White Rabbit told his team mates.
"Are you sure that's wise?" Tifa asked as she gave the White Rabbit a concerned look.
"I'll be fine," the White Rabbit reassured Tifa as he smirked at her. "Once I've switched off the alarm system I'll signal for you guys." He added before he crept over to where the guards were standing.
"Why are we doing this again?" One of the guards asked in a fed up manner.
"Because these weapons of great value to the Red Queen," the second guard answered as he stared at his partner.
"But why do we have to guard them?" the first guard questioned as his partner sighed.
"Because it's our job!" The guard snapped at his partner, the White Rabbit smirked from his hiding place he picked up a lead pipe that was lying around and banged it against the wall causing the two guards to snap to attention.
"What was that?" The first guard questioned as his partner looked in the direction that the White Rabbit was hiding in and pointed his gun forwards.
"It's coming from over there," he informed his partner as the first guard drew his gun and the two walked over to where the White Rabbit was and they spotted him.
"You there! Surrender now or we shoot!" the guards answered as the White Rabbit smirked and ran down a nearby alley.
"After him!" The two guards yelled as they ran after the White Rabbit.
Tifa and the others could hear the sound of gunshots followed by the sound of punching and yelling before the White Rabbit stepped out of the alley cracking his knuckles and smirking. The White Rabbit then ran over to where the guards were patrolling and he found what looked like a fuse box.
The White Rabbit opened the fuse box and he found a keypad inside it, "let's see from what my sources have told me the code to disable the alarm system is 4812572..." he whispered to himself as he input the code to shut off the alarm system. The White Rabbit heard a bleeping sound before the alarm system shut down.
"Ok guys, it's safe," the White Rabbit told his friends as he signalled for them to approach. The group ran up to the White Rabbit.
"That was too close," Tifa uttered as she felt her heart beat rapidly in her chest. It had been a while since she took part in anything like this but it always made her heart beat rapidly and she could feel the adrenaline rushing inside her.
"Let's head inside," the White Rabbit commanded as the group walked inside the warehouse. They entered what looked like a narrow corridor and they slowly walked through and looked through the door to see a large rectangular room filled with weapons of various sizes.
"Even the Shinra didn't have this many weapons..." Tifa uttered as she stared nervously at the swords, axes, guns, grenades and the various Mako powered rockets.
"This is just one weapon storage warehouse," Tweedle Dee spoke up as Tifa stared at him in shock.
"Only one..." Tifa whispered still in shock.
"Rumour has it that there are more weapon storage warehouse in the city and all over Wonderland," the Mock Turtle added as he clenched his metallic hand into a fist. "We'll need to find them all if we're to stop the Red Queen."
"Maybe there's another way to go about it," Tifa whispered as the group stared at her.
"If you can think of another way then feel free to share," Tweedle Dee stated as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Until then we do what we can."
The group turned their attention to the White Rabbit who was watching the patrol patterns of the guards. "Hmmm...they seem to pacing round in a regular pattern...if we can get the guards when they're facing away from us we can set the charges and get out of here..." He informed the group.
"What's the plan?" Tweedle Dum questioned.
"We use stealth," the White Rabbit answered as he pulled out his pocket watch. "I'll use my pocket watch's power to slow the guards down to give us an advantage and we knock them out. We then plant the charges at the main support beams in the warehouse. Everyone clear on what they have to do?"
"Yeah," everyone answered as the White Rabbit smiled at them before he activated his pocket watch causing everything around the group to slow down.
"Let's go," the White Rabbit stated as the group crept towards the now slowed down guards.
The two guards the group was following slowly turned round and spotted the group. "Hey...you..." they yelled slowly before Tifa thrust her fist out and punched the guard in the face knocking him out. The second guard slowly charged at Tifa but she grabbed him by the neck and performed a sleeper hold on him causing him to slump to the floor unconscious.
"Nice," the White Rabbit complimented Tifa as he smirked at her. "Looks like the prophecy may be right about you after all."
"Let's not run before we can walk," Tifa stated as the group walked towards the next two guards. The Mock Turtle walked up behind the guards and grabbed them from behind and smacked their heads together hard before they had chance to turn around. The two guards slumped silently to the floor.
The group continued to traverse the warehouse and Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, Dodo and White Rabbit knocked out the remaining guards with swift punches and in the case of Dodo a swift kick. Soon all the guards were knocked out and the White Rabbit pushed another button on his pocket watch returning time to normal.
"I love that pocket watch of yours!" The Mock Turtle shouted happily as he pointed at the White Rabbit's pocket watch.
"The man that gave me this watch said it would come in handy," the White Rabbit remarked as he put the pocket watch back into his pocket. "Let's set the charges before more guards come."
The group walked over to the support beams and planted the explosives on the beams and set the timer on each explosive. "Let's get out of here," the White Rabbit informed the group.
Before the group had chance to leave the room an alarm sounded causing them all to stop in their tracks. "I thought you disabled the alarm," Dodo uttered as he stared at the White Rabbit.
"I did," the White Rabbit answered. "It must've been reactivated."
"But how?" Tifa asked but before anyone could answer several armed guards wearing red uniforms ran into the room and pointed their guns at the group.
"Any suggestions?" Tweedle Dee asked his team mates as they all stood back to back.
"I'm thinking..." the White Rabbit answered as the guards walked closer to the group still with their guns pointed at the group.
"By order of the Red Queen you're all under arrest for acts of terrorism!" The captain of the guards shouted to the group.
"Any time White Rabbit..." Tifa uttered through gritted teeth.
"I'm thinking..." the White Rabbit repeated his earlier statement.
"Silence!" The captain of the guards barked at the group causing them all to stare at him. "If you surrender yourselves quietly and without a fuss then we may be more lenient with you and give you nicer accommodations before your trial."
"Oh dear..." Dodo uttered nervously as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"What's wrong with you?" The captain of the guards demanded as he scowled at Dodo.
"I'm afraid I don't take these situations well..." Dodo answered nervously. "It gives me a stomach upset and it makes me want to go..."
"Surely you can hold it in until we get you to the prison..." the captain stated and Dodo shook his head.
"I can't hold it in..." Dodo uttered desperately, Dodo winked discretely at the group giving White Rabbit an idea.
"Surely you can take him outside so he can relieve himself," White Rabbit stated as he looked the captain in the eye. "After all you don't want him making a mess."
The captain looked at Dodo who was still shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "Fine..." he sighed as he gave in. "Take the Chocobo outside and make sure he doesn't escape while we escort his friends out," the captain ordered one of his guards.
"Yes sir!" The guard shouted as he snapped to attention, he lowered his gun and walked over to Dodo. Before the guard could grab Dodo, the Chocobo raised his leg up and curled his toes in before quickly striking the guard in the stomach with his foot winding the guard and causing him to slump to the floor holding his stomach.
"What the..." the other guards uttered as the group looked at each other and smirked before they attacked the guards. Tifa ran at one of the guards and punched him repeatedly before kicking him in the stomach and sending him flying into the far wall. The guard slammed his back into the wall and fell to the floor unconscious.
The Mock Turtle charged at two of the guards and slammed himself metallic shell first into the guards knocking them to the floor. Tweedle Dum leapt into the air and elbow slammed both guards in the stomach knocking them out.
Tweedle Dee took out his night stick and swung it round hitting any guard unfortunate enough to get close to him knocking them out. The White Rabbit smirked as two more guards charged at him and he easily dodged the gunshots as the guards opened fire at him.
The White Rabbit ran at one of the guards and planted one of his feet into the guard's stomach and performed a backwards somersault on the guard striking him in the face with his foot knocking him backwards to the floor knocking him out.
The White Rabbit landed gracefully on the floor and swept his foot low under the second guard knocking him off his feet causing him to land back first on the floor. The group turned their attention to the captain who merely stared at his unconscious subordinates before he turned tail and ran out of the warehouse.
"Coward!" Tifa yelled after the captain as she breathed heavily, she hadn't had an adrenaline rush like that in a long time and she had to admit it felt good.
The group walked over to Dodo and started patting him on the back, "why to feign needing the bathroom," Tweedle Dee complimented the Chocobo as he smirked at him.
"That was some smooth thinkin'," the Mock Turtle added as Dodo blushed slightly.
"It was nothing really..." Dodo stated modestly.
"I hate to cut the celebration short," Tifa started to say causing everyone to stare at her. "But the timer on the explosives is still going!"
"Let's get out of here!" White Rabbit yelled as the group ran out of the main room of the warehouse and back through the narrow corridor. They ran out of the warehouse and ran to a safe distance just as the warehouse blew up taking all the weapons with it.
"We did it..." the White Rabbit uttered happily as the group started celebrating and giving each other high fives.
"Yep blowin' up the weapon storage warehouse is like givin' the Red Queen the middle finger!" The Mock Turtle yelled happily as the debris of the warehouse littered the streets of the Industrial sector.
"Great job guys," the White Rabbit complimented his team. "We should get back to base, debrief and determine our next move."
Before the group could move anywhere a man ran up to the group, "thank goodness I found you all..." the man uttered as he breathed rapidly.
"What's wrong?" The White Rabbit asked the man his voice was filled with concern.
"The Red Queen's soldiers..." The man muttered between breaths. "They...found the base...they're attacking and capturing everyone..."
"What?" Everyone yelled at once as they stared at the man in shock.
"How could the Red Queen's soldiers find our base?" Tweedle Dee questioned. "That doesn't make sense..."
"Someone...must've informed them..." the man uttered not taking his eyes off the group.
"It must be someone on the inside," Tweedle Dum stated blankly as everyone stared at him.
"No...no one in the resistance would betray us," the White Rabbit retorted defensively. "I trust everyone..."
"Please...you must all return to the hideout and save as many of our friends as you can..." The man begged the group.
"Let's go!" The White Rabbit ordered urgently as the group started to run back to the hideout. Tifa ran to catch up with the White Rabbit.
"I'm going back with," she stated decisively but the White Rabbit grabbed her by the shoulders to stop her.
"No," he told Tifa firmly. "You need to get out of the city."
"But..." Tifa started to protest but the White Rabbit was having none of it. "It was a big risk bringing you here I know that." The White Rabbit started to explain over Tifa's protests. "But I believed that you were our only hope and I still believe that."
"White Rabbit..." Tifa spoke up but the White Rabbit lifted up a hand to silence her.
"Let me finish," he cut in. "Our base has been severely compromised if you come back with us you'll only get caught."
"White Rabbit! We really need to go!" Tweedle Dee shouted with a hint of urgency in his voice.
"Right!" The White Rabbit responded as he released Tifa and started to run again.
"What should I do?" Tifa called out after the White Rabbit.
"Find the Hatter!" The White Rabbit answered as he turned round to face her. "He's an old friend of the Resistance he should be able to help! The more people we can recruit to our cause the easier it'll be to defeat the Red Queen!"
"Where can I find the Hatter?" Tifa continued to question.
"You have to go beyond the borders of the city!" The White Rabbit told Tifa, "past the fields and through the Mythril Forest!"
"Mythril Forest?" Tifa questioned still confused.
"Dodo! Get Tifa out of the city and as far away from here as possible!" Cloud called out to the Chocobo.
"Alright!" Dodo responded as he turned round and ran over to Tifa.
"Hop on," Dodo told Tifa as he knelt down slightly so that Tifa could climb on to his back. Once Tifa was safely on Dodo's back the Chocobo took off at great speed towards the city gates.
"Good luck Tifa!" White Rabbit called out to Tifa. "Don't worry about us we'll be fine! We'll meet again!" The White Rabbit sighed before he turned round and ran to catch up with the others as they ran to save their friends from the now compromised hideout.
Dodo carried Tifa through the Industrial sector of the city to the shopping district where several guards spotted them. "There's the outsider! Grab them both!" One of the guards yelled as they charged at Tifa and Dodo.
"Hold on!" Dodo warned Tifa as he charged forwards knocking the guards off their feet as Dodo ran as fast as his legs could carry him through the shopping district and town square. Tifa could hear the sound of gunshots behind her as Dodo continued to run.
Several guards mounting red Chocobos ran along side Tifa and Dodo and began to charge into Dodo with the hopes of knocking Tifa off him. Dodo squawked angrily as he pecked at the guards that were charging him. "Why you..." one of the guards that Dodo pecked shouted as he shook his fist threateningly at Dodo.
Tifa grabbed the guard by the collar of his shirt before she shoved him backwards knocking him off balance and causing him to fall off the Chocobo. "We need to lose them somehow," Tifa whispered to Dodo.
"Leave it to me," Dodo reassured Tifa as he rammed himself into one of the Chocobos so hard that it knocked the rider off. Dodo saw a fork in the road and he head down the left path before quickly turning at the last minute and running down the right path. The guards didn't have time to steer their Chocobos before they crashed into a wall.
Tifa looked back and smirked at the dazed guards who were pulling themselves together. "Nice moves," Tifa complimented the Chocobo as he smirked at her.
"Thanks," Dodo replied gratefully as he carried on running. "The city gate should be right in front of us!" Dodo informed Tifa as they ran towards a gate that led out of the city.
"They're closing the gate!" Tifa warned Dodo as the Chocobo increased his speed in response. The gate was halfway closed when Dodo approached it and he easily ran through before the gate slammed shut. "We did it!" Tifa yelled as Dodo slowed down slightly. "Thank you..." Tifa told the Chocobo gratefully as she ruffled the feathers on his head.
"You're welcome," Dodo responded as he closed his eyes slightly enjoying the attention he was getting. "We should get going before the Red Queen sends a patrol out after us."
Dodo ran through the fields carrying Tifa on his back, he started to slow down from exhaustion. "Maybe you should turn back, I can go the rest of the way on foot," Tifa offered as Dodo shook his head.
"No...I'm ok..." Dodo told Tifa as he carried on going. "I can carry on for a little while."
Dodo carried on running until he arrived at the entrance to a forest. "Here we are the Mythril Forest," Dodo informed Tifa as she climbed off the Chocobo's back. "This is as far as I can go," Dodo added as he looked nervously at the forest. "I don't like travelling through there it's crawling with bandits and monsters..."
"It's ok," Tifa reassured the Chocobo as she patted him on the head.
"I feel terrible for leaving you," Dodo uttered guiltily as he hung his head.
"You should get back to the others let them know that I'm ok," Tifa told Dodo. "I can handle monsters."
"If you're sure..." Dodo started to say as Tifa nodded.
"I'm sure, now go, the others need you more than I do," Tifa told Dodo as he looked up at her. "Besides...this is my destiny right..."
"Right..." Dodo agreed, "I should get back to the others."
"Thanks Dodo," Tifa responded gratefully as she patted the Chocobo's head one more time. Dodo took one last look at Tifa before he turned round and ran back to the city. Tifa sighed as she saw her new friend disappear into the horizon before she turned round to face the forest. She sighed again before she walked into the forest anxiously wondering what dangers awaited her in the forest.
Meanwhile inside a giant red castle a silver haired man clad in red walked down a long corridor decorated in grotesque looking red heart statues. He approached a pair of doors and pushed them open with great force before strode through them and entered what looked like a throne room.
"Your Majesty," the Silver Haired man stated as he knelt down in front of a grotesque looking throne of course the figure sat on the throne couldn't be seen very well as the throne was shrouded in shadow.
"My trusted General," a female voice spoke from the throne. "What news do you have?"
"My men have infiltrated the rebels' base," the general told his queen the news. "Most of the rebels have been captured."
"Excellent," the female voice stated as it laughed evilly. "And this outsider I've been hearing so much about?"
"We have yet to capture her," the general informed his queen. "We believe that the rebels have been harbouring her, they managed to get her out of the city."
"I see..." the female voice mused, for a few moments there was silence but soon the female voice spoke again. "It would seem that my wretched sister is trying to overthrow me again..." the female voice said after the silence. "But this time she's using an outsider to do her dirty work."
"Your Majesty do you really believe that your sister is responsible for the outsider showing up here?" The general questioned.
"I wouldn't put it past her," the female voice answered a hint of annoyance in her voice. "The time where we must fight for the throne draws near, if this outsider is indeed the one that the prophecy speaks of we must find a way to get rid of her before she can fulfil the prophecy."
"I will take some of the men to find her," the general volunteered.
"Good," the female voice spoke as the shadowy figure smiled at the general. "Have the guards in the dungeon torture the prisoners, they're bound to crack and give us the information we need...now go and find the outsider...oh...and if you find our informant on your travels be sure to thank them for the information."
"Of course your Majesty," the general responded he stood up and bowed his head before he turned round and walked out of the throne room. The female voice laughed evilly as the shadowy figure stood up and stepped out of the shadows to reveal a blue skinned woman with long silver hair draping down her back and wearing a revealing red royal dress which reached down beyond her feet and trailed behind her as she walked.
The woman walked over to a window and looked out of it, "if you think you can overthrow me outsider...you're in for a major disappointment...for I the Red Queen am unstoppable!" The Red Queen yelled as she laughed evilly her glowing red eyes were reflected in the glass making the Red Queen look much more sinister, and as Tifa began her journey she had yet to learn of the kind of evil she had to deal with.
Well here's chapter 2 and more characters have been introduced. Chapter 4 will be up soon.
Final Fantasy VII and its characters belong to Square Enix.
Alice in Wonderland belongs to Lewis Carrol.