Chapter 14
As Cloud and the others broke away from the main site of combat, the WRO troopers began to push the Returners back away from the Headquarters building. When the members of Avalanche entered a deserted alleyway, the sound of combat died away and became distant. Though they continued on at a steady pace, they took enough time to make sure that they were all ready and prepared for the main battle that was about to begin.
Cloud paused as he looked out of the alleyway at the entrance to the underground tunnel that would lead to the reactor. Though this was the site of the Returners' base, it was left completely unguarded.
"I don't like the looks of this," Cloud said as he narrowed his brow. Vincent too shared in his dislike of the situation, but nothing could be done about it.
"It could be a trap," Yuffie said with a hint of worry in her voice.
"The hell with it; these bastards want a piece of me then they bitin' off more than they can chew," Barret said as he leveled his massive death-dealing appendage at the entrance area.
"Well, whether it's a trap or not, I guess it doesn't really matter. We have to go down there," Tifa said with resolve. Cloud nodded in agreement, and after waiting a moment to see if something might happen, he stepped out into the street. Cloud took several steps into the street, and after nothing happened, the rest of the group followed.
As they walked towards the tunnel entrance, all of their ears were open for any sound that might betray a trap, but the only thing they heard was the sound of each other walking and the distant gunfire that was coming from the dwindling battle.
Again Cloud cautiously took his time in opening the sealed doorway that led towards the tunnel, and again there was nothing but silence to greet him. As Cloud entered, he looked to the rest of the group and lightly shrugged.
As they continued to make their way down through the tunnel, nothing but dead damp air met them. When they reached the elevator, all of them stood on the platform and Vincent hit the key to begin them on their journey deep into the bedrock. As the elevator slowly took them down, everyone shifted uneasily as they all wondered why they hadn't run into any resistance.
"Maybe we was wrong about thinkin' the Returners were down here," Barret said as he checked his arm. Cid flicked his chrome lighter open and lit a cigarette and took a long drag before he blew it out.
"Could be, but then those sons of bitches have to be somewhere."
"No, they're here. They have to be," Cloud said. Cid shrugged and continued to enjoy himself. For the next few moments, they continued on in silence. Nanaki raised his head and sniffed at the air, and whatever he was smelling made him lightly grin.
"What is it?" Yuffie asked as she tried to smell the air. Nanaki looked at her with his good eye and scrunched his nose.
"The air is heavy with the smell of Mako. Indeed Arvin and his gang are here, or at least someone has activated the reactor."
The elevator platform came to a sudden stop at the bottom, and everyone slowly began to walk towards the glass tunnel that led to the reactor. The closer that they all came to the reactor, the stronger the smell of Mako became, even becoming noticeable to those who didn't have heightened senses of smell like Nanaki.
When they reached the glass tunnel, the bright green glow from the Mako Reactor illuminated the shaft and colored the ocean floor in a mystifying way. Quietly now they all made their way towards the reactor entrance. Above them in the visible ocean water, strange varieties of fish swam to and fro, all attracted by the strange green glow. Cloud didn't pay them any mind, because now he was focusing on the open doors to the reactor.
At first he was wondering why the doors were left open, but he pushed the thought aside and led the group into the reactor. The interior of the reactor was much as it was four years ago, however much of the metal that was exposed to the moisture was rusting. The air was filled with the sickly sweet odor of Mako, obviously caused by weakened seals within the reactor's conduits.
As they walked into the main inner chamber that once held the submarines, Yuffie yelled aloud, much too loud for anyone's comfort, and pointed high at a row of objects that were situated on a higher level. When Cloud and the others looked at what she was pointing at, they all knew that their suspicions were confirmed. Above them stationed along the wall were twelve Mako Radiation pods, and in each one was a subject being showered with Mako.
"I'm so glad you could make it," a voice called from the entryway into the reactor core. Cloud's head snapped to the source and saw the three that they were looking for emerge from the core. Smiling down at them was the black haired leader, Arvin, his bright green eyes emitting a strong light. Once Arvin was sure that he had all of their attentions, he sneered playfully.
"You must pardon my, rudeness, the last time we met Cloud Strife. But you see, I didn't know that you were the one who defeated the Great Sephiroth. You could say that we've been in isolation for some years. But after fighting you, it makes me wonder if the legends of Sephiroth's strength were exaggerated." Cloud gritted his teeth in anger and held his two swords ready to jump at Arvin. Arvin saw this, and smirked at finding a topic that could set Cloud off.
Arvin then turned his gaze to focus on the twelve Mako pods, and with a sweeping hand motion, he pointed them out to the group.
"And now let me introduce you both to this world's future, and your fates. Inside these Mako pods lay the harbingers of a new order; my order. With them at my command, I will conquer this world and bring order to chaos. It will be a glorious endeavor, but I'm afraid you won't live to see it." With this final sentence, Arvin gave a quick hand sign to his two comrades, and all three jumped forward to attack.
As the three came at them, the members of Avalanche broke up into two groups, each concentrating on fighting one of the two comrades of Arvin. Cloud instead jumped forward, and brought the Tsurugi up to block Arvin's swing. In a tremendously loud display of clangs and sparks, the two began to swing and hit at each other without mercy.
Abrams swung down hard with his dual bladed sword, trying to hit Barret as he leveled his machine-gun arm at him. Barret was able to leap out of the way just as the blade cut deep into the metal floor. While Abrams was trying to pull out his sword, Barret quickly transformed his appendage into a pile bunker and hit Abrams hard in his side. Abrams was able to recover from the massive hit and unlocked his dual blade into two separate swords, then swung the newly freed blade towards Barret. Barret took the impact on his metallic arm, but the force of the blow sent him flying to crash into a storage crate.
Vincent fired Cerberus rapidly at Owzer as he tried to bring his one sai to bear on a constant weaving and ducking Tifa. Owzer got hit by one of the shots, which made him drop his sai. Vincent then sprang forward and kicked the metal weapon away. Owzer jumped away from Tifa and charged Vincent, who quickly holstered Cerberus and spun his red cloak in Owzer's face. The distraction was all the time that Vincent needed. He quickly dodged out of the way of the charging Owzer and brought his knee up hard into Owzer's abdomen. When he slightly reeled over from this hit, Vincent punched him in the throat with his gauntlet-covered hand. But as Owzer flew back from this move, he grabbed Vincent's still outstretched hand and flung him towards a wall.
Cid now squared off against Abrams, who had recovered his other sword and again made it into one solid weapon. Cid jabbed his spear end at Abrams, but the big man was able to parry the blows away. Abrams smirked at Cid's attempts, but this only infuriated Cid all the more. In a solid swift motion, Cid spun around with his spear held tightly in his grasp, and hit Abrams's side with a deadly blow. Abrams took the brunt of this attack and skidded several feet back. Without giving him time to collect himself, Cid pounced on him and tried to stab Abrams with the deadly tip of his spear. But before he could connect, Abrams swung the blade of his double-edged sword and pushed the spear tip away from himself. Then Abrams swung his leg hard around, catching Cid in the ribs and sent him to the ground. Abrams raised his blade high into the air for the killing strike, but a sudden burst of energy barreled into him and pushed him away. When he looked at what had caused this, he saw the snarling mouth of Nanaki, revealing all of his glistening fangs.
Nanaki instantly jumped forward, faking to his left but hitting Abrams on his right, cutting deep into the giant's flesh with his serrated headdress. This move made Abrams bellow out in pain, and as he tried to skewer Nanaki on his sword's end, the four-legged fighter proved to be too agile for him.
Tifa dodged a high punch from Owzer and then punched him hard in his ribs. Owzer was able to recover rather quickly and caught Tifa off guard, striking her across her face. Tifa spun around in a circle from the power of the impact, but she didn't let that phase her one bit. Again she attacked, this time pummeling Owzer with a quick series of punches, followed by a somersaulting kick upwards. Tifa was about to perform another attack, but Owzer dodged out of the way and blasted her with a bolt of lightning. The materia blast caught her by surprise, and she took the full brunt of the attack. Owzer then charged her before she could get back up, but a flying shuriken made him stop short.
Yuffie caught the shuriken in mid flight and launched it at Owzer again. As the flailing blade coursed its way through the air, Yuffie charged hard and tried to sweep his feet from out under him. Owzer jumped into the air to avoid her kick, but the shuriken caught him across his chest, cutting him deeply. Owzer's face turned to one of extreme rage, and he grabbed Yuffie by the collar of her shirt and threw her to the ground next to Tifa. He was about to exact his revenge on the two women when suddenly a hailstorm of bullets began to rain down on him.
Cloud grunted as he pushed Arvin's blade back and then swung as hard as he could with the blade in his left hand. Arvin blocked this blow and then spun around to attack Cloud's right. Cloud blocked this blow with the Tsurugi, but Arvin moved with a swift motion and kicked Cloud hard in his stomach, which sent him spiraling away. Cloud was able to catch himself on one of the interior walls, and took the time to connect the serrated blade with the rest of the First Tsurugi, making it fully complete. Cloud pushed off from the wall and thrust the blade at a waiting Arvin. Arvin blocked the attack, and with a swift upward motion from his sword, hit Cloud's blade and sent Cloud flying up into the air. Arvin jumped after him, but Cloud was ready and swung down on Arvin with all his might. Arvin's blade took the brunt of the attack, but Arvin still went flying towards the ground and impacted hard. Cloud charged back down towards Arvin to finish him off, but Arvin was back up and blocked Cloud's deathblow. Now that they were both on the ground, they squared off against each other and instantly engaged in a multitude of blocked blows and attacks that echoed throughout the reactor.
Cait Sith watched the three separate battles nervously, and wondered just what he could do. Though he regarded himself as being the peak of technological innovation, his physical strength left much to be desired. However, he was well equipped with several forms of mastered materia, but he couldn't get an attack in without risking injury to one of his friends. He then looked up and saw the twelve Mako pods pulsing with the strange green glow. Cait smiled to himself and set off to climb the metal staircase that went to the upper level. Through the hail of gunfire coming from both Vincent and Barret, Cait was able to run up the stairs and make it to the twelve pods. Cait jumped up to look inside through the small window, and he could tell by the look of the man inside that the procedure was almost done.
Cait jumped down and ran to the Mako distributor pump that fed each pod with the necessary ingredient. Though Reeve himself was not sure exactly how the radiation procedure went, he was sure that if the pump were destroyed, the people inside them would all perish. For a moment, Cait hesitated, thinking that killing those inside the pump in cold blood was not the most noble thing to do, but then he assured himself that they would be the ones to try and take over the world if they got out, so he made up his mind of what exactly he had to do. Cait reached out with both of his hands and placed them onto the pump controls. He was only going to have one shot at this, and most probably it was going to destroy him. Well, Cait thought to himself, it surely wouldn't be the first time that had happened. Without giving it much further thought, Cait concentrated on his mastered lightning materia and sent massive waves of lightning into the pump, using his own mechanical body as a conductor. As the raw electricity coursed through the machinery, the dials began to spike and several warning buzzers began to sound. The pump was now beginning to behave erratically, and with a sudden ear-deafening explosion, the pump exploded. The twelve pods instantly drained of their Mako, and the persons that were inside slumped over, their own blood now pouring out of the tubes that the Mako was meant to flow into. A few of them awoke and tried to fight their way out, but they were much too weak and soon passed away from the loss of blood.
Down below, everyone briefly paused to see what exactly it was that had exploded, and when they saw that it was the pods, all of Avalanche gave out cheer. However, Arvin, Abrams, and Owzer all sneered and doubled their attack efforts. As they all continued to fight, more warning klaxons sounded, and soon an automated voice recording came over the loud speakers.
"Warning! Warning! Core system overload! Core breech is imminent! All staff report to evacuation routes now!"
Barret and Cid exchanged a look and knew that they had to end the fight with the massive freak as soon as they could. Barret, Cid, and Nanaki all charged Abrams at once, and Abrams took up a stance that showed that he was ready for whatever they had for him. But instead of all attacking at once like Abrams thought that they would do, both Cid and Nanaki dove out of the way to each side of him, while Barret continued to charge. Abrams paid no attention to the other two and focused primarily on Barret. Abrams swung his double-bladed sword high above his head and brought it down in a massive swing, but Barret saw it coming and ducked out of the way. Barret then punched Abrams as hard as he could with his pile bunker, again sending Abrams back. But before Abrams could recover, he tripped over the waiting form of Nanaki, who barreled into the giant's legs. As Abrams fell over, he felt a sudden jerk that halted his momentum. For a moment, the large freak was not able to understand how this happened, but when he looked down at his chest, he saw the large bloody blade tip of Cid's spear that had erupted from his chest. Abrams coughed out a mouthful of blood, and as Cid removed his spear blade from Abrams's back, Abrams fell over dead. His final thought was wondering just how he fell for that old trick.
Yuffie kicked Owzer in his chin as Tifa punched him hard in his back, but Owzer pushed both of them away and furiously charged for the young ninja. Yuffie tried to dodge one of Owzer's quick chops, but she wasn't fast enough. The blow hit her on her collarbone, and as she winced from the pain, she knew that he had broken it. Yuffie tried not to let the pain show, but her eye watered and she emitted a slight sound that could have been taken for a whimper. Owzer smirked widely at this and was about to kick her hard in the head, but Tifa grabbed him by the shoulders and flung him backwards.
Owzer caught himself and now charged towards Tifa. She blocked several of Owzer's erratic blows, and she could tell that he was loosing his control. Tifa took the initiative to strike and kicked Owzer hard in his side, but Owzer caught her leg and flung her into a metal pylon where she crumpled to the floor. Before he could do any more damage, Vincent was back on him.
Owzer blocked the blows coming from the man in the red cloak, but he could see that there was a renewed fury in the crimson eyes. Vincent punched Owzer hard in the chin, then he kicked him with a tremendous force to the groin. Vincent then pulled Owzer up with his gauntleted hand and sneered into his face. Owzer briefly smirked back and removed a hidden knife from his sleeve. He stabbed Vincent deep into his side, but Vincent wasn't phased one bit. Instead Vincent pulled the small blade out, which was now covered with his blood, and flung it away. Now Owzer's level of confidence had fallen and he looked at Vincent with a profound level of confusion. Vincent growled loudly and then heaved Owzer away from him.
As Owzer flew through the air, he stopped short when a swift kick from Tifa caught him in his back, sending him flying into the air. Owzer was about to correct himself and prepare for another attack when his breath was knocked out of him by the shuriken that struck his gut, cutting even deeper than before. Owzer let out a roar of anger and was prepared to finish the ninja girl off, but a sensation of cold steel pressed against his temple made him realize that he was beaten. Without wasting a moment, Vincent pulled the trigger of Cerberus and dispatched the redheaded menace to the world beyond.
Cloud and Arvin pressed their blades against each other, exacting all of their might against the other. Cloud, through gritted teeth, looked at Arvin and spoke.
"You're beaten; you might as well give up!" Arvin quickly drew away and fell back, making Cloud slightly stumble forward since he wasn't expecting that move. Arvin leveled the tip of his sword at Cloud and entered a fighting stance.
"You may have beaten my plan, but I can still win this fight!" He then charged Cloud, who swung his Tsurugi at Arvin's blade and knocked it out of the way. Cloud tried to swing at him again, but Arvin had already moved out of range.
"You crazy? This whole place is about to blow!" Cloud yelled. Arvin only grinned, and Cloud could see that there was nothing left of a sane person inside those hollow glowing eyes.
"I know. And I plan on taking you with me!" Again Arvin charged, but Cloud jumped high into the air to avoid him. While he was in the air, Cloud removed one of the serrated blades and was ready for the now jumping Arvin, who was brandishing his own sword. Cloud struck quickly with both of his blades, and Arvin blocked both of the attacks, but Arvin had a trick up his sleeve. After blocking both of the attacks, Arvin kicked hard with his boot and struck Cloud's left hand, loosening his grip on the serrated blade. Arvin then used this to his advantage and struck the thin blade, sending it spiraling away from Cloud's hand. Cloud briefly looked to see the blade lodge itself between two of the metal supports for the reactor wall, the blade tip facing outwards.
Arvin took the opportunity of a distracted Cloud and attacked, but Cloud was able to bring the Tsurugi up in time to block the blow. Cloud gripped the Tsurugi with both hands and swung hard, pushing Arvin back. But Arvin returned with another blow of his own, this one coursing with his bright iridescent spirit energy. Cloud knew which attack this was; it was the same that Arvin had hit him with the last time they had fought. But unlike last time, Cloud had enough time to think and prepare a defense.
As Arvin brought the flaming blade down on Cloud's position, Cloud simply moved his head out of the way and didn't block the blow with the Tsurugi. Arvin missed, and his momentum carried himself through with the attack enough to make him loose his balance. Cloud then charged his own blade, and with both hands, smashed the Tsurugi into the back of Arvin, sending his now flaming body towards the wall and Cloud's waiting serrated blade.
Arvin crashed into the wall with a sickening thud, and the long serrated blade stuck three feet out of his chest. For a moment, it appeared that Arvin was dead, but he quickly looked up, his eyes afire with rage. With trembling hands, Arvin gripped the blade and began to pull himself off, but Cloud acted first. Cloud charged him with the Tsurugi ready for the final blow. Arvin looked up and had enough time to roar in anger at his own defeat before Cloud cleaved Arvin's upper body in two.
As Cloud did this, the rest of Avalanche was meeting back up in the center of the large chamber. Vincent was lightly holding his side with his left hand and Tifa was helping Yuffie by letting her lean on her shoulder. Cid puffed on his cigarette and lightly made a disgusted face when he saw the remnants of Arvin fall to the floor. When Cloud was back on the ground with them, he placed the now free blade into the First Tsurugi and then put it into his back harness. They were about to congratulate each other, but a sudden shaking and trembling that echoed throughout the entire reactor made them all remember that the core was becoming unstable.
"Let's get the !#$# out a here!" Cid yelled as he broke away and was the first to head towards the reactor entrance. As they all charged towards the exit, the reactor walls began to buckle inwards and loud cracks from the failing foundations split the air. Portions of the upper ceiling began to give way, sending large chunks of debris to rain down on Avalanche as they tried to escape. From far behind them, the glow from the reactor core intensified to a brightness that made all other vision impossible while it emitted a high pitched whine as all of its safety features began to buckle under the heavy load.
As Cloud and the others charged out of the reactor and entered the long thick glass tunnel, the vibrations from the overloading core caused large cracks to appear in the glass. As they continued to run, they raced the cracks as they ripped through the glass, all the while hoping that the tunnel would hold long enough for them to escape. Just as they all reached the safety of the elevator platform, Barret hit the control button and the platform began to lift with an excruciatingly slow speed.
Yuffie clutched her hands close together and jumped up and down nervously, wanting the elevator to make it to the top. But a sudden jerk shook the elevator shaft, and a deafening rumbling sound came from below. As the sound got louder and louder, everyone exchanged a look and they were able to brace themselves moments before the rush of surging ocean water raced up into the elevator shaft, hit the bottom of the elevator platform, and propelled it upwards as the water seeked a way to balance itself.
As the platform shakily raced upwards, everyone went down to stand on all fours in an attempt to keep themselves balanced. Yuffie laid flat on the platform and looked up at the ceiling trying not to loose her lunch. It took her several heart pounding seconds to realize that unless they did something to slow the elevator's speed, they were going to crash right into the ceiling!
"Guys! The ceiling!" Yuffie exclaimed at the top of her lungs, no longer worrying about keeping her stomach calm. Everyone looked up at the rapidly approaching solid structure, but the only one of them that instantly acted was Barret.
Barret leveled his right arm at his target and converted his arm into a large cannon. As he charged the massive beam weapon, light particles began to build up at the end of the weapon. A loud high-pitched electrical whine filled all of their ears, and Barret let the massive green ball of energy go.
The charge raced upwards and everyone watched on, hoping that it would break through and provide them with a means of escape. When the charge hit, it created a large explosion of bright white light. Small chunks of debris rained back down on them, but all they could see was a bright light where the ceiling had once been. Before anyone could second guess what they were seeing, the elevator platform ripped through the massive hole that Barret had caused and propelled everyone on it upwards.
As everyone flew out of the hole, they all realized that the bright light they were seeing was sunlight. Everyone landed outside of the hole, now standing on what was left of a street. The massive surge of seawater now erupted from the hole in a tremendous geyser, and rained back down on them.
Everyone gave a cheer of triumph that they had made it, but the display of their works wasn't finished yet. The ground beneath their feet trembled yet again, and suddenly, several hundred yards out to sea, a massive air bubble exploded from the surface as the reactor finally went critical. When the bubble finally burst, it released a massive muffled sound of the explosion, which shook every building's foundation and shattered every window in the city.
When the waters had all settled back to where they had originally came from, everyone blinked and tried to rid the loud ringing sound from their ears. When this finally passed, Barret let out a loud cheer and pumped his gun arm high into the air.
"Yeah! That's right! That's how Avalanche rolls!"
"Damn straight!" Cid yelled as he pumped his fist in triumph.
"Woo-hoo!" Yuffie exclaimed as she threw her shuriken into the air and caught it. Tifa clapped loudly and gave Cloud a wide smile, which he calmly returned. Nanaki and Vincent shared a look as they watched Barret and Cid's victory dance that they were now doing.
Cloud was about to tell everyone that they had better go back to the rest of the battle with the Returners, but an army jeep pulled up and an officer who was smoking a large cigar got out. He lightly saluted Cloud and the others and then offered his hand. Cloud took it, and the officer shook it with gusto.
"Goddamn boy, you sure know how to bring reinforcements. I'm Colonel Hargrove, leader of the WRO forces here. You can all take it easy, we just mopped up the last of the Returners. We shouldn't be seein' much of them anymore." Cloud nodded, and briefly motioned towards where the reactor once was.
"You don't have to worry about those three, we took care of them." Hargrove began to laugh and bit down on the end of his cigar.
"Yeah, I thought you might."
A/N: Though the main conflict of the story is complete, there will still be the "warm and fuzzy" chapter that wraps everything up. I'll be posting that one Tuesday. Stay tuned!