Chapter 23: Max's Premonition
It was early the next morning when everyone entered the meeting room, the entire group yawned and rubbed their eyes as they sat down in their usual places at the meeting table. Rufus was already there stood with his back to the door and he turned round when the group entered the room.
"Aaaahhh," Rufus drawled in his usual manner, "so you all decided to show up." Rufus walked over to the table and he sat down at the head of it not taking his eyes off the group.
"So what's this about?" Cloud asked as he yawned.
"Reno said something about you having a breakthrough," Drogo added as there was general muttering amongst the group.
Rufus held his hand up and the whole group fell silent, "I have the odd agent stationed in Midgar," he explained, "he contacted me yesterday, he said he's discovered a way into the reactors." There was more general muttering as everyone took in this news and Rufus had to ask for silence again, he was about to explain further when Reeve and Cait Sith entered the room.
"There's a highly complex, highly sophisticated network of ventilation shafts underneath the city," Reeve explained as he walked over to where Rufus was sitting. He set up a laptop and a computer projector and he showed the group a computer generated map. "This is a map I generated of the entire area of Midgar," Reeve stated as the group looked at the map. "That large circle round the perimeter of the city represents the eight reactors."
Cid banged his fists on the table impatiently. "Just get to the bloody point!" He yelled irritably.
Reeve ignored Cid and he continued at the same pace, he pressed a button on a remote control he held in his hand and the map changed. "This is a map of the old underground train tunnels, as you can see the vents are a vast network that spread through out the whole of Midgar, including the reactors."
Zack took a closer look at the map, "but those vents look so small," he commented, "you have to be the size of a…" he stopped in mid sentence when he realised that everyone in the room was staring at him. "What?" He asked.
"That's it!" Cloud exclaimed not taking his eyes off Zack, "Why didn't I think of that before?"
"That's right," Aerith agreed, "if Zack used his transformation ability to turn into something small enough to fit through the vents, we might have a chance."
"Hey I'm right here you know," Zack spoke up and he held his hand up to let everyone know.
"They're right though Zack," Reeve told him, "if you can change into something fairly small and navigate the ventilation system you could get into the reactors. Now," he pressed the button on the remote control and the map changed again. "This is a map of reactor 1 where sectors 1 and 8 used to be," Reeve continued with his explanation, "now, as we already know, Hojo has placed extra security in the reactors ranging from laser walls to…"
"Aaaaaahhhh!" Max suddenly cried out in pain causing Reeve to stop what he was saying and everyone stared at Max, Max grabbed hold of both sides of his head as the pain surged through him.
"Max are you ok?" Pandora asked, her voice was filled with concern.
Max looked at her and he found that the pain had stopped, almost as quickly as it came. "I'm fine…" Max answered as he removed his hands from his head, he had a puzzled expression on his face. He looked at Reeve, "sorry Reeve, please continue."
"As I was saying," Reeve picked up where he left off, "Hojo has no doubt added extra security from laser walls to sentry bots, you'll have to be careful when you enter the reactor. Oh, the master security system is in the computer room at the base of the reactor, you find a way to shut it off and we can gain instant access to the reactors and destroy them again."
Zack grinned and he leaned back in his chair, "that's it?" He asked as Reeve nodded, "piece of cake."
Rufus glared at Zack and he was greatly annoyed by the ex SOLDIER's overconfidence. "This is an important mission!" He snapped at Zack, "so don't screw it up! If you can't remove the security within the reactors then we can't do anything else."
"No pressure eh," Zack muttered sarcastically earning him another glare from Rufus.
"I mean it Zack!" Rufus snapped again, "it's time you made good use of your abilities and don't get too cocky, I know your type!"
"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…" Zack replied mockingly, "I get it, relax Shinra, I know what I'm doing." Rufus glared at Zack again and he was about to reply when Reeve interrupted him.
"Excellent," Reeve replied, "now Zack when this meeting is over I need you to meet me in my workshop so I can brief you fully and give you a few gadgets to help you."
Zack gave Reeve a playful grin, "I get to play with cool gadgets, sweet."
The rest of the meeting was a complete blur to Max, it was almost as if time seemed to pass more slowly than usual. In fact he wasn't even aware of his surroundings, Max moaned in pain as he felt a sharp and numbing pain in his head. He grabbed hold of both sides of his head and screwed his eyes shut as he heard millions up on millions of voices buzzing round in his head. He knew that they were the voices of the planet but they sounded so distorted and the voices seemed to run so close together that it was difficult to tell when one voice ended and another began. Max's body shook violently and the fur on his face went deathly pale as he began to feel sick and faint. His eyes rolled back in his head as he slowly began to fall from his chair. There were many panicked screams and gasps from the rest of the group as they saw Max fall, and visions of himself being beaten up and captured by shadowy figures flashed in his mind. He could hear himself crying out in pain after each blow, his senses became dulled as his eyes closed and he landed on the floor unaware that his friends were panicking and running towards him.
Meanwhile in Midgar the mysterious figure grinned evilly as she sensed Max collapsing to the ground. "It'll only be a matter of time," she said to herself, her thoughts were interrupted when Hojo entered the room.
"15 of the Life Stream has been corrupted," Hojo informed her.
"It's taking too long!" she snapped at Hojo, "make the reactors work faster!"
"The reactors are already working at full capacity," Hojo said in a panicky tone, "I can't make them work any faster."
His master sighed as she turned to face him, still remaining in the shadows. "The time has almost come when Max will be mine."
Hojo grinned at this remark, "the preparations are already complete," he informed his master.
His master laughed when she heard this, "you always have to be one step ahead."
"When it comes to potential experiments," Hojo replied as his grin grew wider, "I like to be well prepared."
"Just remember our agreement," his master reminded him, "Max remains unharmed until I have what I need, then you can do what you want with him." Hojo rubbed his hands together when he heard this, he loved being sadistic and cruel to his experiments, it didn't matter whether they were human or not, to him, they were the same.
"How will you capture him?" Hojo asked.
"All will be revealed Hojo," his master replied patiently, "I already know his weakness after tapping into his nightmare the other night."
Hojo stared at the woman in shock, "you can tap into people's dreams?"
The woman nodded, "Of course," she answered smugly, "I have dominion over dreams, I can see what people fear most and I play on that fear to make them more vulnerable."
"So catching Max shouldn't be a problem."
The woman shook her head, "if we time it right," she said not taking her eyes off the scientist. "Max is incredibly clever but when it comes to his friends he'll do almost anything. Round up the others!" She ordered Hojo, "I have a job for them."
"Right away master," Hojo replied and he walked off leaving the woman alone.
"Soon Max, soon you'll be in my grasp." She laughed out loud at her own statement knowing that it would only be a matter of time before she had Max where she wanted him.
"Huh…" Max thought to himself, "did I see what I thought I saw?" He didn't have time to ponder the matter further as he was aware of voices talking all around him.
"Do you think he's ok?"
"He looks terrible."
"Well why don't we make you feel dizzy and sick, and make you fall backwards off a chair, and we'll see what you look like!"
"He'll probably look a damn sight better than he normally does."
"He's waking up!"
Max moaned softly as he slowly began to stir, his eyes fluttered open and he could just about make out the blurred outlines of his friends faces staring at him. After a few moments his vision became clearer and he could see the whole room clearly.
"Max are you ok?" Pandora asked him.
"Pandora…" Max mumbled under his breath, he slowly sat up and he saw Pandora kneeling next to him with a concerned expression on her face.
"Yeah," Pandora replied, "one minute you were fine and the next minute you collapsed, you really gave us a scare."
"I'm sorry," Max apologised, "I didn't mean to scare everyone."
"Maybe we should put the meeting on hold," Reeve suggested.
"No," Max replied as he staggered to his feet, but he still felt dizzy and he had to hold on to the table for support. "We've wasted enough time already."
"Reeve's right," Sunny agreed with Reeve, "it looked like you hit your head quite hard when you fell…"
Max sighed, he knew that they were right, he collapsed for no apparent reason and what he saw while he was semi conscious greatly disturbed him, but he couldn't tell the others not yet. He didn't want to worry them, especially Pandora. "You're right," Max replied, "I do have a headache, I think I'll go to my room and lie down for a while, continue the meeting without me."
"But you'll miss everything," Tifa stated as Max started to walk slowly out of the room.
"I'll just get the information off Pandora later," Max replied and he walked out of the room before anyone could say anything else.
Half an hour later Max was pacing round his room, he had a puzzled expression on his face, "What was that?" He thought to himself becoming even more confused by the minute, he didn't know why he collapsed all of a sudden when he was completely fine. "Why did I just collapse like that? I felt fine before it happened but now…there's been a lot of weird things going on lately, and what I saw while I was semi conscious. What was it? Was it a dream? Or was it something else? A premonition maybe. If it was a premonition, then what does it mean? Does it mean that I'm in some kind of danger?" Max found himself mentally panicking at that thought, and he began pacing round the room much more frantically than before trying to find some clue to what he had seen.
"Or it could just be a dream," A soft voice spoke up in Max's head and he stopped pacing round the room as soon as he heard it.
"Hi mum," Max greeted Aurora, "I was just…"
"Panicking, getting yourself all worked up for nothing," Aurora finished his sentence off for him.
Max sighed and he sat down on the bed holding his head in his hands, "What if it's not a dream though?" He asked his mother, "what if it comes true? What if it's a vision of what's to come in the future?"
"You don't know that for sure," Aurora replied reassuringly, "sometimes things happen or we see things that we're not always sure of."
"I know," Max responded but he couldn't hide the worry in his voice.
"My point is," Aurora continued, "why worry about something you can do little to nothing about?"
I can see your point mum," Max spoke up, "but if it's something to do with my future, then I should be able to do something about it."
"There are some aspects of your life that are beyond your control," Aurora continued to give Max her advice. "No one knows what the future truly holds, you really shouldn't worry about something that's beyond your control, it could be a premonition, but it could just be a dream. You can never be truly sure but when the time comes, you'll know what to do."
"How?" Max questioned, even though his mother's words had consoled him, they didn't console him much. "How can I know what to do when the time comes if I don't even know what it is and when it'll happen?"
"You're my son," Aurora reminded him of who he was, "you're the Prince of our people, soon to be King. Though you are young, you're wise beyond your years. You helped to save the Kitsune World and Terra Firma, you're practically a legend that people will talk about for years to come. If anyone knows what to do in a dire situation then it's you, I have complete faith in you, and so does your father."
"Ok," Max said with a sigh, "I won't panic about it, thanks mum."
"Anytime," Aurora replied, "remember you know where I am if you need me," with that Aurora disappeared leaving Max alone. He sighed again and he lay back on the bed with his hands behind his head and he lay for sometime before there was a knock on the door.
Max suddenly sat up, "Who is it?!" He called out.
"It's me Pandora!" She yelled through the door, "can you unlock the door?" Max got off the bed, he walked over to the door and opened it and Pandora entered the room.
"What was the rest of the meeting about?" Max asked her.
"Well, Rufus and Reeve were basically going over what was said already, we've split off into different groups and each group is going to a different reactor. Zack meanwhile is gonna navigate through the ventilation system under the city to get rid of the security so we can get into the reactors. Reeve is currently debriefing him." Pandora told Max where he was going.
"So I'm gonna be going to the number 1 reactor with you, Cloud, Tifa, Nightshade, Vincent and Isis," he replied and Pandora nodded.
"Yes," she replied, "but more importantly, how are you feeling?"
Max went silent for a minute, a part of him wanted to tell her what he had seen but he seemed to think better of it. "No," he said to himself, "she's already worried about me, the last thing I want is to make her even more worried…I'm fine," Max said the last part out loud, he knew it was vague but he didn't want to tell her everything.
Pandora gave Max a sceptical stare, "Are you sure?" she asked, "you didn't look fine to me before."
"I just had a bit of a headache," Max answered, "I feel fine now."
Pandora sighed, but she knew how stubborn Max was and that he wasn't always willing to talk, so she decided to leave it for now. "Ok, but if there is something wrong you will let me know won't you?"
Max reached up and stroked the side of Pandora's face to reassure her, "Of course I will," Max replied as wrapped his arms round Pandora's waist and hugged her. "I always do, don't I?" Pandora gave Max another sceptical stare. "Ok, ok, maybe not all the time," Max corrected himself, "but if there is something wrong I will tell you."
Pandora was about to say something but Max quickly kissed her on the lips, Pandora was shocked at first because she didn't expect it but she eventually fell into it. Max and Pandora closed their eyes as they continued to kiss and for a time Max forgot all about his troubles, after all Aurora was right he shouldn't worry about something he wasn't sure about. For what seemed like an eternity the two stood there kissing passionately and everything seemed to slow down around them as if they were in a world of their own. Eventually they broke apart. Pandora stood there breathing heavily but she was happy nevertheless.
"Wow…" she said breathlessly but she was still grinning at Max, "so unexpected and yet it felt so good…"
Max grinned back at her, "yeah," he agreed, "I still think you're a good kisser."
Pandora blushed, "Oh stop!" She yelled playfully.
"No I mean it," Max continued to flatter her, Pandora grinned slyly at him and she pushed him back on to the bed and pinned him on to it, Max looked up at her and he made a purring noise before she fell on top of him and kissed him again.
Well there's Chapter 23, sorry it's a bit short, (I know it's shorter than previous chapters) this was really a Max chapter. (The clue was in the title) Was it a dream or was it a vision, you'll find out soon enough, maybe in the next chapter, who knows. Chapter 24 will be coming soon, enjoy. By the way feel free to comment CONSTRUCTIVELY! Thank you.