Before Crisis: The Beginning
By DarkAngel
Disclaimer:I don't own BC. Nuuuuuu! T.T
Chapter 14: Pre-Emptive Strike (Rafe)
Just as Rafe reached the airport, his PHS went off. It was Tseng, and he sounded particularly alarmed.
"Get back here as soon as possible! The cannon! AVALANCHE has gotten hold of the cannon!"
At that moment, the piercing sound of klaxons rent the air. It took everything Rafe had not to jump at the sound. He broke into a run. The elevator was several hundred feet ahead…
It was there that he ran into his first AVALANCHE operatives. They were gathering near the lift that would take them to the airport. Rafe's eyes narrowed. Jumpsuits, visored masks, suspicious behaviour… That had to be them. Taking out his weapons, he yelled. "Hey!"
The sound startled the operatives, who immediately took out weapons of their own upon seeing him.
He'd hit half a dozen of them before they really had time to react. Taking their confusion into account, Rafe quickly changed clips, letting the spent ones clatter to the ground. Feeling his pulse pick up, Rafe grinned. He'd missed this.
There were four operatives remaining. Two of them carried heavy pipes, and the other two carried handguns. The ones with the pipes would be easy to take down. The other two… Well, they hadn't called him the Death God of Sector 6 for nothing, Rafe thought grimly as he began to plot a stratagem in his mind.
Making a feint, Rafe made it look as if he planned to run straight through the group in a desperate move to break through. The men fell for it. As the gunners lined up their shots and the melee combatants steeled themselves for Rafe's approach, he dove to the side, firing several shots, hitting the legs and torsos of the right column – one gunman and one melee combatant went down, leaving just the two on the right flank. Quickly, Rafe aimed for the remaining gunman. This wasn't even a contest, he thought, as the enemy went down and Rafe got up to deal with the last man.
Hitting the button for the lift, Rafe stumbled a bit as it jerked into operation. With a sigh, Rafe checked the bullets left. He had another couple of spare clips and he was halfway through the ones in his guns. He would have to be conservative. Halfway up, Rafe felt a whizzing by his head. He jerked his head up.
Up on an overhanging pillar, an AVALANCHE operative was perched, lining up a second shot. Without even thinking, Rafe whipped his left arm out and squeezed the trigger. The man fell heavily, hitting the side of the lift before rolling off. After a few seconds, he heard a thunk; the operative had hit the ground below.
Eyes alert to other such dangers, Rafe picked off two more men (they were persistent to try for him like this, Rafe thought) before the lift reached the airport level. He wondered how it was they'd known he was coming up. It was strange, now that he thought about it, that they would be gathered like this. Even if it was by chance, or to do something like steal an aircraft, the way they'd been positioned told him that something else was going on.
Pushing the thought out of his mind, he entered the small airport operations base. Sliding his security card through the reader, he was gratified when the interlocking metal doors slid shut behind him. He was pretty sure AVALANCHE hadn't breached this compound. Walking quickly down the starkly lit corridors, he keyed his way past another door and onto the runway itself. He nodded at the Wutaian man standing just at the exit.
"Sir, I just ran into several AVALANCHE members on my way here."
Tseng started at that. "AVALANCHE? You're sure?"
"Yes sir. They matched Rosalind's description perfectly, and they opened fire on me when they saw me."
At these words, Tseng's countenance clouded. "How did they know where to go?"
"Maybe they wanted one of the planes," Rafe suggested, though he himself didn't really believe this. Obviously Tseng wasn't buying it either, for he shook his head, crossing his arms.
"No, there's something else. Tell me more about your engagement."
Rafe described his encounter. There had been approximately a dozen men milling around the area, as if they were waiting for something – or someone. As soon as they had caught sight of Rafe, they had opened fire, forcing him to engage. On the way up using the lift, there had been snipers stationed at regular intervals. The positions, now that Rafe thought about it, weren't ones that could easily be reached. They would have had to climb up there some time ago.
"It's almost as if they were waiting for us," Rafe commented. "But there's no way they could have known we would come here. And anyway, I thought they were targeting President Shinra."
Tseng nodded. "It begs the question of how they found out about that too. There was no advance notice of the inspection, and there's no set date for it. The only people who know anything about it are the executive." At this, his look grew even more troubled, a furrow appearing between his brows.
"Sir," Rafe said, "You said something about the cannon."
"Yes. I'm waiting for more news, but it seems as if AVALANCHE has seized the mako cannon – and are aiming it at Midgar."
"What?!" The news surprised Rafe. First they had tried to blow up a reactor, and now they were trying to destroy the whole city?! The destructive designs of this group were nothing short of phenomenal.
"Rosalind and Reno are dealing with the situation as we speak. I've just reported to Veld. We're to stay here until he gets back to us." He frowned. "Where's St. Andrew?"
Rafe shrugged. The other man had been left in charge of L-Junon. He hadn't heard a thing from him the entire time. "Should I call him?" Rafe asked, taking out his PHS.
"There's no need," Tseng said. "I'll do it."
There were several moments of silence as Tseng presumably waited for his call to go through. When he spoke again, it was with a loud "What?!"
At first Rafe thought St. Andrew had said something to insult Tseng, but by the look on the man's face, that was far from it. "How many?!" Tseng exclaimed. Rafe's eyes widened. He felt a little alarmed. He hadn't been working with Tseng for long, but this was the first time he'd seen him get this bent out of shape. Obviously, whatever St. Andrew was up against, it wasn't good.
When Tseng hung up, his expression was grim. "We've got bigger problems than we imagined."
"What's happened?" Rafe had an idea. St. Andrew had probably run into operatives and was having a difficult time fighting them.
"St. Andrew has also engaged with AVALANCHE," Tseng said shortly, already keying in another number on his phone. "This is completely beyond our capabilities as it stands." In another moment, he'd connected. "Sir. There are a lot more AVALANCHE here than we could have guessed…"
To be continued…