Before Crisis: The Beginning

By DarkAngel

Disclaimer: The characters, indicia and ideas of Before Crisis don't belong to me. This here story, my own little side plots and playable character names do. Please don't sue me, Square-Enix? D:

Chapter 16: The Greatest Security Setup on the Planet (Rosalind)

Rosalind met up with Reno outside. Her side was still tender from the blast she'd taken, but the potions had done their work for the most part and she was able to function. That was all that mattered.

Reno himself was looking a little dishevelled – more so than usual, at any rate. He still grinned at her as though he were on top of the world, however.

"Oi, rookie. You ready?"

A curt nod and a crisp "yes" was her response.

"Good. Then we're going." He began sprinting toward the mako cannon. Rosalind followed, ignoring the discomfort of her side.

Halfway there, they were met by a dozen Junon guardsmen, who stopped to salute Reno and Rosalind. They came to a stop as well. Reno looked at the leader of the squad.

"You're the backup?"

The squad commander saluted. "Yes sir! We have been assigned to assist in retaking the cannon, sir!"

Reno flashed his teeth. "Great. Come with me then. Rosalind, go ahead and get to the underground. When you get there, head to the control rooms. Do you know your way in?"

Rosalind nodded. She had been sent the information by linear transfer to her PHS earlier.

"Okay then. Let's move!"

When they got to the halfway point to the cannon, they found it well guarded by enemy operatives. Junon soldiery had also gotten there, and the two sides were engaged in a battle that seethed up and down the length of the street. Rosalind dodged the fighting bodies, glad that she was small and quick enough to evade most of them. The operatives that got in her way she quickly dispatched with her gun. Punching in the code for entry, she got inside. There she stopped, pulling out her PHS to call Tseng.

"I've reached the underground pathway, sir," she reported.

"All right." Tseng quickly explained the situation to Rosalind – aside from the President having been shot, Junon's citywide security had gone from A to S. S, Rosalind knew, was the highest security level. Things must have been pretty bad for the city to be on maximum alert.

"…we've also moved the cannon's security system to the highest level, effectively shutting them out from the system," Tseng continued.

"That's encouraging," Rosalind murmured. They may have taken the cannon, but AVALANCHE would have to hack through quite a lot of security to initialize the cannon's firing program.

"Veld is going to be coordinating everybody's movements from headquarters so we can move quickly to get the situation here under control. I'll be relaying your instructions to you in the meantime."

"I understand. What should I do?"

"Reno's cohort is heading for the cannon. Rosalind, I want you to head for the cannon's control room using the underground passage. You're going to finalize the lockdown sequence for the cannon from there."

That sounded simple enough. Acknowledging receipt of her orders, Rosalind started down the passageway, taking some comfort in the cool gunmetal grey of the walls and the steady hum of machinery in the background. AVALANCHE hadn't penetrated the facilities.

-or so she thought. As she made her way down the passages, she heard a tortured scream from somewhere ahead. Eyes widening, she started running, following the passage mapped out for her on the PHS.

She came out into a large room. Like the corridor, this room was also a uniform grey colour. The floor was reinforced by metal plating. The sparse lighting from above lit the dull metal in the room, and that was when Rosalind saw it. What the hell had happened here?

There were bodies. Lots of bodies. As if her sight had activated other senses, Rosalind could smell burnt flesh and blood. She choked back the urge to gag, instead swallowing thickly. Her eyes followed the bodies to the far end of the room, where three giant green robots stood inert. So they had been the ones to dispatch the AVALANCHE operatives… right? This was the security system Tseng was talking about, right?

Walking cautiously so as to avoid the bodies and blood, Rosalind stopped in the middle of the room. Her eyes darted to the robots. Up close, they were much bigger than she'd initially thought. AVALANCHE hadn't stood a chance from the start.

Suddenly a female voice spoke. "Intruder detected," it said in a monotone. Rosalind looked around frantically for the source of the voice. What the hell was that?!

The room suddenly went dark, and red klaxon lights began flashing. The female voice spoke again.

"Elimination subroutine activated."

"What?!" What was going on here?!

The robots, which had been standing idle suddenly whirred to life. Rosalind's eyes widened. The security system had been activated! But that was impossible, Rosalind thought, backing away even as she readied her weapon. The system was supposed to be able to discern between enemy and ally, wasn't it? Something wasn't right.

The robots surrounded her, whirring and emitting a series of beeps and clicks, as if they were communicating with each other. Without thinking, Rosalind aimed at one of them, taking a shot. The bullet damaged the casing of the Proto Golem, but didn't do much else. Rosalind grimaced.

They began to close in on her. There was another whirring noise, then a red beam of light shot out from the chests of all three of them. Instinct told Rosalind to dive.

As she came up again, she was glad she had gone with her instincts. There was now a scorched area on the floor. Rosalind suddenly remembered the burnt bodies and the blood. Lasers – they were equipped with lasers. Now that she looked, she could see other such marks on other places on the floor. She gulped.

Okay, so bullets wouldn't work. What would then? Irritably, Rosalind looked at her gun – and the materia slotted inside it. Of course!

Raising her arm up, Rosalind shouted. "Thunder!" Three bolts of lightning hit the golems, who stopped in the tracks momentarily before moving again. Maybe if she kept hitting them like that…

She called on the lightning once more. Although the golems stopped every time, the magic didn't seem to be having much of an effect. Her eyes narrowed. What other materia did she have on her?

"Comet!"

That seemed to do a little more damage. One of the robots was smoking slightly now, and she could hear something shorting in another.

Alternating spells, she started to see results. The movement of the Proto Golems was getting slower, and they were definitely starting to sizzle now. Running to the other end of the room to buy herself time, Rosalind reached into a pocket, fishing out a small bottle. She worked off the stopper and quickly gulped the contents. Turning her attention to her adversaries once more, she yelled out another Comet spell. That did it. With a loud hissing sizzle that seemed to rush through her eardrums, one of the robots fell over. The other two were still advancing on her, though both of them were sparking badly, one belching out smoke. Rosalind ran, avoiding another laser. With an almighty shout, she called upon another Comet spell.

The burning rocks crashed down upon the Proto Golems. Rosalind stopped, gasping for breath. Would they still come at her?

No. All three of the robots were now still. The sound of struggling hardware soon gave way to hissing, and then, the reassuring sound of systems shutting down. The problem had been neutralized.

There was a pneumatic hissing noise, and Rosalind nearly jumped. What was that?

A ringing cut through the air, and this time Rosalind did jump. Belatedly, she realized that her PHS was ringing. Taking the phone out with shaking hands, she heard Tseng's voice on the other end.

"Rosalind, are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she said, her voice shaking. Being attacked by one's own security system had rattled her. "But it looks as if the security robots are malfunctioning." Tseng noticed the tremor in her voice, because he told her to calm down. His own voice was slightly apologetic, as if he'd been amiss about something.

"…emergency failsafe security program has been activated to the highest level," Tseng was saying. Rosalind blinked. What did that have to do with the system attacking her? She attempted to stop her mind from reeling. Why was she getting so worked up?

"The way the security system works at that level, the robots and other features of the system target anything that moves. The system was designed to eliminate anything that remained in the building once that security level had been activated."

Oh. So that's what he had meant. Feeling calmer already, Rosalind nodded to herself. "In other words, the security program will attack without discrimination." The system wasn't malfunctioning. It was designed to do what it had just done. Then she grimaced. She'd done a number on the Proto Golems. That was probably going to come out of her paycheque.

"That's right," Tseng confirmed. "Your objective remains the same: I want you to go to the control room and lock down the cannon. Use any measures you have to. Just make sure you're prepared. This is the world's most sophisticated security system you're dealing with. Rosalind, can you do it?"

Well, she had come this far, hadn't she? Besides, she thought, standing up straighter, she was a Turk. The world's most sophisticated security system wasn't going to stop her doing her job. "I'll do it, sir," she said, feeling back in control. Her voice had stopped shaking. Her other hand gripped her handgun tightly. There was nothing to be afraid of. Besides, compared with what she was facing, she got the feeling Reno was facing much worse out there. At least she was only dealing with machines here.

Making her way to the end of the room, she found that there was a door where she hadn't seen one before. As she went through it, she heard that same pneumatic hissing noise from before. So it had been this door. Presumably it only opened when the security threat – the Golems in this case – had been neutralized.

Her enemies, as it turned out, were not all machines. While navigating the twisting corridors, she ran into several Guard Hounds and Blood Tastes, who had tracked her scent. She dispatched them quickly. Keeping one eye on her PHS and one out for any attackers, she eventually made her way to a small room. The door closed behind her as she entered.

This room was strange, Rosalind thought. There was nothing in here save for scraps of twisted metal and a door at the other end. Frowning, she made her way to the door. What was this place used for, anyway?

"Intruder detected." It was that voice again. Rosalind nearly groaned. What now?

The lights dimmed and klaxon lights began flashing once more. The door she'd been heading for opened. Two Blood Tastes, the stingers on their heads waving excitedly bounded through. There was a disconcerting grating sound from behind her and Rosalind turned around. A solid metal wall was heading right for her. Rosalind whipped back around: same for the wall on the other side. She had to get through to the exit -!!!

There was a growling sound from just in front of her. Shrieking, Rosalind held up her arms to protect herself.

One of the Blood Tastes was standing up on its hind legs, its jaws snapping at her. It whipped its feeler at her. The feeler hit her face, and Rosalind stumbled. Taking advantage of her disorientation, it leapt, bringing her down onto the floor. Rosalind gasped as the air was forcibly punched out of her. She heard snarling, then yelled as she felt teeth sink into her leg. At this rate she was going to get torn to pieces by the Blood Tastes – if the walls didn't crush her first.

Holding the muzzle of the Blood Taste aiming for her throat with one hand, she reached up with the other. Bringing the muzzle of her gun to its head, she closed her eyes as blood and flesh sprayed her. Spitting, she wiped her eyes, clearing the blood away. She took aim for the second hound and it fell dead with a whimper, its teeth still stuck in her trouser legs. With a frantic kick, she got loose.

Now she had to deal with the wall. Both sides were coming inexorably closer. The shriek of grinding metal filled her ears. Rosalind backed up. Experimentally, she took a shot. The walls were getting closer still. She emptied an entire clip. The walls weren't stopping. There was now about five feet of space between her and the walls.

Gathering her strength, she focused her mind on the targets. Taking a deep breath to clear her thoughts, she shouted as loud as she could. "COMET!!!"

Four feet. "Comet!" she yelled again. "Lightning! Comet!"

Three feet. One of the walls had stopped, but the other one was still moving forward. Taking a step back, she yelled again. One of the meteorites punched the wall hard, denting it. The wall shuddered, then came to a stop.

Barely two feet. Rosalind gasped, hands on her knees. She closed her eyes, struggling to get her equilibrium back. With unsteady hands, she reached into her pocket and took out another small glass bottle. This was the last ether. Once she drank it, she wouldn't have anything else left. Her fingers closed tightly over the bottle, then put it away.

No. There was no telling what else was up ahead. She would have to keep going and rely on her other resources.

Off to the side, the other door had opened once more. Rosalind looked at it warily. Crouching down, she lifted up the leg of her trousers where the Blood Taste had bitten her. There were two puncture wounds where its fangs had gotten her, but the bleeding had stopped. Experimentally, she put weight on that leg, taking a tentative step. Although the limb ached, she could still use it.

Nodding, Rosalind readied her weapon. Just a little further. According to the PHS, she only had to navigate her way through a few more rooms, and she'd be in the room where the control console was housed.

She stepped forward, making her way into the next room.

Just a little further… Just a little further…

Author's Notes: Well, this story's certainly looking to be a long one. I just completed writing for the events of Episode 4, and that finished up around Chapter 30! I'm in a quandary now, because I wanted to explore subplots in addition to following the main storyline here. The danger of getting sidetracked however, has already reared its poisonous head over the fic, and I'm thinking it might be best to publish separate side stories – companion pieces that can be read apart from the main storyline. What do you think? Comment and let me know.