Final Fantasy VII: The Story [3rd Instalment
Emerald Princess of Vernea
Chapter Three
As the whole of Junon shook as Weapon crashed into the town, Tifa Lockheart was still locked up inside the gas chamber. Chained by her wrists to the metal chair and unable to move, she had no idea what was going on outside. She heard the sirens and the faint sound of gun and cannon fire, but whether Junon was winning or losing, she could not tell. Twisting her body round, Tifa turned to the door, about to shout and demand some answers, but stopped as she heard a hissing sound behind her. She turned back. The hissing came from the large pipes around her. As she realised this, she smelt the bitter, deadly scent of gas.
"Gas!!" Tifa squirmed in her chair, striving to pull her wrists free of the locks that bound her. She could barely move her arms. "Barret, help!!" she called.
Barret's muffled voice came through the metal door. "Hold your breath!" he told her. "Hold on as long as you can!"
Tifa turned her head away from the pipes. Taking a deep, deep breath, taking in as much free oxygen as she could get before the gas consumed it, she held it deep within her lungs. She could feel the gas blowing hotly across her face, surrounding her, choking her. It would not be too long before the whole chamber was filled with the noxious gas. Tifa twisted her head this way and that and kicked out, her lungs already beginning to burn with the need for more air. "Come on!" she shouted, her feet thudding against the bottom of the chair. "I can't hold on forever!"
Outside, Barret continued to pull on the door. His muscles were burning. Sweat caked his arms and face, and the veins on his neck and arms had risen to the surface. He grunted and groaned with the effort, pulling in every ounce of strength he had to pry open the door and rescue Tifa from her horrible fate. He lodged his gun-arm into the gap between the door and the handle and pulled with all his might.
The door refused to open.
Barret sagged and released the door, his muscles unable to pull anymore. The door would not budge, nor was it giving any signs of it ever moving. Barret snarled angrily and found enough energy to give the door a harsh punch with his good hand—an effort that jarred the muscles of his hand and sent painful shivers up his left arm.
"Shi-!" Barret cursed, more at the door than at his pained hand. He turned away from the door and ran to Cait, who was waiting in the middle of the room, watching him with a thoughtful expression on his furry face. Barret gestured at the door to the gas chamber. "The gas room's probably locked from a different room!"
Cait nodded absently, as though he wasn't really listening but making up his mind about something. Sensing that Barret was rapidly growing irate, the cat quickly sat up straight and nodded confidently. "Hmm, we gotta go with a different plan," he said. He turned the Mog around to face the other door—the one leading outside. "Let's get out of this room first," he said.
Barret eyed the cat suspiciously. Despite Cait's apparent helpfulness, the former AVALANCHE leader could not trust him completely just yet. After a split second's careful thought, Barret turned back to the gas chamber and shouted: "Tifa! I'll help you, I promise!" He then turned back to Cait, who was already moving and bouncing away on his Mog toward the other doors. Barret hesitated, and then ran after him.
Barret caught up to Cait just as the cat was about to push on the double doors. They swung open with ease. Cait bounded through and paused in the corridor beyond, waiting for Barret to catch up.
The instant Barret passed through the double doors and entered the corridor, the doors suddenly hummed with life and swung shut. Barret spun around in time to hear a loud click that was the doors locking shut. Running back to the doors, Barret took hold of the handles and pulled with all his strength. But these, like the door to the gas chamber, were locked tight and refused to budge even a millimetre.
"No! They locked this too!" Barret cried, glaring at Cait accusingly over his shoulder.
From the other side of the door, the two heard a familiar, cackling laugh.
"Fools!" they heard Scarlet say. "Now you can't save the girl!
Barret stepped away from the door. Clenching his fist tightly, he slammed it hard against the metal. The sound that came from the blow reverberated down the corridor. Above it was the sound of Scarlet's hideous laughter, mocking and revelling in what she deemed her greatest triumph. There was nothing Barret could do to stop the laughter, or to stop Tifa from suffering the torment of her execution.
"Goddammit……!!" the man cursed fiercely. How he longed to break through these doors and wring Scarlet's skinny neck; watching her eyes go dead as he choked the life out of her. Barret could not forgive himself. It should be him locked in the gas chamber, not Tifa! How could he have let this happen to her? How could Cloud have left them like this—in Shinra's grasp without a hope of saving themselves?
Barret's angry musings were interrupted when he heard Cait's softly spoken words coming from behind him. "Okay, okay," the cat was saying quietly, so no one on the other side of the door could hear him, "time for Plan B. Let's run to the airport!"
Barret came away from the door and looked at Cait in astonishment. "Why the airport?" he demanded angrily. "An' leave Tifa there?" He jabbed his gun-arm at the locked door, where Scarlet's crowing laughter could still be heard over the siren.
Cait waved a furry paw dismissively, as though the fact was not important to him. "Trust me, trust me," he said with a grin. "We gotta take a chance." Without waiting for Barret's consent, the cat turned and began to hop quickly along the corridor.
Barret watched the cat closely, once again trying to decide if the cat was being sincere or whether there was some sinister, devious side to his suggestion. Cait was the one, after all, who had arranged the kidnap and holding of his adopted daughter, Marlene. Cait was the one who had stolen the Keystone from them all those weeks ago and gave it to the Shinra. He was a spy and a traitor. No matter what the cat did to try to repent what he did, he was still an employee of Shinra and thus an enemy.
Then an image of Tifa flashed through his mind. In his mind's eye he saw, locked inside the gas chamber and unable to get out. Tifa was coughing and choking, dying so horribly slowly as she was forced to breathe the toxic gas that was consuming her. She was on her knees, clawing at the door with trembling hands. She was crying. Her eyes were red and swollen, bulging out of her head as she clawed for air. Those swollen eyes turned to Barret, pleading desperately for him to save her.
That image was enough to make Barret's mind up. He left the door and began to run down the corridor after Cait. His pace picked up with each step until he was charging down the corridor, his boots thudding loudly on the concrete floor. He overtook Cait, leaving him behind as he sought to make his way out of this building and reach the airport. He didn't know what plan Cait had in mind, but if there was a chance that it could save Tifa then it was worth a shot.
The two left the Shinra building and came out on the main road beside the dock. The soldiers that had patrolled the streets had now scattered. The only people still on the road was a cameraman and a young reporter, who braved the gunfire and splashing water to film a report on Weapon's attack. Barret paid no attention to her, though the back of his mind said she looked somewhat familiar.
Barret came to a stop and looked up at the orange-red sky that now covered the Planet. Meteor hung like a huge blemish in the sky, forever a reminder of what was to come. For a moment Barret wondered if there was a way to destroy it—to stop what Sephiroth had created. He shook his head. This was no time to be thinking of that! He had to save Tifa. He turned his head away from the sky and was about to run off, when he noticed that the young reporter was standing right in front of him.
"I know you're in a hurry!" said the girl in a high, equally familiar voice. "But, please if I could have a word……"
Barret raised his fists threateningly. "Shu'up!" he snapped. "I'm in a hurry!"
Kiiiiin…
At his words the girl jumped back in fright, almost dropping her microphone. She quickly caught it and held it close to her chest, glaring at Barret. "Don't make so much noise," she scolded Barret sternly. "……It's me, ME! Yuffie!" Pulling away part of her disguise, she grinned at Barret.
Barret finally recognised the young ninja. "The hell you doin' here!?" he demanded.
Before Yuffie could answer, a loud explosion shook the town. The road shook beneath them, causing Barret, Cait and Yuffie to totter and stumble. Cait rolled off the back of his Mog, catching hold of the Mog's back and holding on as the shaking continued. Yuffie's ninja skills allowed her to quickly regain her balance, and she turned to look at the ocean.
More soldiers stopped to look as they saw Weapon begin to rise out of the water. The monstrous form of Weapon rose out of the ocean, water slicking over its blue-purple body as it rose slowly and steadily. Its head rose, small in comparison to the rest of its body, but no one paid any attention to that. A long upturned triangle of flesh or metal shielded the lower half of Weapon's face. Two large yellow eyes with cat-like pupils stared menacingly on Junon. These ominous eyes gazed intently over the town, taking in every sight and locating the vital spots.
Yuffie turned away from the docks. Her face was pale. "I'll explain later!" she said, her voice trembling. "Now we gotta get to the airport!" Throwing down her microphone to the ground, she began to strip off her reporter's guise and return to her true form. Barret began to wonder what the ninja had done with her shuriken, when he saw that it was strapped to her leg. Yuffie had disassembled the razor ring when donning her disguise, keeping the pieces close to her body should she have need of them. Now she worked to put the pieces back together even as she followed Barret and Cait as they ran down the road toward the airport.
The group were just starting to think that they would reach the airport without incident when they ran into a trio of soldiers. The soldiers were trying unsuccessfully to reassemble one of the smaller attack units that had been damaged when Weapon crashed into the town. The machine, called Death Machine, was smoking heavily and was clearly beyond repair.
One of the soldiers looked up as the three companions approached. He recognised them instantly and called to his comrades, who came away from the Death Machine and picked up their rifles. They opened fire upon the three.
The three came to a stop, raising their arms to shield themselves as the bullets flew past them. The soldiers were so nervous as a result of Weapon's assault that they could not aim straight, and as such were unable to hit the three directly. But the bullets whizzed past as such an alarming rate that they were just as dangerous.
The last piece of the razor ring clicked back into place. After spotting a gap in the flurry of bullets, the ninja flung her shuriken away from her. The shuriken zipped through the air in a straight line toward the nearest of the soldiers. It struck the soldier's rifle, jarring it from his hands where it clattered to the floor. The shuriken then twisted around and caught the second soldier in the side of his helmet, stunning him. The weapon then spun and made its way back to Yuffie, who caught it.
Barret was in no mood for nonsense. Raising his gun-arm, he took aim not at the soldiers but at the damaged Death Machine that was smoking behind them. He let loose a continuous flood of bullets. The Death Machine shuddered as the bullets struck. When Barret stopped the machine laid still, electricity crackling over its body.
The robot juddered and began to stand. With each movement there came the grate of metal on metal, and sparks flew from its damaged interior. It was so alive with electricity that Yuffie could feel the hair on her neck standing on end. But the soldiers, so preoccupied with rearming their weapons, did not notice as the robot lumbered up behind them.
"Hey, look behind you, bozos!" called Yuffie.
One of the soldiers turned. At the sight of the malfunctioning robot looming over him, he gave a petrified cry and dropped his weapon to the ground. Pushing past his two comrades he fled from it, running past Barret and Cait in the process. The other two soldiers then turned and followed suit, screaming in terror as the broken robot came to a stop, gave another final shudder, and then exploded where it stood.
Barret and his two companions once more raised their arms to shield themselves as hot flames and smouldering robot parts were sent flying through the air. The road became clogged with smoke. The flames were hot against their skin, the smoke choking their every breath. But the wind soon blew the smoke and flames clear and the three ran on, leaping over the charred remains of the Death Machine as they continued on their way.
The rest of the route to the airport was an easy one. None of the soldiers left on the road dared to oppose them. Most of them were too busy doing other things to take any notice of the escapees. Those who did notice were too scared to do anything to stop them. A single look into Barret's angry eyes and Yuffie and Cait's fierce expressions were enough to send them fleeing back to their commanders.
They stormed the building that led to the airport. The few soldiers left guarding the building pressed themselves against the walls in fear as the three charged in, weapons drawn, with Barret yelling commands that they had better not interfere. No one did, and the three quickly headed for the airfield.
Cait led the way over to the cargo lift. Motioning for Barret and Yuffie to hurry up and get on, he stamped his foot down on the 'On' button. The lift shuddered and began to rise, carrying the three up to the top level where the airships were docked. When the lift finally came to a stop the three jumped off and ran across the platform.
A large airship was docked at the far end of the airport. It was the same airship that Rufus and his company had used to travel to the far northern caves and bring them all back to Junon. Barret was surprised to see that there were no guards surrounding the airship. He came to a stop at the foot of the great airship and looked around. After seeing that there were no other paths to take, he turned to Cait.
"Yo! You sure this is the right way?" he asked. "It's a dead end!"
To Barret's horror, he saw Cait grinning sheepishly and scratching his head. "Uh oh," the cat said meekly, whiskers twitching. "Did I make a wrong turn?"
"You damn cat……!" Barret raged, shaking his fist angrily. "What the hell're we gonna do now? They'll all be comin' soon!"
They were coming sooner than Barret expected. As he spoke he heard the sound of soldiers storming the lower levels of the airfield. He heard a Shinra commander bark an order and the lift suddenly began to descend, ready to bring up soldiers to apprehend the escapees. Barret turned his back on Cait and Yuffie and began to adjust some of the mechanics of his metal gun-arm. The chainsaw attachment began to whir rapidly, until it was a blur of frenzied motion. Barret glanced back at Cait.
"Yo, better watch my back till the end… partner!"
Tifa, meanwhile, was struggling desperately to free her arms from the chair that bound her. She could not hold her breath for much longer. Her lungs burned intensely in their need for air. The gas spilling from the pipes was rapidly filling up the room, consuming every last ounce of oxygen there was. Tifa quickly realised that she could not wait for Barret to save her. If she did not do something to save herself, then she would die in this horrid gas chamber.
Hurriedly Tifa looked around, trying to find something that she could use to free herself, or at least stop the gas that blew around her. There were two large glowing buttons in the room, but she had no idea what they did or if they could help her. One must stop the gas, she knew, but it did not matter for she would need her arms free to reach them. Tifa looked at the rest of the room, scanning the walls and the floor.
Her salvation lay just a couple of feet from her, lying on the floor near the base of the chair. Before leaving the gas chamber, the soldier guarding her had dropped a key onto the floor. Whether the key would unlock the chains binding her wrists Tifa couldn't say, but it was her only hope.
Tifa stretched out a foot, hoping to pull the key toward her. She could not quite reach it, so she slid off the chair and stretched as far as her fettered arms would allow her. This time she reached it, and, pressing her foot down hard to make sure the key would not slide free, she drew the key toward her.
Since she could not use her arms to pick up the key from the floor, Tifa sat back in her chair, positioned her feet around both sides of the key, and attempted to lift it up with her feet. After a few unsuccessful attempts she managed it, holding the key precariously between the sides of her boots. Bending her knees Tifa lifted her feet up to her face and caught the key in her teeth.
Her lungs felt ready to explode. Tifa manoeuvred the key in her mouth until the jagged edges pointed down, and then she lowered her head to the first lock binding her left wrist. She twisted her head and the key turned in the lock, and then the lock clicked open. Tifa sat up and wrenched her hand free. Taking up the key in her hand she quickly unlocked her other hand, and then thankfully climbed out of the chair.
Tifa placed her hands over her mouth. She exhaled slowly, releasing the pent up air that had clogged her lungs. Cautiously she breathed in, trying to filter the gas through her gloves and take in only precious air. There was little left and she nearly coughed. She swallowed what air she was able to take and then looked about for a way to stop the gas from flowing. Her eyes fell once more on the two large glowing switches—the one by the door and the one near the pipes.
"Which button stops the gas…?" she asked herself, her voice muffled and faint through her leather gloves. Knowing she had no time to wonder, she went to one of the switches and pressed it. There was a faint hiss and the gas stopped flowing, much to Tifa's relief. Hopefully soon the gas would disperse, but she was still locked in the chamber. Tifa went to the door and pulled on the handle. "Open it---……"
The door refused to budge. Tifa sagged, weakening from the lack of air. She was just about ready to give up and let the gas take her when the room suddenly shook violently, causing her to almost fall.
Weapon continued to stare at Junon, glaring at the town through yellow eyes filled with hatred and contempt. The large monster finally chose its target. It lowered the large shield that masked the lower half of its face, revealing a large gaping mouth that was not filled with teeth but large, jagged bits of metallic flesh. Weapon lifted its head clear of the shield, its frightening mouth opened wide, and turned it on Junon.
A glow began to form deep within Weapon's jaws. The light was faint at first but rapidly growing brighter, filling Weapon's entire mouth, glowing like a beacon in the middle of the ocean. The monster narrowed its eyes and drew back its head as the blaze grew brighter still, and becoming so fiercely hot that the air around it began to waver and ripple like the waters it surrounded.
When Weapon was ready it thrust its head forward, and a narrow beam of blue light fired from the monster's open mouth. The blast was so powerful even Weapon struggled to control it; its head shook as it fought to keep the beam under control and on target. The energy beam fell upon the base of Junon's main control tower, cutting a long, jagged gash through the thick metal and leaving a gaping hole in the side of the tower. Thankfully for the town the beam did not burn any further than that, but it left that part of the tower vulnerable to another strike.
Weapon was preparing another strike. Its head tilted as it took aim, stretching its monstrous maw wide. The inside of its mouth began to glow brightly once again, so bright even Weapon had to narrow its eyes to protect it from the light. Weapon drew its body back, preparing for the blow.
Weapon was just about to fire again when the mako cannon suddenly fired and hit the monster right in the middle of its hideous face. The monster was forced backward, smoke and flames engulfing the upper half of its body and shards of broken flesh falling to the water. Its two large fins fell limp at its side as Weapon began to tumble over, sinking headfirst into the safety of the ocean waters. From there it disappeared beneath the surface, either horribly wounded or dead.
Gas seeped swiftly out of the chamber, escaping through the yawning hole burned in the side of the wall made by Weapon's attack. As the gas escaped it was replaced by the sweet taste of fresh ocean air. Even though the air was thick with the scent of oil and burning metal, Tifa gulped it down, relieved as she felt the imploding pain in her lungs slowly cease.
As the smoke began to clear, Tifa looked up at the far wall. Weapon's attack had created a long gash in the side of the tower, cutting across the gas chamber where she was being held. The bottom of the gash, smouldering with melted metal, lay just a few feet higher than Tifa. The metal around the gash had folded inward, within easy reach of her. Tifa was just about to go up to it when she heard Scarlet's scared but angry voice screeching at her through the door.
"What d'you do?" she heard the woman shout. Tifa heard Scarlet pound on the door, shrieking in absolute rage as she realised that it would not open. "Hey! Open it!"
Tifa turned to the door and put her hands on the hips. "First you lock me in this weird place," she said in annoyance, "and now you're telling me to come out? Make up your mind!"
Deciding that she was not going to wait around for Scarlet and her cronies to open the door, Tifa hurried over to the bottom of the gash and climbed up onto the metal. The metal was already beginning to cool and was easy to hold onto, and Tifa pulled herself easily up out of the chamber and onto the exterior of the tower.
Wind gushed past her, blowing her hair in all directions. Tifa slid down onto a jutting out ridge and made her way slowly across the side of the tower. She took care not to look down—not because she was scared, but because she did not want the height to distract her from the task at hand.
She reached the edge of the ridge. The only way to go now was down. Tifa sank to her knees and turned to face the wall. Carefully she pushed herself off, sliding below the ridge and onto the curved wall of the tower. The wall was rough enough for her to hold onto and she pressed her leather gloves and boots firmly against the surface to stop her from sliding off and falling to a painful death on the town far below her. After pausing regain her composure, she took a breath and began her descent.
Tifa was about halfway down the wall when she heard a shout from above. Looking up, she saw Scarlet standing on the edge of the gash leading into the gas chamber. She was screaming in rage and pointing at Tifa. Two soldiers came out of the chamber behind her and began to scramble over the ridge.
Tifa put her head down and began to climb down faster. She kept her gaze fixed on the wall, determined not to let either the height or the advancing soldiers stop her from making her escape.
Tifa reached the end of the wall, which joined onto the heavy machinery that held the giant mako cannon in place. The fighter leapt the last few feet and landed on the machine, which hummed beneath her feet. She did not stop and began to run away from the wall, scrambling over the rises and falls, jumping over the joints and pipes, heading for the barrel. When she reached the barrel she leapt onto it, almost losing her balance on its smooth surface.
Tifa finally came to a stop at the far end of the cannon's shaft. She realised her mistake instantly. By coming down the cannon's shaft, she had left herself with nowhere else left to run. Behind her was a sure path right back into a Shinra dungeon, or worse, another execution chamber. Ahead of her was the end of the shaft and a long drop into the raging ocean below. Tifa took a step back away from the edge, preparing to turn and attempt to make a break for it, when she heard Scarlet's insufferable voice coming from behind her.
"Our little game of hide and seek ends here."
Emerald: Another new chapter. Yay! This chapter was going to go on longer, but the chapter was getting close to 8,000 words so I decided to split it off here and make two chapters instead of one. I'm currently still working on finishing off the next chapter. It's at that stage where there's a lot of speaking and not a lot for me to work with, and I don't like how Tifa is turning out, and I just wanna get it done. So I need to take a quick break to refuel my energy and then work on writing that last 1,000 words to get it done. So hopefully by tomorrow or later today, it shall be done! And you shall have two new chapters to play with. X3