Final Fantasy VII [3rd Instalment]
Emerald Princess of Vernea
Chapter Thirty-Six
Once the Turks had gone, Cait Sith retook the lead and the group continued on their way.
With no trains running, the underground railroads were deathly quiet. Midgar had never been this quiet before. Even underground, or in the slums, you could always hear the bustle of city life above. Now there was no hum of trains as they sped along the tracks, for the trains had halted. There was no hustle and bustle on the streets above, because the people had all fled. It reminded Cloud and Tifa of the Train Graveyard in the Sector 7 slums. The feeling was the same. How cold and eerie the used train dumping grounds had felt, so utterly silent and devoid of life. That was how the whole city felt now. The life had gone.
They each thought about this as they moved quickly along the tracks, trying to keep up with Cait, who was bounding away as fast as the Mog could go. They could not afford to slow down, since time was of the essence.
The group were reminded of how little time remained when the ground suddenly began to shake. They stopped and held onto each other as the ground trembled and the tracks rattled and clattered loudly. Dust fell from the ceiling in a thick, dusty cloud. An eerie screech echoed down the tracks. It sounded as though something was being forcibly dragged up from deep beneath the city.
They knew what that scream was without being told. It was the cry of the planet, screaming in pain as the next reactor opened its valves and began to suck up more of the Lifestream from beneath the surface. It was so cold and chilling; it made the hairs on the backs of their necks stand on end. The scream continued for about ten seconds before finally stopping, and the ground settled again.
"That's the No. 6 Reactor activated," Cait told them. Everyone turned to him. "Only two reactors are left. We don't have much time. Hurry!"
Even as Cait spoke, the ground started to hum, falling into a steady rhythm. There were no more screams from the planet, but they could guess that it was still in pain. Though it was comforting for something to break the ghostly silence, it was also a prompt for them to stop wasting time and hurry on. They picked up the pace and hurried down the tracks.
They reached a fork in the path ahead. Without hesitation Cait headed down the right-hand path which, he said, would lead them back onto the plate.
His word was true. After a few minutes the track began to slope gently upward. They reached the end shortly after and emerged at the entrance of the Sector 8 train station. Cait told them they could access the cannon via Fountain Square at the foot of the Shinra Building, so they left the train station and rushed towards the square.
The Square was, as expected, completely deserted. The citizens had left in a hurry, it seemed, wanting to get as far from the Shinra Building as possible. In doing so they had abandoned many of their possessions: cars were still running, shopping had been dumped and left behind, and—most shocking of all—they saw the body of a young man in the middle of the square. Unable to escape the panic fast enough, he had been trampled to death and left in the square.
A number of streets ran off away from the Square, and it was down one of these that they saw the access Cait had mentioned. It led to a stairwell that went straight up to the top of the cannon, which loomed over the sector. They stood in the centre of the Square and looked up at it. The pipes attached to the reactors were glowing in faint pulses as they carried small amounts of mako into the cannon.
Overhead there was the mainframe. Though they could not see Hojo from where they were, they knew he was there. Right now the mad scientist was working on opening up the next reactor. The companion made their way across the Square.
Just as they began to move, the ground began to shake once again. The companions and stopped and froze in fright, fearing for a second that Hojo had already managed to open and activate the No. 7 Reactor.
They soon realised that this was not the case, for the tremor was different from the one they had felt underground. It was heavier and came in regular bursts… like footsteps. Something very large was heading towards them. The companions turned and looked back across the Square.
The sight they saw would haunt them forever.
It was known as the Proud Clod, and was the Weapons Development Department's pride and joy. The automaton towered over the smaller buildings in the sector, and came just about level with the taller ones. It was covered from head to foot in red-tinted metal and had four monstrously large arms that were joined at the elbow and tipped with dangerously sharp titanium claws. Two gigantic, flat feet with upturned claws stomped heavily along the pavement towards the Square. Each step the Proud Clod took caused the ground to shake, and the pavement cracked beneath its weight. There was no doubt as to its intent: it was heading straight for them.
"This can't be…" said Tifa.
"Are you serious…?" asked Yuffie.
The ninja struggled to hide her smile. The Proud Clod certainly looked impressive. No doubt on the battlefield it would be an effective and fearsome weapon. But here, in a densely populated area, it just looked… ridiculous. Shinra weren't really planning on using that thing here… were they?
The Proud Clod reached the end of the street and entered the Square. It stopped in front of the group. There was a moment's pause and then a hatch on the robot's chest opened up. In the opening, standing side by side, were Heidegger and Scarlet.
Heidegger laughed. "Here they come! So they really showed up!" He laughed once more, and Scarlet laughed with him. "You sure did treat us like dogs up to now!"
"You killed off a lot of my precious soldiers!" Scarlet added.
"But let's see how you do against anti-Weapon artillery!" said Heidegger, laughing again.
"You guys are worthless," Scarlet said, "but my proud creations are a sure thing!
Scarlet smiled malevolently and then snapped her fingers. The chest hatch closed, sealing both her and Heidegger inside the robot. The Proud Clod raised one clenched fist and hit the ground in front of Cloud and his friends, forcing them to jump back. The group reached for their weapons, as Scarlet's voice cackled from inside.
"I'll show you the destructive power of the Proud Clod!"
With that, they began the attack. The Proud Clod bent its knees, revealing two large gun barrels hidden behind its caps, and then opened fire. Cloud and the others darted back as the bullets hit the ground in front of them. After the initial wave the six machinegun barrels behind the automaton's small head also opened fire, sending another wave of bullets flying towards them, forcing them to retreat once again. One or two bullets ricocheted off the concrete floor and rebounded off the walls, zipping dangerously around the Square.
When the secondary wave of fire ended the Proud Clod raised its clenched fist and smashed it into the ground where Tifa was standing. The young fighter flipped back out of the way and skidded to a stop. She looked over at Cloud. "Cloud!"
Cloud heard her. There was no time to deal with Scarlet and Heidegger, or their Proud Clod. Even as they wasted time here, Hojo was getting closer and closer to completing his goal. At any moment the No. 7 and 8 Reactors could open, and then it would be lights out forever for Midgar. The swordsman released his hold on the Buster Sword and stepped forward towards the Proud Clod.
"This is pointless!" he called up to the robot, knowing that inside Scarlet and Heidegger could hear him. "It's over. There's no need for us to fight now!"
Scarlet's high-pitched cackle echoed from within the Proud Cloud, and the automaton unleashed another volley of gunfire. The swordsman jumped back as the bullets tore into the ground at his feet. He drew his sword and used the wide blade as cover, and the bullets bounced off with a loud 'ping'. When the volley ended, Cloud lowered his sword and tried again.
"Scarlet!" he called. "If we don't stop Hojo, then Midgar is finished! Just let it go!"
His answer was another round of intense gunfire, forcing the swordsman to retreat once more. He came to a stop beside Cait.
"Don't waste yer breath, Cloud," the cat told him with a sigh. "They won't listen to you. All they care about now is proving that their machine can beat us into the ground. Our lives, the people of Midgar's lives… they mean nothing to them." The cat stood up on the Mog's head, clutching his megaphone tightly in his gloved fist. "All Shinra ever cared about was its own interests, and protecting those interests. That's why SOLDIER—and people like Sephiroth—were created. Fighting, money, power, that's all they ever cared about!"
And didn't they know it. There was not a single one among them that had not been affected by Shinra's quest for power. Cait Sith, or Reeve Tuesti, as an oppressed employee; Cid Highwind, whose dreams for space exploration were shattered by Shinra's greed; Yuffie Kisaragi, with her once proud home now a struggling tourist attraction; Vincent Valentine, genetically altered by Professor Hojo himself; Red XIII, captured and experimented on as one of Hojo's 'specimen's'.
Then there was Barret, who lost all he held dear when Shinra destroyed his hometown and, in his rage, formed a resistance group to take his revenge. Likewise there was Tifa, who's father was killed by Sephiroth, her own life almost taken, and her hometown burned to the ground. And Aeris… relentlessly hunted by Shinra for many years, and eventually killed by Sephiroth.
Lastly… there was Cloud. His involvement with Shinra was a story that did not need repeating, or reminding. It was deeply connected to their whole journey, and to the man whom they would eventually have to face: Sephiroth. That man was their goal. Shinra, Cloud realised with sudden clarity, was no longer part of their story.
The Proud Clod stomped forward and brought its two right-side fists down hard into the ground between him and Cait. The cat and Mog jumped back as the fist smashed right through the concrete floor, shattering the brickwork. The Mog lost its balance and fell forward onto its face, its feet and arms flailing. Cait Sith rolled over the ground until he came to a stop at Red XIII's feet. The hound dipped his head and lifted the cat by the scruff of his neck, setting him back on his feet.
"What about Midgar?" Tifa called up to the Proud Clod. "Don't you care what happens to it? If we don't stop Hojo and the cannon, then everybody will die! Including you!"
The Proud Clod turned to face her. It raised its left arm and splayed the fingers of its second hand. The barrel of a laser cannon extended from its wrist and fired a hot beam of light towards her. Hurriedly Tifa ducked and rolled out of the way, while the laser beam ripped through the ground, tearing up more of the pavement. The fighter rose onto her feet in a single, swift movement and raised her fists. Before her, a high cackle and a low bellow echoed from within the Proud Clod. Still, they were laughing.
Barret came to stand beside her. "Cait's right—they don't care one bit about Midgar," he said. He thought of little Marlene, sitting terrified in some household, while panic and fighting raged around her. "Shinra never did. So let's jes' stop wastin' time and get on with it! We got a city to save!"
The former resistance leader pushed past Tifa, raised his gun-arm, and opened fire upon the mech. The bullets bounced off the automaton's thick, strong armour, barely even denting it. Barret cursed and then roared in rage as he tried again, firing more bullets, determined to break through.
From inside the mech, Heidegger howled with laughter. "That's right, keep on firing!" he jeered. "Your weapons are useless against the Proud Clod's anti-Weapon armour! Know what that means? Not even Weapon could break this armour!"
"Enough of this," said Scarlet, growing bored of playing games with the rebels. She took hold of the control stick and pushed a red button on the top.
The mechanisms deep inside the Proud Clod whirred, and the mech suddenly knelt down on one knee. It leaned its large upper half forward and the mouth of its small 'head' (which eerily resembled Jenova) opened wide. Pipes leading from the fuel tanks to the head began to pump mako, and the head's eyes began to glow. The prongs of the strange structure on its back also began to glow, before firing a long, wide beam of mako energy towards the rebels.
The shot however, was poorly aimed and sailed cleanly over the heads of the rebels as they scrabbled to get out of the way. The beam hit one of the nearby shops—an item shop—and blew the building apart. The explosion ripped the building apart all the way down to its foundations. Shards of broken glass and chunks of brick and mortar went flying through the air. Smoke billowed, thick and choking into the air. Smaller explosions occurred inside the remains of the shop, as the contents caught fire and blew up in colourful showers.
Cloud looked over at the body of the young man who had been trampled during the panic. The body was now partially hidden beneath a pile of rock; all he could see was a bloodied arm and leg. Cait was right: there was no reasoning with people like Scarlet and Heidegger.
Fighting… money… and power… that was what Cait had said. Fighting only brought about more fighting, more pain, and more sadness. Would there ever be an end to such a cycle? Would the fighting ever end? Cloud drew his sword. There was only one way they could find out. And so—sword in hand—he ran forward to fight.
The Proud Clod, still leaning over, fired a second beam from its cannon. The swordsman did not stop but ducked down low beneath the beam, which sailed over his head. He could feel its destructive heat prickle against his skin and make him sweat. In his hands the blade of the Buster Sword began to glow a deep crimson, and the hilt became so hot it was almost unbearable. Instead of letting go, he simply tightened his grip, clenched his teeth against the pain, and carried on forward.
Gunshots sailed through the air as Vincent and Barret worked together to draw the Proud Clod's attention. Using their Fire and Ice materia to magically-enhance their bullets, they unleashed a continuous stream of bullets upon the Proud Clod's chest plate. The Proud Clod, in defence, took a single step backwards and raised an arm over its chest, protecting its occupants.
With the Proud Clod momentarily distracted Cloud made a dash towards the Proud Clod's other arm, which was hanging unguarded by its side. He saw movement at his side and turned to see Tifa running alongside him. Her fists were clenched and wreathed, spectacularly, in fire. It seemed she too, had figured out what Cloud had begun to suspect about the Proud Clod. The swordsman turned his attention back to the Proud Clod. The arm was in range, and he swung his sword.
The edge of the blade caught the joints of one of the Proud Clod's arms. The blow hit with such intensity that sparks of white light appeared on contact. Cloud's Lightning materia flashed white and electricity danced down the blade and onto the Proud Clod. The electricity spread quickly, enveloping the automaton's whole arm and other hand. The arm stiffened as though in surprise, and from inside the Proud Cloud he heard Scarlet cry out in surprise.
Tifa ran up beside him, and Cloud withdrew the blade, noting—with interest—that he had made a sizable dent in the Proud Clod's armour. Perhaps it was not entirely impervious to weapons, after all. The Buster Sword was made out of a special metallic alloy, one that perhaps outmatched the Proud Clod.
With her fists still wreathed in flame, Tifa struck the Buster Sword's point of impact with all the strength she could summon—which was a lot. Cloud heard her knuckles crack as she struck the metal, and could only wonder what training she had endured to be able to muster such strength. The flames on her hands spread to the metal. The edges of the metal glowed white hot, until steam began to rise from the edges. The fighter then pulled her hand away, and with one more strike from the Buster Sword, the hand came clean off. It clattered to the floor, the elongated metal claws still wriggling, until the mako finally drained away and it became still.
That was all the proof they needed. The Proud Clod's 'anti-Weapon armour' was completely useless in the face of magic. On their own, their weapons would be ineffective. But when combined with the power of their magic materia, the Proud Clod was defenceless. Heidegger and Scarlet, in their eagerness to produce a weapon so powerful that it was impervious to any gun or blade, had completely forgotten about its resistance to magic: something they had in abundance.
It seemed that Heidegger and Scarlet had only just realised this. For a moment they were alarmed as they saw one of the Proud Clod's indestructible arms lying severed on the ground. Then they relaxed. So what if an arm had been lost? They still would not defeat the Proud Clod.
The robot lowered its other arm and started forward. It swiped at Vincent and Barret, who stopped firing in order to dive aside out of the way of the hands that tried to snatch them off the ground. Vincent dropped to the ground and rolled back onto his feet in a single movement. Raising his gun, he fired a series of magic-enhanced bullets at the Proud Clod.
The ice-encased bullets hit the Proud Clod's upper body, making dents and cracks in the armour. The Proud Clod swiped its arm and Vincent ducked once more, but once it passed he rose to his feet and continued to fire. Three bullets hit one of the pipes that fed mako energy into the cannon. The pipe cracked and shattered. Glowing mako spewed out of the pipe, and one of the hands on the automaton's right side fell limp, devoid of power.
The arm came within Cloud's range. Filling the blade with electricity once more, and calling upon the Bahamut materia for extra strength, Cloud jumped and brought the blade down on the Proud Clod's limp arm. With the electricity combined with Bahamut's strength, the Buster Sword cut right through the nuts and bolts and severed the hand from the rest of the body.
To Cloud's side, Cid thrust his spear into the joints of the Proud Clod's left ankle. The tip caught between the bolts and held fast, momentarily stalling the large robot. Quickly Cid withdrew the Gravity materia from his pocket. He was just about to use it when one of the Proud Clod's remaining hands moved in and swept him aside in a single, easy movement. For a moment that felt like forever the pilot found himself flying through the air, his world spinning. There was a flash of grey and then green. He struck something hard and then fell, headfirst, into a pool of shallow water.
Cid floundered in the water for a moment, before finally regaining his senses and struggling back to the surface. He broke through the surface and grabbed onto the patch of grey he had seen during his fall: the wall of the fountain. He wiped the water—and blood—from his eyes and looked ahead. His eyes widened.
The Proud Clod was making its way towards him, moving with surprising speed considering its great size. Cid reached for his spear, but then remembered that the spear was still stuck tight in the Proud Clod's ankle. As the robot moved towards him the spear tip snapped, and the pole broke away. Red XIII ran in from the side, but the Proud Clod swiped him aside and kept on moving.
An ice bullet hit the ground at the robot's feet. Ice spread across the ground, and when the Proud Clod's foot landed on the ice it skidded and slipped forward onto its knees in front of the fountain. The Beam Cannon on its back began to glow, and Cid scrabbled hurriedly backwards. Unable to escape the water fast enough, the pilot resorted to ducking down into the water once again. The cannon fired and the beam sailed overhead, striking the ground behind the fountain.
Smoke swirled thickly into the air. The Proud Clod shuddered and started to rise to its feet again. Two of the pipes leading up to the robot's 'face' cracked and then shattered, unable to take the strain. It took an immense amount of power to move the automaton, let alone fire its incredible Beam Cannon. It would not be long before it ran out of power entirely.
With the next two pipes shattered, the Proud Clod's entire left arm and leg fell limp. It tilted dangerously to one side but remained standing. Inside, Heidegger and Scarlet could be heard arguing heatedly. The Proud Clod jerked one way and then another; it seemed the two were fighting over control of the robot.
Cloud, watching this, was reminded vaguely of an old saying he'd heard once. Something about a divided house…? The swordsman dropped to his knees, breathing hard. This was taking too long… If they didn't stop Heidegger and Scarlet's rampage soon, then Midgar would…
"Hey, Cloud! Don't give up yet!" The swordsman looked up to find Cait standing close to him. The cat rubbed his nose and then held out his hand. "Give me that there Lightning materia of yours, would ya?"
Cloud did as he was told and removed the Lightning materia from his sword. He handed it to Cait, giving the cat a quizzical look. Cait Sith held the materia in his hands, passing it from palm to palm, as though testing it. Then he nodded, clasped it firmly in one hand, and then turned and ran across the Square to where Barret was busy firing obstinately at the Proud Clod.
"Yo, Barret!" the cat called as he ran. "Throw me at the chest plate!"
Pausing in his gunfire, Barret looked over at Cait. He saw the materia in the cat's hand and guessed what he had in mind. He turned. Cait jumped up and grabbed Barret's outstretched hand. The big man then turned, spinning on the spot to build up momentum and then, with all his might, hurled the cat towards the Proud Clod.
Cait Sith soared through the air, his arms and legs flailing. The Proud Clod zoomed in fast. He landed with a clank on the Proud Clod's head just below the face. He slid rapidly and scrabbled for a handhold. He eventually found one in the gridded slits that covered the chest plate. Cait Sith peered through the slits, into the faces of Heidegger and Scarlet.
"You!" hissed Scarlet. "What are you doing, Reeve?"
Cait refused to answer her. He wedged his boots into the slits below him and held the Lightning materia up against the chest plate. He called upon the materia's power. Sparks of electric white light began to form around him, drawn like a magnet into the materia and condensing into a single, flickering ball of light. Some of the electricity escaped the confines of the materia and danced across his arms and legs, and over his face. His whiskers quivered and the cat shook his head vigorously.
"Stop, Reeve!" roared Heidegger in alarm, realising what Cait was up to.
The materia flashed ready. Cait drew back his fist and slammed both it and the materia against the Proud Clod. The electricity was discharged upon contact and went zipping into the Proud Clod's main control room where Heidegger and Scarlet both sat. The two cried out and shielded their arms as the electricity zipped and flickered throughout the control room. The electricity danced over the consoles, sending powerful electric pulses racing through the Proud Clod.
Cait Sith, meanwhile, was thrown back by the shockwave caused by the materia's release. The cat tumbled through the air, rolling over and over. Down on the ground, his Mog bounded forward and jumped up to catch him. Cait crashed into the Mog's large, round torso and dropped into its arms. The cat looked around dazedly for a moment, and then turned his head to look at the Proud Clod.
Something was definitely wrong. The Proud Clod's body had fallen completely limp, supported only by the balance of its own feet. The mouth of the Proud Clod's face had fallen completely open, with mako pouring like blood from the orifice. Electricity crackled all over its body.
Inside, Scarlet was desperately trying to regain control of her precious robot. She refused… absolutely refused… to accept that this band of pathetic wretches could defeat her. She stabbed buttons and pulled on knobs, turned dials and flicked switches, doing anything to get some kind of response. All the while Heidegger watched her, his brows so high up his forehead they looked about ready to take off.
Scarlet eventually did get a reaction from the Proud Clod. It was not the reaction she wanted. The control console sparked and ignited, and flames gushed up in front of her. An alarm sounded inside the pod. The Proud Clod shuddered and shuffled backwards, back down the path it had come towards the train station.
"Not that!" Scarlet cried, her eyes widening. "This is the Proud Clod… … …!"
The shuddering intensified, until it looked like the robot was having some sort of extreme fit. The Proud Clod began to glow hotly, turning red first and then a fierce, hot white. Smoke poured from the chest plate. The robot stiffened. "Whooooa!" Heidegger's voice cried from inside the Clod.
Cloud and the others braced themselves. The Proud Clod gave one final shudder, one last struggle for life. Then it fell still… and then exploded. The explosion rocked the sector, both above the plate and under it. Despite bracing themselves, the companions found themselves thrown aside in the blast. A wave of hot smoke and dust filled the Square, blocking all vision and leaving them blind. They choked on the smoke, and their ears were deafened by the noise.
Then, gradually, the sound of the blast faded away. The dust began to settle; the smoke drifted away.
Cloud was the first to rise to his feet. The force of the explosion had left his body shaken, so he pushed the tip of the Buster Sword into the broken ground and used it to pull himself to his feet. The sound of the blast still echoed painfully inside his head. He shook his head to clear it, and more dirt fell from his hair.
Around him, the others were also beginning to stand. Cid finally climbed out of the fountain and walked—unsteadily—across the Square to where the broken remains of his spear lay. All that was left was the broken pole, but it was better than nothing. Vincent offered Tifa a supporting hand and helped her to her feet.
Cait climbed back on top of the Mog and shot a quick glance at the No. 7 Reactor. He sighed with relief. The rector was still dark inside, which meant they still had time.
He looked down the path to the burning remains of the Proud Clod. The chances of Scarlet and Heidegger surviving that blast would be next to none, but Cait did not feel too sad about that. He had never liked them, or the way they did things. It was not a great shame that the planet was, at last, free of their influence.
A loud rumble sounded overhead. Cait tore his eyes away from the ruined mech and turned them to the darkened sky. It was beginning to rain. He could feel the first raindrops touch his face. More drops followed. Soon the sky was heavy with rain, falling thick and fast over the city. Another roll of thunder boomed, followed, seconds later, by a flash of lightning.
Cait tapped the Mog on the head, and it began to hop across the Square to the steps leading up to the cannon. He stopped at the top of the first set of stairs and turned back to Cloud and the others, who were following slowly behind.
"This way, Cloud!" called Cait. He turned and began to hop up the steps again.
Cloud hurried to catch up with him. Vincent fell into step behind him, following the swordsman up. The gunman's eyes were on the mainframe, some distance above them. He could not see Hojo, but he knew the professor was there.
His hand strayed to his gun. It was loaded and ready. His thoughts went to Lucrecia, sleeping soundly in her crystal stasis, never to awaken again. Vincent wondered… Lucrecia had seen Sephiroth in her dreams… was she watching them now? In her mind's eye, did she see this very moment approaching?
Knowing what was about to occur, Vincent truly hoped that she wasn't.