(Disclaimer: Plata-Azul Firebird does not own Final Fantasy 7, only her OCs… Otherwise, we might end up having a not-so-epic battle with the lawsuits.)
Altering Rhythm
Different Roles
Silver: And now… their roles in this world… And sorry again if this is LATE! I was busy making my portfolio and looking for work. Seriously, this will happen once you graduate from college.
Different Roles
"Sephiroth… let's go."
:::^*^:::
Hiding in the library of the 62nd Floor, the girls read the manual on how to connect the correct wires on the bomb. "Okay… place this wire here, then attach the other end to the battery…" Mira narrates the books as she also directs Riley on connecting the wires correctly.
"I wonder if the Turks are looking for us?" Riley asked out of wonder as she screws the wire to the bomb.
"No idea, but I'm starting to feel sorry for the others, I mean we ditch them." she replies.
"Well, my slip up, our fault and we need to fix this. Right now, I think we got it."
"Really?" the songstress looks at the tiny thing they made… considering they are beginners, they decided to test their handmade bomb in a smaller version before they let it explode in their targeted floors.
"So… where do we test this?"
"… Uhmmm… the storage rooms on the 63rd floor? I mean the doors are made of metal"
"True… let's go explode this where the All Materia was found." as she stands and tossed the helmet to the songstress.
"… Can't believe you talked me into this." the songstress is scowling again, as the magnetic holster of the 3rd Class SOLDIER uniform they stole, which is Mira now wearing, kept attaching itself to the keytar. "Seriously, this will break the circuits in the keytar and why do I have to wear this? You can pass as a SOLDIER more than me." as she slight readjusted the bandage on her chest, which makes it flat.
"I know, but the thing is, I'll be looking for the Turk HQ." Riley points out as she straightens out the lab uniform and adjust the glasses she got from the lockers. "Besides, you'll be safe there as long as you wear that helmet."
"What about my keytar?"
"Uh… can't you stuff it in your pouches?" the mime meekly asked and the songstress stares at her. "Hey! When I gave Cloud his new sword, he just stuffs the Buster Sword in his satchel!"
"Riley…"
"I'm serious, try it with your biggest pouch you have."
Giving her friend a look before removing her belt pouches on her waist, on the back is her biggest pouch she has. The songstress looks at her for a moment, skeptical on this and looks back on her pouch. She then sighs and does what her best friend said, she opens the pouch and stuffs her keytar in and then yelps when suddenly the pouch just sucks in her instrument despite its size. Both girls stare at the pouch, half- expecting it to burp, then Mira picks it up who slightly felt the added weight on it.
"SEE!" The brunette mime cheers as the songstress looks back at her.
"… I'm now expecting a Fat Chocobo to fall on you." as she takes out a hair tie to tie her hair tail and a clip to hold her hair up and to make it look shorter.
"Hey…"
"Come on, let's test that bomb before we fire everything up." as the ravenette takes her belt pouches and puts them back on. Taking the helmet and putting it on… "I'm surprised this uniform fits."
"Asian men… unless they drink medicine that makes them taller, they are not all that towering like those Caucasians." the mime pipes cheerily and pockets the bomb.
"Hey, don't forget, we saw an extremely 6 footer Asian lady with her boyfriend who is also a six footer to the extreme." the songstress reminds her best friend.
"Aye, that's not growth, that's a friggin' mutation… plus I never get why she has worn heels when she's already a 6 footer?" the mime cringes on that memory as they zip up their pouches. They are then peeking out of their hiding place, looking around, nodding to one another and dart for the next floor.
There they went to the said room where Cloud finds the All Materia, and test the bomb. First try is dangerous, it didn't set off, so Riley has to cast Dark Fire to manually set the bomb off.
Second is the same.
But, as the saying that third time is a charm, it has successfully set off and Mira lists the procedures they need to set the bombs. They divided the explosive and needed items, then heads back to the 62nd floor to set the bombs. Once every room is set with enough explosives to spark some flame, they check their phone for enough charge and then they give each other their secret handshakes before heading off to their targets.
:::^*^:::
Arriving on the 51st floor, where the office of the director of the SOLDIER HQ, Mira only find a few people here and most of them are office workers.
'Weird… I thought this is where the SOLDIERs gets their missions…' she thought and proceeds to the office. There, she finds the place empty but most doors are locked, she decided to dare on using the ID they took from the 3rd Class and swipes it at one of the offices…
The door opens… only to reveal a room full of filing cabinets.
'Ack skirts… I don't think I have enough gas to fire this up.' she thought as she walks to each file and looks for anything that relates to Banora. 'Might as well take those and take a few to lead the Turks off.'
Then, as she looks for the said files, she found the file of Zack Fair in one of the cabinets and piques her interest. She takes out the file and reads it… "Okay, Fair… let's see… exams are okay… excellent grades in physical exercises… Yah-di-yah… Dead by the hands of Sephiroth… Okay, the last part is a lie, seriously Shinra." she swears as she rips the report paper on how Zack died into tiny pieces, and then packs the rest into her pouch.
She then went back to her search when she, again, finds some files that piques her interest. This time it's Genesis, Sephiroth, Angeal and Cloud. Taking them out, she reads thru all of them and packs them in case they need to find something they need to help the two remaining SOLDIERs and the hero of Gaia. "Psychological exams failed because he's too soft-hearted, full of doubts and stubborn? Oh come on… that qualifies a hero, man, the company is filled with control freaks." then pockets the file.
It wasn't long till she finds the files related to Banora and takes them out, but it is a small file only reporting about Zack's mission there with Tseng. So she looks for other files and randomly selects about 5 of them, one or two relating to Zack's work. Seeing that it doesn't need a bomb to set these on fire, she sprinkles a few flammable liquid and walks a safe distance back. Once she is at a safe distance, she then cast a very small, dart-like Thunder spell. It lit up a flame and eats the papers away, leaving the black ashes which float up then slowly falls back down.
Once she sweeps the ashes under a cabinet, she then heads out and checks other offices for files to burn.
:::^*^:::
Riley is not having much luck, as she looks around the place and some random scientist tells her to get the reports up to the lab… only in a safe and covered distance, she burns it up completely.
Sighing… she is about to make way for the laboratory.
"Oh come on, this is an awesome drink!" a familiar voice shouts and she ducks into a corner. She then peeks out to see Reno is trying to get Tseng to drink the cocktail she introduced to him. "I know it sound vulgar, but it is awesome and tasty drink!"
"Reno, have you found the two remaining terrorists?" Tseng asked in a stern voice, and the redhead slumps on hearing this. After she hears that he could not find them, the head of the Turks dismisses him and walks off.
Hoping that he will go to his office, she carefully follows Tseng. She follows then takes a different direction and then goes back following him to find his office when…
"Hey!" someone called and she turns to see Elena behind her.
'Oh skirts…' she mentally swore.
:::^*^:::
Mira rummages thru the storage room where most items are kept as proofs or vital information in SOLDIER missions, she happens to find Zack's items in it. There she finds Maiden's Kiss, a medicine at cures the Frog status, a manual about building a flower wagon, his helmet that he never uses, Genji Armor and some materias which she finds useful.
"Wow… Zack Fair, you are a hero." Mira states as she examines a yellow materia. "I'm surprised that these SOLDIERs decided not to use these, I bet they are all mastered or at least level two." as she takes the materias when… "… I don't really know if those employees are stupid or just plain ignorant, but nobody should pass up on a Bahamut FURY Materia! This summon is almost equal to the Bahamut ZERO!"
She looks at the red materia with a small image of the golden dragon in it. The materia seems to emit a purr and she stares at it before pocketing it. 'Weird…' she thought and picks some more materias.
Then…
"This is a strange summon materia…" she notes as she picks out a red materia with a symbol on it instead of an image. "I-" but she is cut short when…
"That's the Being Materia, young one." a voice said behind her and the songstress turns back to see.
A lovely blonde lady in a simple yet elegant dress which shows her midriff and have pieces of navy blue and gold armor with a staff in one hand…
"… Minerva?" as the songstress gapes.
:::^*^:::
"What are you doing here?" the blonde Turk asked.
Riley is now mentally swearing on her bad luck and wished that she have something to get the blonde Turk off her back.
"I asked you again, what are you doing here?" the blonde asked again. "This is where the Turks are stationed."
…
'… OMG…! I think I manage to make her confess where their headquarter is…' the mime thought as she push her glasses up a bit. 'Well might as well…'
"Ummm… are you Elena?" she asked meekly with an insecure tone in her voice
"What of it?"
"Um… the receptionist kinda asked me to deliver your ID."
"I- wait, my ID is found?"
The brunette mime nodded before she covers her ears from the blonde Turks squeals and is suddenly hugged by her. "Oh my Gaia! Thank you!" Elena said happily, as she lets her go and the mime dizzily reaches into her pockets and gives the ID back to her. "My goodness, I finally have it back. I owe you and the one who found it."
"Ugh…" Riley groans as the only female Turk runs off and she shakes the dizziness off. "Well… at least I made her happy… I think…" The she turns around and begins for a search. "I better hope that redhead is drunk." she quips to herself and stalks off into the corridors.
:::^*^:::
Mira remains gaping like a fish on seeing the blonde goddess of the planet.
"You better close your mouth dear, or else a fly would fly in." the goddess teased her as she immediately shuts her mouth. "It's nice to finally meet you, Mira."
"Wait, you're the one who brought us here?" the songstress asked.
"I did not, dear." the goddess stated, which made the ravenette wonder who did then… "I merely called… and you answered."
"What?" snaps back her attention to the goddess.
"I called… and you answered."
"We answered?"
"No… only you. The other is forcefully bought here by a different entity."
"Wait, you mean Riley is not suppose the be here with me? And she is bought here by someone else?"
"Yes…"
"But who? And why me? Why did you call me, Minerva?" gripping the Being Materia tightly in her hands.
"… You answered."
"I know but why did you call me? Of all people, me?"
"… I cannot say, dear… the answer you seek, only you can find them."
"Pffft… some goddess." she miffs as she looks away and processes the whole situation. She has no idea how she answered the goddess' calls and tries to remember how or when she heard that call.
"I'm sorry if I couldn't provide a proper answer… but I'll tell you this." the songstress looks back at her. "You are special… not like a Cetra, not like a summon or an Esper… you are very much special and we have to hide you from that Calamity till the time comes."
"Huh?"
"Like I said, the answer you seek, only you can find them." with a gentle smile on her face and gently pats the songstress on her head. "Keep that materia with you all the times, so I can talk with you when I get a chance."
Mira looks down at the red materia she is holding and looks back at the goddess, who bid farewell at her and vanish out of sight.
"Don't worry, although the red knight sleeps. You'll gain an aid on the way."
"The red knight… sleeps… wait, are you talking about Genesis?" she as looks around the hall, hoping for the goddess to answer back… only nothing. "Great… if Genesis is MIA, then who is going to help me and Riley?" she then sighs and looks at the red materia. "If I was the only one called, then who dragged my best friend into this?" she wonders.
:::^*^:::
After managing on looting a certain redhead's ID, she manages to access the Turk HQ and slips in. To her luck, she finds the office empty of the Turks and rubs her hands together. "Time to light up a campfire, so I can have s'mores." she stated cheerily and skips to the file storage.
There she finds heaps and heaps of reports, ranging from simple protecting the important people to assassination missions. Looking for the file related to Banora, she finds files about the Nibelhiem incident, the AVALANCHE and Zack's death. "Burning files! Burning files! Keep the creepy Turks away from learning that we don't belong here." she hums and then…
She stops and stills for a moment… Looking around, she only finds an empty office but she couldn't help to shake the feeling that she is being watched…
Or something made her spine chills…
'What the heck is that… why do I feel like, someone dunk me with an extremely cold slime.' she thought, then she shivers and rubs her arms. "Geez why do I feel something creeping on me?" as she continues on taking out the files.
When…
A tentacle sprouts out from the file cabinet, she yelps on seeing it and stumbles back on her behind. She scrambles back and looks at the cabinet… only to see it gone.
"What the heck is that?" she shouts and tries to calm herself down. As soon as she calms down, she stands up and looks at the cabinet again with her knife out. She slowly approaches the cabinet, taps it and then back away. Then she goes back and peeks in the drawer… seeing it gone, she sighs in relief and sheaths her dagger back. "I must be seeing things…" and returns on her search for the said files.
Once she finds the files involving the Banora Incident, she then picks out some random files and dumps them in one of the cabinets. Dumping a bottle of cooking oil in it, she then cast a Dark Fire and the files are set on fire.
"Well, that will lead the Turk off our tails." Riley said cheerily, and looks up at the ceiling. "Good thing this company doesn't have those sprinkler system… talk about bad security."
"Come…"
"Uh?"
"I'm here…"
"Who?" she then shakes her head and rubs her temples. "I must be hearing things… Well, there's no point staying here, I think I managed to burn the important files and looted some good info." she looks at the files in her hands and packs them up in her pouch. "Time to head for the lab and burn more stuffs there."
Making sure the files are in ashes, she peeks in the cabinet, pokes the black leftovers and its collapse when she applied a light pressure on it. Satisfied with this, she then makes way to the lab and carefully sneaks her way to the elevators. Arriving there, she pushes the up button and calmly waits for it to arrive. With a ding, the door opens and she dashes right in, quickly presses the 67th floor button and the door closes…
When a hand stops it…
"Your little stunts will end here." Tseng stated as he and Rude enters the elevator.
"Ugh, skrits…" Riley curses on her situation right now.
:::^*^:::
Arriving on the other SOLDIER floor, there Mira finds more SOLDIERs than on the 51st floor and adjusts her helmet. She walks briskly down the hall, looking for the room containing files and stuff they need to burn and destroy. She then decided to head to the briefing room and avoids talking from any SOLDIERs she passes by.
Once she reaches the room, she swipes the ID on the reader, the lock grants access and opens the door. She quickly slips in and shuts the door, to her relief, the room is empty and locks the door. Then she proceeds on the consoles and began looking for files related to the Banora Incident.
"Hey." a voice calls out and she nearly jerks in surprise, she then turns to see… a Second Class Soldier. "What are you doing here?"
'Damn…' she thought as she calms herself and looks back at the SOLDIER, but she didn't dare to speak… her voice will blow her cover out.
"I asked you a question, SOLDIER, what are you doing here?" the 2nd Class asked again, but again the 3rd Class didn't answer. Thinking that the 3rd class is suspicious, he decided the interrogate 'him' and marches towards the Third.
Mira panics at this and attempts to escape when…
"Don't fear… tell him the tragic tale of the hero."
'Tragic… then he must be…' she thought and decides to speak up. "Are you Kunsel?"
The 2nd stop and he finally confirms that the Third is an imposter by the voice, but knowing who he is, is an entire different matter. "How- no… how can you tell if I am him?" he asked.
"Zack Fair." she bluntly said out straightly and the 2nd freezes on that. The songstress can tell very little of his reaction due to his helmet, but she is sure that he will let her talk about the Ex-SOLDIER whom she and Riley could not save. "I was sent here by him as his… last wish." she stated grimly.
"… Wait, last…? You mean…" Kunsel said in shock to hear the dreadful news about his friend.
"Yeah… he passed away a few days ago."
That's when the 2nd seem to slump at hearing the news and bows his head. "Then… it's true… he's-"
"I'm sorry to deliver the bad news, but he tried getting back here… when we found him again, he is dying after a one-man battle against a platoon of Shinra troopers."
"Damn… wait, Shinra killed Zack?"
"Yes… I'm not lying, there are probably still some Shinra equipments littered back in the wasteland."
"I knew Shinra is bad, but I never thought they were that rotten!" and he punches the wall near him, as he takes a breather and looks at back at her. "Can you tell how you met him and how he died?"
"Sure… I'm Mira, by the way." she quips and removes the helmet. She then explains (lied) their first meeting which is on the road to Gongaga, where she and Riley first meet him and his catatonic friend. They watched over the blonde as the Ex-1st goes to battle against a Genesis clone and after he came out victorious from the cloned red swordsman, they left for Cosmo Canyon. The second and last meeting they have is that when they were heading for Midgar. On the way there, they find litters of sliced up guns, broken swords, exploded grounds and… a dying Zack. They were not on time to save him, but he tells them to look after Cloud for them before he passed away. "Then we arrived in Midgar and found him but… there is something wrong with him…"
"Wrong? Like what?" he asked.
"His actions and personality… is almost like Zack himself." she points out and the 2nd looks at her. "We tried asking him a few questions on Zack would know, but he does not remember the incident involving the Genesis clones back in the highway. The only thing he remembers is the Nibelhiem Incident."
"I see… but why did Cloud decide to act like him?"
"From what Zack told us, they were both experimented on by Hojo… probably that and Zack's death caused a trauma in him, then his mind creates that persona to protect himself."
"Well shit… not only Shinra is rotten, so does their genius!"
"I prefer to call that guy a one crazed-up, retarded, inhumane fruit-loop that should be tied in a straight jacket, stuffed in a chest, then in a safe and then throw it into the bottom of the ocean so he'll never experiment on life ever again." she points out.
"Nice but long description, Mira." he stated and place his hands on his hips. "It seems that I'm getting that retirement after all."
"Eh?"
"Oh come on, you think after hearing my friend got killed by this company that I'll work with them like it's nothing?"
Mira scratches her head on that one before shrugging. "Well, I'm going to put some ground rules then… especially on Cloud."
"Cloud?"
"Yeah, we are apparently trying to make him remember his real memories, but we have very little knowledge of the event that goes around him."
"… So then, you're here to get the files involving Cloud?"
"That and wiping some information." she chirps, as she takes out a bomb from her pouch and looking quite smug. "After all, the one who have the most knowledge, is the most threatening one."
:::^*^:::
'Damn, damn, damn, skrits…' the mime thought as she is currently surrounded by Tseng and Rude. 'Okay… I need to get out of this, but how…'
"Mind pressing the 67th floor?" Tseng asked.
'Eh…? Oh… right, the prison is near the lab… who the heck is the architect of this building? Building the prison near the labs, what do you think of prisoners of? Fresh lab rats? … Must be the fruit-loop's idea.' the brunette thought as she presses the 67th floor and the elevator moves to her intended target floor with the two Turks. Looking at the two and sizing up the situation, she could outrun and trick into thinking she tries to get away from them and come back to the elevator.
Deciding on her risky plan and having an idea where to hide, she positions herself on a run like one of those American Footballer. Both Turks notices her strange stance, which looks like she is tired and supporting herself with her hands on her knees. They look at one another, thinking that she is up to something or seems to be exhausted from running around the building in search for their base.
Speaking of their HQ, Tseng moves toward her and is about to take her pouch when she suddenly jumps away from him like he is about to burn her. On noticing the black-haired Turk is reaching for her pouch, she did the only reaction that is natural to her in Dodgeball: Avoid the ball… Or in this situation, avoid the Turk.
"Sir?" Rude asked, wondering about the mime's reaction to his leader.
"I know you burnt some file but you also took some files from our storage." Tseng points out, looking at the brunette with a stern look. "Those files that you burnt are only a mere distraction to lead us off from your real target."
'Smart… but not that smart.' Riley thought as she is on guard again. 'Our real plan is to destroy the Banora-related files, the files I got is about the incidents this frigging company made.' she then looks up on the numbers and her eyes sparks a bit. 'Nearing the target floor…'
With a ding, the door opens…
And suddenly a pair of disgusting-looking monsters charges inside and leaps right for them. Because both Turks are focused on taking back some of the stolen files and prevent her from escaping, they are not prepared for this sudden attack. Riley, on the other hand who kept her eyes on the door, is able to evade it and made a mad dash out. And as she dashes out, she quickly presses the ground floor button as the two struggles to fend off the loose specimens. She stops for a moment to see the elevator door closes as the two manages to get the specimens off them, but is too late to get out. Sighing relief and is somewhat thankful on the loose experiments, she continues her way to the said laboratory.
… Only to stop to find the facility empty and spots a trail of blood towards her target.
'Oh crap… don't tell me he's here already!' she thought, as she quickly presses herself to a wall and carefully sneaks her way to the laboratory. Passing by the prisons and following the trail of blood, she also finds a very unwelcoming sight of mutilated corpses and nearly gags on the smell of fresh kill. The mime continues on her way till she reaches the area where Jenova is… and there she spots a certain silver hair.
Suddenly, she drops herself on the floor when a blade beam heads her way, nearly slicing her head off. 'Too close! TOO CLOSE!' she thought as she panics and her heart throbs so fast that it might burst out of her ribs. Taking out her dagger, she quickly runs away from the ex-general and quickly retreats back to the elevator… only to jump back when he appeared before her, avoiding his blade in a few inches and made a mad dash back to the laboratory.
'Ugh! This is crap-tastic!' she swears in her mind, as she jumps to avoid the blade beam that effectively slice the boxes in half. "Matra Magic!" she cast right back at Sephiroth and missed when he disappears. "Dang… I hate that loony fruit-loop right now." she muttered under her breath.
But… when she turns and there, she meets the ex-general SOLDIER face-to-face. Eyes widening on such closeness between her and the general, she would've blushed on such short space between them if it weren't for the fact that all of her blood is drained out and he is intent on killing her.
"Not bad, but your luck has run out." he stated as he grabs her by her shirt and tosses her up into the air. He then jumps after her, intending to finish her in one strike.
"Not yet!" Riley shouts back and cast another Matra Magic, which the silver general easily avoided and sliced apart. Then she waves her right arm and hand in a strong motion, then brings her said hand in front of her and fisting it. Then the Mantra Magic changes direction and goes after the ex-general. "Well, this scene looks familiar." she quips, as the gravity takes hold and she begins to fall down. "Whoa!" she yelps as she falls and the ex-general is able to slice all the magic projectiles that targeted him.
Then the unexpected happens…
As the mime falls, the tank that houses the Calamity of the Sky made banging noises and Sephiroth looks surprised at this. "… Mother…?" he said softly, and then with a final bang, the metal door unhinges and flew off to another side of the laboratory. Then the tentacles shoot out and catches the brunette before she hits the ground, with the mime yelping in shock, fear and the ooze the tentacle have.
"Ack! Let go of me!" Riley shouts out of shock and stabs the tentacle with her dagger, which effectively bought pain to the alien and loosen its grip on her.
"Mother!" Sephiroth shouts as he lands on his feet and the mime lands on her bottom. Angry that the brunette hurt his Mother, he is about to launch himself at her when… "What…? Why?" he asked, stopping in confusion.
As the mime winces for her sore butt, her entire body freezes on the sight she sees… Walking out from the tank, is a gray skin woman filled with bruises, like the skin from the zombies from Resident Evil. Deformed wings twitches and tentacles wave about from her huge heart she is carrying. Eyes that surround her body twitches and blink, liquid that surrounds her in the tank flows out, mixing with the blood on the floor. But that is not the disturbing thing… despite it got no head, eyes around her body, it got no mouth… it manages to talk.
"It is fine, my dear." the voice sounds deformed like having multiple voices layered on one another, yet seems to be gentle and motherly. "I'm not hurt."
"But she-"
"Do not attempt to kill her, do you understand?" she cuts in and scolds him like every mother do to their naughty children, as one of her tentacles takes the dagger away and throws it far from the mime's reach. Then the 'thing' turns around as Riley scrambles to get up, only to be held down by the alien tentacle. As she tries to get away, Jenova hovers above her and the mime freezes when they made eye contact.
"I have waited… for so long…." the Calamity stated and reaches for her… only to slowly retreat her hands away from the brunette. "Yet… that is in the way." she stated and removes herself from the mime, thus taking this chance to get up and back away from the two.
"Mother, why do you want to spare her?" Sephiroth asked, his eyes never leaving at the brunette who is now shaking and supporting herself on a metal ladder.
"She is important, my dear…"
"Important? How?"
"Important as I am to you. Now come, the puppet is about to rise."
"Yes Mother." he gave the mime one last look, before he follows his Mother to the elevator used to transport specimens. As they rise up to the next floor…
Riley falls to her knees, then falls forward and blacking out.
"Don't fret… I'm sure you'll remember."
"For now, stay with the puppet… For he will guide you back to me."
Silver: I. So. Hate. This. Chapter… I got quite a writer's block when writing this. Not only that, I have to go into some job interviews and update my portfolio… hopefully I get the job on the company that just called now. Sorry for the long wait… but seriously, this is not my best chapter and I'm thinking of remaking it again at some point. And yes, Mira found some interesting Materias including Bahamut FURY… I mean, seriously, what happen to that dragon after Crisis Core? Anyway, read and review!