So so so so so sorry for not uploading this very quickly, hopefully you will have as much fun reading this as we had writing it, enjoy!
-Chapter 8 - The Royal Ruby-
The silence that followed this pronouncement was so complete you would have been able to hear your own heartbeat. The silence went on for about ten seconds, then without warning, Tifa let out a howl of uncontrollable laughter.
"You are kidding!" She managed to choke out through the wild cried of euphoria. Red however did not look so impressed.
"Prove it." Red barked, eyeing the woman in front of them both.
Savina obliged without question. Standing before them a few seconds later, grinning all over her childish face, was none other than Yuffie Kisaragi. "Hiya!"
Reds mood seemed to change as quickly as a desert melts ice. Tifa at that moment managed to calm herself down from the fit of the giggles which she was in, and the three of them looked at each other for a long moment. It was plain, that none of them had ever expected to see one another again.
"So what happened to you after the fight?" Red asked quickly.
Yuffie looked at both of them, pondering her answer. "I'm not too sure really. I can't remember too much of it, the whole fight seems like a dream that I can barely hold onto, the most I can remember clearly is that we were losing...badly..." She paced around the room, looking at several expensive looking antiques as she passed a large desk. "Then it felt cold, I thought I was dying! There was a huge whirl of colors and then I was here." She gestured around the derelict apartment. "What about you two?"
"Much the same story." Tifa replied at once. "It felt like my soul was being ripped out through my chest, then cold..." She lost herself in thoughts. "We ended up a long way from here though, at least a hundred miles away give or take."
"It was a miracle that we ended up in the same place." Red announced. "I can't imagine what it must have been like for you out here on your own Yuffie."
"Not too bad." She replied, a smile crossing the mischievous face of hers. "It was just lucky that my host and I have the same interest in profession."
"Oh you mean she is a low life materia stealing thief as well then?" Red snidely commented. This did not seem to go down well with Yuffie, so he added quickly, "just kidding."
Yuffie considered him for a moment. "Now that you mention materia," She began, eyeing the two of them with that same glint in her eye whenever someone mentioned the mystical substance in front of her, "either of you two come across any yet?"
Tifa pondered her answer for a moment. Considering Yuffie's reputation she wasn't sure that she wanted to share the one and only piece of materia she had acquired with her. Then again however, the materia was so useless there wasn't much to lose. "One piece." She finally said, and predictably Yuffie's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "Don't get too excited, 'Pre-Emptive'." This didn't seem to dampen her spirits.
"Not bad, could be useful for what..." She stopped herself mid sentence, her falter did not go unnoticed however, Red glowered at her, "...for whatever this life might throw at us in the future!" She giggled nervously. "I have also found one."
"Which one!?" Tifa and Red almost shouted at the same time. Yuffie seemed glad that she had distracted them.
She held out her right arm, tapped it once near her wrist on the underside and before their very eyes a yellow orb emerged, reddening the skin around it. Yuffie tipped her arm up the other way and took the materia out. After it was removed she flexed her fingers as if trying to get rid of pins and needles.
"Wouldn't believe how useful this has been to us, well...me...well, me and Savina, you know what I mean." She tossed the orb across to Tifa who caught it instinctively.
Tifa held the materia close to her face, rather like examining a jewel for flaws. A few seconds later she looked up at Yuffie, a slight grin crossing her face. "Manipulate, how rather fortunate for you to come across this!" She threw the orb back. "Where did you get it?"
"Well," Yuffie began, "to cut a long story short, me and Savina thought it was about time we stole something a little bit more valuable, what with our amazing co-ordination we have developed. So we went to this auction, bloody dull thing it was, but then I spotted something. It was a life size statue of a Raven, ornately carved and with this," She held up the yellow orb, "In its eye, the auctioneer thought it was a Topaz, the fool."
They both nodded at her to show they understood her story. "So you thought that now you can control others you would set your eyes on a bigger prize..."
"I was getting to that bit Red!" Yuffie said impatiently. "Now that 'was' our original intention. Savina and I went on a trip to the Tower of London to have a look at these jewels. Now pretty as they are I never expected to find what I did hidden in them!" It looked like she was reaching the climax of her story. "In that rather nice scepter of theirs was a SUMMON materia!"
Tifa gasped, and Red quickly said, "What!? Are you certain?" He was now listening avidly.
"Positive." Yuffie replied, replacing the yellow orb into her arm. "Would need to get a closer look to see which one it is, but imagine what we could do with a summon materia!"
"It would certainly turn the tables if Sephiroth decides to make an appearance." Tifa agreed. "Well now everything makes a bit more sense..."
"So..." Yuffie began, doing a little twirl, "you guys will help me get it right?" She giggled.
Even though this was expected, it didn't stop the shocked looks crossing Tifa and Red's faces. "Have you gone mad?" Red said, and then corrected himself, "I mean, have you gone even madder than you previously were?"
"A summon guys!" She almost shouted at them.
"I'm not breaking into a tower for something like ChocoMog!" Red shouted back.
Yuffie looked at him skeptically. "Oh please, it's got to be something grander than that!" She looked at both of them. "Well..." Yuffie took a step forward, Red braced himself for a sudden show of force, "...it's not like you have much of a choice anyway..." She held up her right arm to indicate where she had placed the materia minutes before.
Red seemed to cotton on at that moment. He lunged at her, but then with a flick of her wrist he stopped, and then did was unmistakably a 'beg' in front of her, much like a dog. "I hate you..." He whispered.
"Love you too." Yuffie said in a maddening tone.
Tifa seemed to spot a flaw in her plan, she moved forward without any fear whatsoever and seized Yuffie's right arm. "That's enough. You can only control one person at a time, so let him go."
Yuffie gave a childish groan of annoyance. Red then moved abruptly away from her. "Oh come on, with three of us getting it would be easy." She pleaded.
Red looked away from her, Tifa however agreed. "Fine, but Red gets the materia, he is the only one of us without any."
She gave another groan of annoyance, but in the end she said, "Fine! It's a deal. So, tonight then?"
"Tonight!?" Red roared.
"No time like the present..." Yuffie replied, the grin coming back onto her face, "...sooner the better and all that jazz."
Tifa sighed in exasperation. She knew that once Yuffie had her mind set on something there was going to be no stopping her. "So how do we do it? I thought that the tower was one of the most heavily guarded places in London?"
Yuffie looked at her, the expression of glee on her face not faltering. "Well obviously we won't act until dark; it would be foolish to think we could take on that place in daylight." She sat down in the chair behind her. "Manipulate the guard to shut off most if not all of the security measures, a little tinkering with their camera's, and hey presto! One summon materia for us!"
"For me." Red interjected.
"Right!" Yuffie agreed, "For you. So let's get some rest, make sure your hosts aren't going to be a pain in the backside and then let's get going." She smiled.
"Hang on!" Red started, looking at her incredulously, "What kind of a plan is that? You just want to go in with one solid idea to manipulate 'one' guard? There are bound to be loads of them, no fewer than 30 at least. Leverage over one won't get us anywhere."
"Then stake it out." Tifa suggested, "Wait until a shift change, grab one of them on their way in, get him to...incapacitate the guards on the inside for us."
"Brilliant!" Yuffie agreed. "Of course I was thinking of that myself but I didn't want to look too smart." Tifa rolled her eyes, and as she did so Alex spoke to her.
"This is insane! You are going to get us locked up! I haven't even finished college yet and you are going to get us imprisoned for crimes against the crown!" If the voice had been physical the volume of it would have deafened Tifa.
She must have had a very vacant look on her face, because not a moment later, Red said to her. "Is your host giving you a scolding?" He chuckled as Tifa nodded in confirmation. "Mine too, something about things that can happen in prison...this thought sharing thing does not help when unpleasant images like THAT are put in your mind." He winched.
"Looks like I got lucky with my host." Yuffie started, curling up in her chair in a fetal position as if to go to sleep, "She keeps firing more useful ideas my way." She yawned, closed her eyes, and seemed to fall asleep almost instantly.
-
Night seemed to come along all too quickly that day. Before any of them knew it, they were walking through the streets, Red back into his ginger dog self, towards the Tower of London. Red having this ability was very useful, Tifa and Yuffie simply looked like a couple of friends out walking their dog, Yuffie was carrying a backpack with her which would be needed later. Every so often to break the uneasy tension that was in the air, Yuffie made him beg.
"If you do that one more time I swear I'm going bite off your materia arm!" Red snarled at her, the two women laughed. Red looked at Tifa with a look of deepest disappointment.
"I'm sorry." Tifa said, "But it is very funny." She gave him a quick smile.
"Just round the next corner, two minutes away at most." Yuffie quickened her pace slightly, the others followed suit. "Just across this bridge, right..." She pointed, "There!"
It was impossible to miss. The huge fort stood right on the edge of the River Thames, overlooking it.
"This is going to be impossible..." Tifa sighed, now faced with the enormity of the task ahead.
Yuffie gave her an annoyed poke in the ribs. "It's going to be simple. I mean come on, I almost did it without any help at all!"
"Should we really talk about this out in public?" Red pointed out.
"You two assaulted me in a sushi bar and you are telling me about not doing things in public!?" Yuffie yelled at him.
They fell silent and continued to walk across the long bridge. All too soon it seemed they were approaching the end, and the huge towed stood but fifty feet away from them on their left.
"The shift change is in twenty minutes. We have a good vantage point from here, not too many people around either..." Yuffie began, looking round at the almost deserted street. "One of them comes from that way." She pointed to a street heading in the opposite direction from the tower on a street below the bridge they were standing on. "I can drop down from here..."
"Drop down!?" Red exclaimed, "The fall is about fifty feet! It would kill you." It was very lucky there was no-one close enough to see that a dog had just spoken.
"Oh I have tricks up my sleeve." She said in response, and then looked over at Tifa, who had just hit herself in the head in apparent annoyance. "Host still giving you some trouble?" She nodded her response.
"Let's just hope we can get this done quickly so I don't have to listen to her whine anymore." Tifa said in annoyance, walking over to the edge of the bridge and looking down at the street below. "How much longer?"
"Five minutes." Yuffie said, looking at the huge Big Ben which was a couple of miles in the distance, it read five to eleven.
Three long minutes passed, during which nobody else came across their presence, and Red paced nervously. "Why are there no cars? It all seems too convenient..."
"Who cares...?" Yuffie said, looking in the direction she had indicated earlier. "Here he comes!"
A tall slim man in a black uniform was walking briskly in the direction of the tower. He seemed completely unaware that he was being watched.
"How close do you need to be for that to work?" Tifa asked, referring to the manipulate materia.
"Twenty feet, give or take." Yuffie replied, not taking her gaze off the man, "Once I have him under control I can hold it for up to one hundred easily."
The man was now walking under the bridge out of their sight. Yuffie moved to the edge which she was going to jump off and climbed over to the other side of the rail. She looked as though she was counting in her head, then she leaned forward and jumped gracefully off. It was strange, but it looked as though gravity did not affect her as much as it would any other human being. She fell with such finesse you would have thought she was on a wire.
Tifa and Red looked at each other. Then without warning, Yuffie called back up. "All fine, come down when you want." They both took the long way round to get down. When they got to Yuffie and the guard she grinned at them. "His name is Derrick, works in security, knows enough of the pass-codes to encrypt the camera's, won't be able to turn off the other security measures."
"Better than nothing." Tifa voiced. "Get him going then."
Yuffie obliged. She closed her eyes, and a moment later the man started walking briskly to what must have been the security entrance to the tower. "Closing my eyes allows me to see through his eyes, otherwise I am giving him blind instructions which could confuse the brain and cause damage."
"Where is he now?" Red asked, looking round at the still deserted street.
"Retina scan, I remember most of the way from last time I did this, saves me poking around inside Derricks head for information too much."
"Too much?" Tifa asked, not missing this. "What are you looking for?"
"The security around the Jewels themselves. That's where I failed last time, I rushed it." She winced, "He hit his foot, wasn't looking where I was going ha!" She gave a nervous little giggle.
Several long moments of silence went by. Tifa looked at the tower thinking. Alex seemed to have finally given up, or she was unconscious. "Which part are they stored in?"
"The middle." Yuffie replied, simply. "The security is intense. Pressure pads round the casing and in the casing itself. No way to turn them off either, and no way to replicate their weight. As soon as the weight changes the doors come down. whoever is inside is trapped and the alarms go off."
Red perked up. "How long after the weight change does it take for the doors to come down."
"One tenth of a second." Yuffie replied.
"Then how did you escape!?" Tifa exclaimed, eager to hear her explanation.
"I didn't" Yuffie replied simply. Both of them looked confused, not that she could see them as she had her eyes closed. "I hid inside; I'll show you how I kept myself concealed in a moment, just wait until our man..." She paused for a moment, then suddenly said, "...There!" She opened her eyes and looked at their confused faces, "I'm leaving him on auto for now, told him to act normal, bless him." She gave a wry smile.
Without warning she set off in the direction the manipulated guard had went, Tifa and Red hot on her heels. "Fastest way in is through the traitor's gate. None of the camera's will see us now and security should be minimal until we reach the centre."
Within seconds they were walking under a huge portcullis into the grand courtyard of the fort. Near the building in the centre were around ten Ravens, all of them glaring at the intruders with yellow eyes. It looked as though Red was suppressing a bark.
"Three of them patrolling the perimeter of the building. Let me handle them, don't need an alarm raised." Yuffie then did something very odd. She walked into the centre of the path which the guards were walking round, laid down, and then seemed to change color before their very eyes. Yuffie was now perfectly blended with the gravel beneath her, and not a minute later a guard was walking towards her.
When within two feet, Yuffie kicked the man off his feet and smashed a pressure point in his neck. He was unconscious. She got up and signaled the two of them to follow her. "Tifa, I'll sneak up behind him..." She indicated who she meant, "...Red, lure him back here for Tifa to get."
"And how am I..."
"Improvise!" Yuffie spat at him in a whisper, then set off silently towards her prey.
Red moved off to the left towards Tifa's victim and gave a bark that would only be audible to the guard. He turned round, saw the dog, and then started moving towards him. In what must have been a very embarrassing way, Red wagged his tail and looked up at the guard, who reached for his radio. Before he could signal for anyone however, Tifa had him round the neck, silently knocking him unconscious.
The three of them regrouped at the entrance to the central building. "Right," Yuffie began, "...nobody on the inside according to our man, stay close to me, not far now."
In no time at all, they were all standing in a vast dark room. Illuminated in the centre in a large glass dome was none other than the crown jewels. On the top most plinth, the crown, the second plinth, the orb, and below both of them, the scepter. They all moved closer.
"Stop here!" Yuffie said, throwing out an arm to stop both of them. "Pressure pads are on the floor just over a foot in front of us, not another step." They all gazed at the jewels.
Red noticed something. "Yuffie..." He began, staring at the jewel on top of the scepter. "It's BLUE! That is not summon materia, it doesn't even look like materia!"
"Keep looking at it." Yuffie replied, un-phased. It happened for about a second. After staying blue for what seemed like hours rather than minutes, the orb suddenly shone a dazzling red. "How else do you think I could tell it was materia from this distance?" She took her backpack off and placed it on the floor behind them, extracting what looked like a small gun and a lot of thin cord from it. "Things like this don't come cheap..." She said, attaching them together.
She first fired what seemed to be a small metal hoop into the ceiling above the dome. Then, aiming extremely carefully, she fired the chord through the hoop. "See what I'm doing yet children?" She teased at Red and Tifa. "Our man turned off the sensor's round the edge, looks like he is good with computers. Now Tifa, if you could grab this..." She handed one end of the chord to her, attaching the other end to her belt.
"Now..." Yuffie began. "As soon as I leave the floor I'm going to swing in the direction of the case, you need to pull me high enough to be above it before that happens!"
"I understand." Tifa said, pulling the chord as tight as it would go without lifting Yuffie off of the floor. "On three, ready? One...Two...Three!"
Yuffie jumped, and Tifa pulled as hard as she could. Yuffie seemed lighter than the average human. Seconds later, Yuffie was swinging a couple of inches above the dome. "Ok, in my bag there is a suction pad..." She began, extracting an abnormal sharp knife from her pocket and beginning work on the glass, "...throw it to me."
Red got the pad, and Tifa took one hand off of the chord to take it from him. Yuffie caught it easily, attaching it to the centre of the almost finished circle. Once finished, she effortlessly lifted out the glass and threw it away, careful not to hit the pressure pads.
"Now you two can't disguise yourself like I can..." Yuffie said, "...so I have had our man bug the system. The doors will take ten seconds from the moment I grab the scepter."
Red moved over to the door at once, leaving the two women in the centre. Yuffie detached the wire and held onto it by one hand, reaching into the dome with the other. "As soon as I have it out of the case I'm gonna jump, when I'm off the wire we both run for the door."
Tifa nodded, sweat now dripping down her forehead. "Ready when you are." She said, and not wanting to waste time counting down, Yuffie grabbed it.
The alarm was deafening. Yuffie jumped down from the wire with the agility of a ninja, which of course she was, and they sprinted to the door. With only a second to spare they were outside, when a huge metal door slammed down behind them. "RUN!"
Neither of them needed telling twice. Out of the centre building and into the courtyard, they were met with at least twenty guards running in their direction. They sprinted in the direction of the traitor's gate.
"Lower the portcullis!" One of the guards shouted. But too late, the three of them were out, the portcullis slamming behind them, which slowed their pursuers down as they frantically tried to raise it once more.
"Rendezvous at mine!" Yuffie sang, sprinting away from them, Tifa and Red hot on their heels.
On a building from above, a dark figure watched over the thieves progress. He extracted a phone from his pocket and hit speed dial one. "Yes sir...they've got it. Police won't be able to pursue. Of course not... within the month I am sure...yes of course...Mr President..."
Uploads wont be quite as frequent due to high workloads, but will do them as often as possible. See ya all soon!
R&A