-Chapter Twenty-Two-

Race for Armageddon

The Nevada desert, six hours previous.

A black car was driving up the single road which ran across the wasteland which was the never ending desert. Where this vehicle could be headed was anyone's guess, the driver however, a tall blonde woman, seemed to know exactly where it was she was going in this barren.

She drove for what seemed like miles and miles before finally coming to a complete halt. The woman waited for a few moments before driving off of the road and onto the desert sands. For another few miles she drove, apparently in no particular direction before stopping dead right in the middle of nowhere.

A few seconds later however, the car began to descend slowly and though being absorbed by quicksand, though the driver did not look worried at all. Moments later, Elena got out of the car. She was standing in what must have been the antechamber of the base. This particular one was one which she had never been to before.

There was only one door out of this relatively small chamber, which she walked towards and pushed open. This revealed a larger main chamber, where there were already around twenty people gathered. In the middle of the room was the familiar huge map table which she must have seen in around three different locations and on countless computer screens. She walked in, her heels making an ominous echo around the brightly lit room.

Several people who were gathered round the map looked up at her. Rufus was prominent in the middle, however he did not look up upon hearing her enter. Whatever he was doing at the moment seemed to have him lost in concentration. Nobody said a word to her, and she walked over to join them at the map.

"I assume you have heard the news about Fort Knox sir?" She began, Rufus still did not look up at her however.

"There is only one person that could have possibly invaded it what intelligence could you have that could possibly interest me…?" His eyes kept sweeping the table as he said this.

"Well I went there soon after the attack…" Elena informed him, conveniently missing out what company she went on this excursion with, "…I can tell you exactly what materia was in the vault."

For the first time since she had entered the room, Rufus looked up from the table and straight at her. "Was it the black materia?" He asked simply.

"No, it was the…"

"Then I don't care, as long as he doesn't get his hands on that then we are safe." He cut her off before she could finish her sentence. This did not greatly bother Elena, by all means this just meant that the other parasites knew more than he did.

"Are you interested on how he managed to break in or shall I just leave that subject there sir?" Elena asked rather sheepishly, trying to trace his eyes to the point that he was looking on the map.

He didn't answer, which Elena took as a 'Do I look interested?'. He seemed to be looking at a point in India. Not wanting to press the matter she simply stood at the table and gazed at all the different coloured blinking and solid lights. There were far fewer of them now than there were the last time she saw it, so he had found more materia in the meantime.

The sound of the lift suddenly roared into life outside the main chamber again. Elena chose this moment to find suitable quarters to stay in. The labyrinthine passages of the base seemed to go on forever however, and it took her a good quarter of an hour to find a vacant living space. The room was as it was in all the other Shinra bases, simple. A single bed, a desk of drawers and a mirror was all that the room contained. The walls a dull earthy colour, and two lights at either end.

She walked over to the mirror the better to speak to Francesca. "Seems awfully short with you doesn't he? You think he suspects you?" She asked in her French accent.

"No, I could not sense any ill intent, he just seems frustrated. From what I can tell he suspects Reno more than anyone." Elena replied silently just in case anybody was within earshot, this seemed to please Francesca.

X

"Well I'm keeping it and that is the end of that!" A man with long red hair said as he got out of the silver car. "I needn't remind you that it was me who got to it first so that makes it, if I remember our agreement, mine!"

"You know the boss is probably going to want it off you." A tall bald man with dark skin replied, his voice was very deep.

"As if he doesn't have enough already…" They walked over to the door through to the main room. Much to his horror Rufus was looking straight at them when they walked in, he had probably heard everything.

"And what Reno, is it that I am going to want off of you?" Rufus asked, walking slowly away from the map table.

Reno shifted his weight slightly. "Rude here and I found ourselves a summon boss." He informed him. To his great surprise, Rufus did not seem overly interested.

"Well you might as well tell me which one…" He said in exasperation, "…I'm having about as much luck here as I am finding a grain of sugar in the desert…" He was referring of course to the map table. On the word luck however, he subconsciously touched his arm.

"Leviathan." Rude replied in a monotone. "Found it at Niagara Falls, was hovering halfway down."

Rufus seemed vaguely interested. "Was kind of obvious it would be in a place like that I guess…" He touched his arm again, "…would have been easier to get that one than it was to get this one." A red orb surfaced on his arm.

"And that one is…?" Reno tentatively asked, taking a step closer.

To his utter amazement, Rufus then proceeded to use the materia. He aimed it straight at the place between where Reno and Rude stood, and from the ground beneath them emerged the Ice Queen herself, Shiva.

This was the first time either of them had seen a summon used in this world. "She doesn't just attack and then vanish sir?" Reno asked, looking at the blue skinned Shiva.

"No, which makes her overly more valuable here than it did back in our world. She can stay here for as long as I will her to…not sure what happens if she dies though." Rufus extracted a gun a pointed it straight at Shiva's forehead. "I'm not sure whether or not to test it…"

"I wouldn't…" Elena had just come back into the room, "…I can tell you exactly what happens."

Rufus immediately dropped his gun to his side. "How would you know?"

"You asked me to tail the others sir, I am not incapable at my job." She walked over and stood beside him, looking at the Ice Queen. "If you kill her you will go into a coma induced state for roughly two days, so I'd put the gun away if I were you."

"You gain complete control over summons here then…that's pretty cool!" Reno commented, walking to stand by the president and taking in the image of the docile Shiva, Rude soon followed suit. "Leviathan started to go on a slight rampage when we summoned it so we dismissed it immediately."

"It takes practice…" Rufus agreed, "…more you practice the easier it is." He dismissed Shiva, she vanished leaving a few icicles to fall to the floor.

"So what's our plan of action sir, you asked for us to all regroup here?" Elena prompted now that they were mostly present.

"I think we are closer to finding it, the fact that it wasn't in Fort Knox makes its location all the easier to discern." He was referring of course to the black materia.

"You think you know where it is then sir?" Reno asked, looking over at the map table and noticing that the black marker was no longer there.

"Almost certain." Rufus replied, walking back to his original spot at the table. "Just waiting for confirmation, the plan of action is to go after it with all haste and be sure to get there before Sephiroth does. Once we have done that we should be able to use it against him…"

This made the three Turks who were present slightly uneasy. "What do you mean by use it against him? Nobody can wield it except him." Elena pointed out, looking slightly concerned.

"You think I'm not aware of that Elena? Some things I choose not to share with any of you, rest assured that when we acquire the black materia, Sephiroth will never ever be able to use it, the tables in this battle shall be well and truly turned." He looked over at Reno and Rude. "Aside from the summon what other materia have you managed to find?"

"Strength…" Rude replied first, then he looked at Reno.

"Steal, it works really weird here though…" He surfaced the yellow orb on his arm, "…it doesn't aid you in stealing items, it allows you to steal thoughts and memory's, secrets and such."

Rufus looked intrigued. "And you tested it out on whom?"

"Rude of course!" Reno replied, smacking his fellow Turk on the upper back. "Was pretty annoyed at me I'll tell you!"

Rude shot him a look from behind his glasses of utter malice. Rufus looked as though he wanted to ask something, but thought better of it. Instead he turned his attention back to the map table. After a few moments however he spoke, "Any other information I should be made aware of?"

"Only that the American government is in disarray, the one sole survivor of Fort Knox is being questioned beyond belief, the secret service are utterly bewildered…and my host has developed bad athletes foot…other than that nothing new to report." Reno replied, the final comment actually earning a snort from Elena.

"What of the other parasites? Who is yet to be discovered?" Rufus asked the group at large.

Reno answered first. "From my intellect the known parasites are yet to find Barret Wallace, Cloud Strife and Cid Highwind."

Rude was next. "Same as Reno."

Elena, sensing an opportunity to look even less suspicious decided to outshine her so called colleagues. "I have different intellect sir," She began, grabbing his attention immediately, "I know that the others have made contact with Barret Wallace and are only shy of Cloud and Cid."

Rufus smiled slightly. "Where is Barret, this is good news…" He looked down at the map, then back up at her when she did not answer immediately, "…well?"

"I don't know an exact location, only that his host is Spanish." She unnecessarily pointed at Spain on the map. Reno made a blinking blue light appear on the country.

The lift outside roared into life once more. Everybody present was looking at the door through to the antechamber, waiting to see who it could be this time. Moments later, Tseng walked through the door confidently and strode up to the table in the centre.

"I have found it sir, ninety nine per-cent sure." Was his greeting to the president, who immediately looked very interested.

"It is in Egypt at the pyramids. There is an entrance located at the base of one of them, materia respondent. Was foolish of us not to see it before, the similarity between the pyramids and the temple of the ancients is quite striking!" He looked at Rufus who made the black marker reappear in the said location, "there is a problem though sir, I was not the only one investigating the area at the time…"

Rufus looked at him. "Who else was there Tseng? Sephiroth?" He looked worried now.

"No it was that airship designer Cid, he was there in a helicopter foolishly not in his host form. Was an easy mistake to make, he didn't see me I don't think, but then I can't be certain… either way they know it is there too, he will no doubt have made contact with the others by now."

Rufus suddenly made all of the other lackeys round the table who were under the influence of manipulation magic leave. "Then we head off at once, I can get a chopper here in no time to collect us all."

"There was one other thing sir…" Tseng began very carefully, "…I believe I have information most valuable to all of us, something which we should all take on board."

The rest of the Turks seemed very intrigued. Without warning, Tseng fired a violent bolt of lightning straight at Elena, she screamed and was knocked off her feet. Blood began to pour from her hands where she went to break her fall.

"I've found our rat sir…" Tseng announced just as the rest of them were preparing to attack him, they stayed their hands however, "…saw her with the others helping them, double crosser!"

Rufus walked over to stand above Elena. "Is this true?"

Elena looked up at him. "Of course not…" Suddenly she flung her materia arm forward and sent a huge spew of toxic venom right at the side of his face which did not bear the eye patch. He fell to the floor in pain, just as Elena sent another stream of venom right at Tseng, which he dodged.

Tseng pulled out a sword which was attached to his belt, Reno his combat rod, and Rude prepared his fists. "Now Elena think about this…" Tseng began. She was keeping a close eye on his materia hand in case he attempted lightning again, "…you are outnumbered three to one, you have no hope of winning."

Rude slowly sidestepped over to the president to check his condition. He used the sleeve of his blue suit to wipe away the traces of venom. Rufus' once good eye had turned a startling pearl white.

"None of you get it do you? We can't win alone, we need their help!" She attempted to reason with them, Reno and Rude seemed mildly interested, Tseng however was having none of it.

"You are a fool Elena, and you will die for what you have done," He sent another bolt of lightning at her which she managed to dodge, mainly due to her luck.

Suddenly before all of them, the Ice Queen Shiva materialised out of the earth and stood between the three males and Elena. Rufus got to his feet. "And now Elena, I can see you as you die…goodbye."

Shiva pounced at Elena. She was far too quick for her, before she knew it Elena was up against the back wall, her hands uselessly pinned at her sides. And then the most painful sensation began to creep over her body. Looking down, she saw her wrists where the summon was grabbing her had begun to freeze completely. The freezing sensation spread from this point up her arms, over all of her torso and eventually to her face. She was completely frozen solid, an ice statue of Elena.

Shiva released her wrists, held out her right hand in front of her, and snapped her fingers. Elena shattered into a thousand tiny pieces right before their very eyes. A variation on what Shiva usually did back on Gaia.

But then something happened which they had not expected. The materia which Elena had been wearing appearing in front of where she had just stood, it hovered there silently for a few moments, and then exploded with almighty force.

All of them were injured, but not gravely. Tseng quickly proceeded over to the president and attempted to heal the wound which Elena had left him with. As expected however it was non responsive to the materia, they would need the Heal materia in order to fix it, and by the time they found that it would be permanent damage.

"It matters not…" Rufus said, getting to his feet, "…I can see through the eyes of Shiva, I will just have to keep her active from now on." He walked over to the Ice Queen and looked at her, supposedly to check the damage that had been done to his face. "That evil little…did anybody know she had poison magic?"

They all shook their heads, then remembered that he couldn't see them behind Shiva. "She kept that one to herself sir!" Reno said aloud.

"Lot of good it did her…" Tseng said, walking into the line of sight of Shiva the better for Rufus to see him, "…brutal way to kill her though sir?"

"Does that really matter?" Rufus said agitated, turning and facing Tseng, staring at him with the now blank eye. "We need to get to Egypt, that's all I care about right now. If Cid has managed to inform the others then it is only a matter of time before they show up and attempt to get the materia themselves. The race is on, no doubt Sephiroth will know it is there by now too, he does always seem to be one step ahead."

The sound of the helicopter could be heard outside. Shiva turned her head in the direction of the antechamber and Rufus began to walk. It must have been odd, seeing yourself through someone else's eyes, yet still in control of your own actions.

Shiva was quick to follow him, after all if he walked out of sight he would be blind once more. The Turks followed, and the five figures stepped onto the slow moving elevator.

The chopper was hovering just above the sand, causing a slight sandstorm effect. Rufus and Shiva walked over to it, Tseng quick behind them. Rufus seemed to be having difficulty stepping on board.

Tseng jumped on and held out a hand. "Allow me sir…" Rufus grabbed it and he was hoisted on board. Seconds later they were joined by Reno Rude and Shiva.

"I must say…" Reno began as the chopper took off, "…it is weird keeping a summon as company."

"Well get used to it, she stays as long as I'm blind, which may be forever…" Rufus seemed a little defeated, the fire which he had had in his gut whilst taking down Elena seemed to have vanished.

"How long will it take to get to Egypt sir?" Rude asked, overlooking the huge desert they had just departed from.

"Around thirteen hours. That gives the others an advantage, but then luck may be on our side…" He touched his arm subconsciously again, it was as though he never noticed himself doing it, a side effect of the luck materia perhaps? He handed his phone over to Tseng, "You know who to call, get us transport for when we touch down in Egypt, you know the way there better than any of us."

Tseng couldn't help but laugh. "It's pretty much a tourist attraction sir, we won't be able to miss it, unless of course Sephiroth has already got there and they have vanished just like the temple of the ancients did…I highly doubt it though…"

A/N- Please review let us know what you think =D. Next chapter soon, only eight to go! Til next time,

R&A