Chapter XVII
Kiss the Sky
"Not setting off a bomb, that's the tricky bit. You wanna do it? I'll be far away." - Barret
Yuffie's scream echoed off the crags as she plunged from her ledge, her handhold having just crumbled into sand.
"Owwwww!"
Barret also called out but she could barely hear him over her own shriek.
"A little gratitude would do nicely, brat." Barret grunted as he hauled her, still struggling, back up to the ledge.
"You nearly ripped my arm off!"
"Would you rather I let go? It's not doing my arm any good either, and unlike you, I don't have one to spare."
Yuffie snarled and grabbed his arm with her other hand, finally wedging her booted foot into the rough rock crevice she had spent the afternoon climbing. With Barret's help she struggled onto the ledge where he sat braced, one boot in the crevice while his gun arm, which now sported a grappling hook attachment he had wedged in the rock above.
She took a good hold of the mountain before speaking. Her arms had scraped raw, though her forearm guards had taken the worst of it. She studied the cliff they climbed. Their ledge lay in the shadow of the evening sun, the light of which glinted off Da-Chao on the far side of the valley below them. Farther north, the range subsided to purple foothills where they flattened as they approached the coast. And there, she could make out the ugly trio of black towers. From this distance they looked little more than a hairy mole on the complexion of the seaside plains.
"Someone told me the view is better on top," Barret said.
Yuffie jerked back to her senses and seized the mountain for support.
"Someone whose idea of hiding from Shinra was to climb the highest peak and moon their base."
Yuffie glanced around. "Where's Juria?"
"Top. That nun climbs like a spider. Thought you could too, brat."
Yuffie reached up, seized a handhold, hauled herself up, found another crevice for her foot and paused. "What are you waiting for, big fella?" She continued pulling herself up, hand over hand, forgetting the danger of a possible fall. In minutes, she heaved herself onto the flat top, where she sat on a rock, recovering her breath enough to smirk when Barret grunted his way over the rim.
"All right," he said, still winded, "we're here. Now what?"
Yuffie stood and turned a three-sixty. They stood on a plateau the size of a courtyard, one of many along this mountain range, each one covered with a bright green carpet of grass, looking as if giant shears had clipped off the mountain peaks to make stepping stones.
She found Juria sitting lotus style, staring directly west, eyes closed. The nun interrupted her chant and opened her eyes as if sensing Yuffie's stare.
Yuffie opened her mouth to wisecrack but felt stricken for words.
Juria spoke, "I am invoking the earth spirits for our survival. I take it you plan something rash?"
"What do they teach you at that convent?"
"Perhaps you could speak with Mother Noriko to enter and discover for yourself."
Yuffie snorted.
"In any case, our journey will be brief, though our struggles will be mighty."
"Sounds like something you read in a fortune cookie."
"It is. But as I feel it is so often relevant, I have added it to my daily meditation. In the convent, Mother Noriko has a similar saying. The easy path hides the venomous snakes."
Yuffie smiled and pulled out her Oritsuru. "Bring it on."
"Let us not be hasty. I sense no Shinra presence here."
Yuffie glanced around and had to admit she felt a cool peace inside her heart, despite the battle lust.
Juria said, "I have asked the spirits for advice many times but this is the first time I have ever heard them sound hopeful."
"Wait. They talk back to you?" When Juria said nothing, Yuffie continued. "Usually, when spirits talk to you, it means you've drunk too much sake."
"Alas, as a nun, I am deprived of that excuse."
"Hopeful, you say?"
"Do they not talk to you as well, daughter of Kohana?"
Yuffie again suppressed a quip. Instead, she glanced at Da-Chao. "I guess, in a way. I can really pump out Leviathan, after all."
"Listen at night, when all is quiet, hear the whisper, wisdom in the dark."
"Okay . . ."
Barret, looking recovered, had joined them. Yuffie stared back at those towers, the triple black towers of Shinra, three black fireplugs entangled in barbed wire.
"Want a closer look?" Barret handed her a spyglass.
She pressed her eye to the peep hole, deciding it only made the Shinra facility look even more ugly. In the foreground, a double thick layer of metal fencing topped with razor wire circled the compound. Probably a million volts running through there. Beyond, the three towers looked more forbidding than ever. The crossbars between them teamed with blue-suited minions, army ants on carrion. Yuffie could sense an aura of urgency over the place. Suddenly her cavalier attitude did not feel so sane.
"We just plan to stroll up and knock?"
"We are Avalanche," Barret said.
From the north, three Shinra aircraft, mere specks at this distance, coasted in to land.
"We might tunnel under that fence. Bring along some raw meat to feed the dogs."
"Who said anything about dogs?"
"Places like that always have dogs. Why, just last year I was sneaking onto the Yamamoto estate - "
"I'm sure you didn't get anything you didn't deserve."
"I went through all six steaks just to reach the garden wall. I had to nick his mermaid statue 'cause I was so annoyed at him."
"Perhaps," Juria said, "Our answer is in the sky above us."
That gave Yuffie an idea. She checked her current materia orbs. "I could drop a Comet spell on the main gate house, or better yet, on the power generator for the fence. Then we have Tifa summon her Titan to blow a whole in the fence. I whack the dogs with an Ultima spell and shove Barret in front to take out any loose guards. Juria, we'll need you to chant one of your Zen poems to get the doors open but once inside, we can handle all the guards they throw at us."
"What do you plan to do inside, Miss Yuffie?"
"Barret will blow the place up. It's what he does."
Juria looked at Yuffie with eyes so excited it made her skip a breath.
"Come on, brat, how am I going to manage that?" Barret said.
"You toasted those mako reactors."
"I had Cloud along to set the bomb."
"How hard can it be to set off a bomb?"
"Not hard at all. Not setting off a bomb, that's the tricky bit. You wanna do it? I'll be far away."
"We would need three of them," Juria said.
"One for each tower, you mean?" Yuffie said. "One tower for each of us? Cool!"
"In an ideal world. Unfortunately, I fear we all lack the peace to act separately."
"Peace?" Barret said. "What the hell we need peace for blowin' things up?"
"A group has strength."
"One tower at a time, then. I hear you. More shootin', more fightin'."
"One problem," Yuffie said. "Who has the bombs?"
They looked at each other.
"They'd need to be large ones to bring down those towers."
"I can't believe it," Barret said. "Did I just hear Yuffie acting restrained?"
"Within strength is weakness; within weakness is strength," Juria said.
"What the hell are you talkin' about?"
Juria motioned the other two over to where she had moved, standing amidst a tumble of squarish blocks. Moss and seedlings sprouted amongst them, sheltered from sunlight. The nun scraped the debris off a larger, flat stone to reveal a series of pictographs. Juria traced her fingers along a group of characters.
"Umeka, Yuffie's aunt, brought me here once, right after the war. She told me to keep the place safe. She explained the meanings of some of these lines, like this one. 'Endure. In enduring, grow strong.'"
"This an old Wutai temple?" Barret said. "Or - "
"The Ancients?" Yuffie said. "That writing, it looks the carvings inside the Forgotten Capital. And you say my aunt could read the characters?"
"Umeka studied the writings of the Ancients. She felt it important to keep a link to the past."
Yuffie noticed Juria wouldn't meet her eyes but brushed it off, opting to pan her gaze across the horizon. Crisp sky, clear air, gray-green haze above towers.
"Production must be on for that nasty invert mako stuff."
Barret said, "Still sucking the life out of the Planet." He began to shadowbox.
Juria lay her palms on his shoulders, though she had to stand on tiptoes to do it.
"Be calm, like the river in winter."
"What? Which river?"
"Shh."
A breeze began to blow. Yuffie looked around, trying to locate the low thrumming that grew louder by the second. She glanced at the others but relaxed when she saw Juria sitting by her shrine entranced. Even Barret stood staring and grinning.
"Anyone care to share the joke?" She looked around again, then realized. "The Highwind? But where is it?"
The breeze became a whirlwind. As if stepping from behind a curtain, the awkward yet cool looking airship slipped into view right above their tableland, where it eased into a hover. Four anchoring cables descended to seize the earth before a rope ladder flopped down from the airship's bottom deck. Yuffie looked away; just thinking about that sloshing, pitching ride made her stomach turn a pale shade of green. The air felt tight, as if wrapped in plastic. Her vision rolled. Next thing she knew she lay draped across Barret's arm, staring up at his rough face.
"We have to stop meeting like this, brat."
Yuffie sputtered and tried to stand. "You didn't see that," she called to Cloud, who had just leaped down from the ladder.
"See what?" he said, a maddening smirk at the corners of his mouth.
"Nothin'!" Barret said, straightening out his leather jacket.
Tifa clambered to the ground beside Cloud. Whoa. Had she cut her hair? Yes, about a hand-span off the ends. Good-bye split ends.
"What's with the invisibility thing?" Yuffie wanted to change the subject.
"You'll have to ask Cait Sith or Nanaki," Tifa said. "Everybody's aboard. Oh, I don't believe I've met your companion."
"This is Juria, a nun. Many other talents."
Juria bowed. "Pleased to meet you."
Cloud said, "Anyone who can make Yuffie fall in love with Barret has amazing talents."
"Grrr!" Yuffie could feel herself blush. Barret, for his part, stepped back but kept his composure.
"Take it easy, kiddo." Tifa draped her arm over Yuffie's shoulders. "It's good to see Cloud with a sense of humor."
"Even tall dark and mysterious has a smile on his face today." Yuffie pointed to the usually dour Vincent in his billowing red cape who floated down next to the ladder. "Still a showoff though."
"Though we have taken separate paths, our goal is the same," Vincent said, pointing to the triple towers. "You, I hear, have met Scarlet's cousin Carmine?"
"Ugh," Yuffie said. "I'd love to get my hands on that creepy, backbiting little - "
"That's the one," Tifa said, rubbing her fists together.
"She runs the production of invert mako," Vincent said, "and her base is right over there."
"Cait Sith confirmed it," Cloud said. "Operation Black Wind, phase one, purge Wutai of enemy insurgents. You, Yuffie, have moved toward the top of the list. How does it feel to be famous?"
Yuffie grinned. "I welcome the challenge."
"Then we must confer. Everyone aboard. We dare not stay uncloaked for too long. Shinra is looking for us and we don't want them to find us until we are good and ready."
"Just how is it you turn the Highwind invisible?"
"When Cait Sith showed up in Cosmo Canyon, he not only had the information on the invert mako facility, he also rerouted a Shinra shipment from Junon to Costa del Sol. Something called a huge materia."
Yuffie licked her lips as her heartbeat raced. "Did you just say, huge materia?"
"Don't even think about it," Cloud said. "Cid and Nanaki rigged an electronic loop that uses the materia to cloak us. I don't understand the details but Nanaki mentioned something about bending light waves."
Yuffie wanted to see this huge materia so much she forgot her aversion to air travel and started up the rope ladder. She stopped when Juria spoke.
"Cloud, you mentioned Black Wind, phase one. Is there a phase two?"
Cloud's face grew grim. "There is. Shinra is planning to gather enough of their invert mako to assemble a bomb. A bomb like that, exploded in midair above the target, would blanket everything up to three kilometers away in an inferno, destroying everything organic.
Yuffie froze. "Wutai? She wants to bomb - "
"Not Wutai. Not now, at least. Shinra already conquered Wutai, though if this weapon is effective they can use it as threat to quell any resistance."
"Then where?"
"The one nut Shinra has never been able to crack. Cosmo Canyon."