Chapter XIX

No Reunion
"That ought to be enough to goose their cooks." - Cid

For Tifa, the universe began to coalesce. Though she could not begin to untangle the web of rebel Wutai nuns, she saw the look on Juria's - or, Umeka's - face when the three Cosmo rednecks appeared.

"Stone," Tifa said. "From Lee's Camp. Darryl and Larry Stone. Code names - the hair. Jasper." (Larry nodded) "Citrine." (Blond Darryl nodded) "And Garnet. But, who's the extra Darryl?"

The two Darryls looked at each other and shrugged. Larry said, "Darryl suggests there may have been a spatial anomaly in our escape tunnel that bifurcated his personality into two. Darryl, on the other hand, notes the townsfolk were never good at counting."

"I, see," Tifa lied. "Any reason they both have the same name?"

"Both of our mothers liked the name best of all."

"Um . . ."

"Darryl is Aunt Pamela's son."

"And, he's still your brother."

"Why, of course."

"I hope Pamela is your mother's sister and not your father's."

"Of course." Larry looked offended. "We are hill Cetra. That kind of hanky-panky went on with the forest Cetra."

"Not in my forest," Zinnia said in a snippy voice.

"I'm sure this is fascinating," Barret said. "Thing is, now you want us to trust the same bumblers who honked up the Corel bombing? Holy, bleeding - "

"More my fault than theirs," Juria said. "Genji warned me about using cast-off Shinra explosives."

"I don't give a hot damn whose fault it was! We need it to work this time. No time for screw-ups. I lost Myrna and the whole damn town on the last one. Now the Shinra bastards want to destroy Cosmo Canyon!"

Larry and the Darryls hung their heads in unison.

Tifa said, "We made plenty of mistakes ourselves when we started out. We share the blame for prompting Shinra to collapse Sector Seven in Midgar.

Barret threw back his head and howled. Tifa jumped.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean it that way. I miss Jessie, Wedge, and Biggs too."

Barret said, "I'm just sayin', we gotta make this work. We get one shot at this. No gettin' offa this train we're on."

Nobody said anything for several seconds. Barret's train speech, even abbreviated, always had this effect.

Cloud spoke up. "We as a group stood together and faced down many enemies, including Sephiroth in the North Crater. Now, we need to set three bombs on three towers to go off at the same time, after we drop Shinra's invert mako down their vent shafts."

"How many of those canisters do we have?" Barret said.

"Fifteen. Five for each tower."

Cid chuckled. "That ought to be enough to goose their cooks."

"Timing is crucial. Three simultaneous explosions to block the tower vents." Cloud switched the screen back to the external view of the towers.

"Then you get off before the whole world goes to hell. Their mako might cook off quick."

"Exactly. To get the timing correct, we need three people who think with one mind."

Larry, Darryl, and Darryl stepped forward and nodded.

"See why I brought them along? They also know explosives. I take it you have practiced in the last four years?"

Larry said, "Darryl thinks he's Thor, since he makes so much thunder." One of the Darryls cuffed the other on the head.

"So," Cloud said. "After Cid and Yuffie do their thing with the airfield, we form three pairs to escort these gentlemen into position. The first team will be Tifa and me."

Tifa smiled, feeling warmth rise inside. Larry nodded in assent.

"The second team will consist of Vincent and Nanaki." The blond Darryl nodded.

"The final team will have to be Barret and Cait Sith."

Barret snorted. "At least I don't get stuck with Yuffie again. Ow!"

Yuffie contrived to look innocent but appeared to have hurt her knuckles.

The dark haired Darryl looked at Cait Sith and lifted an eyebrow. His blond brother slugged him in the arm.

"If I might make a suggestion," Cait said, "I ought to be on the bridge to coordinate. Reeve can tip me off to Shinra's status."

"Point taken. However, someone needs to go with Barret, and I'm not sending Aeris."

"Afraid I'll break, Cloud?"

"Frankly, yes. I lost you once and I don't plan on losing you again. Plus, I need you to boost us all up with your Planet Protector spell right before we drop. I have a feeling we will receive a poor welcome by Shinra on the way down."

"I will go with him," Juria said. "For Kohana, for North Corel, I'll go."

Barret's eyes lit up but he merely bowed his head. John looked at the nun, something like admiration in his lavender eyes.

"You will do well," John said in a far-off voice. "You have already redeemed yourself. There is way too much guilt to carry around like lengths of tractor chain." Predictably, a mist of white fog swirled up from around his feet as he spoke. Tifa felt Cloud stiffen.

"She's awake," Cloud said.

John continued, "I feel this mission will be a success, unless we miss the - "

Ffft! Vincent's dart hit its target. John sagged against the door.

"I wish, you would stop, doing that." He slid to a seated position before Aeris caught him.

Vincent folded his dart gun back into his cloaked body, maintaining his unlikely perch on the wall cornice.

"I would have liked to hear what he had to say," Tifa said, feeling indignant.

"Check outside," Vincent said.

Tifa walked to the door, pushed between the two Darryls and peeked out. Not ten meters away, Raine lay slumped against the wall. Two crew members reached down to retrieve her.

"I'd hate to see what happens when the two of them meet - especially on my ship," Cid said. "This is the third time we had to do this."

Tifa picked up the unconscious boy. "I can't believe this is the only way to deal with the Raine situation."

"Tifa, if we let Raine fully awaken, she will cut a swath of destruction toward the kid's location. And I'm not having a goddamn Jenova reunion here on my ship."

"Why not set her down on one side of the Shinra towers and set John down on the other?"

"And let Shinra get their hands on her? She was the one they were chasing in the first place."

"I wonder how they planned to hold her." Tifa gave Raine one last glance before the crew carried her away.

"The same way Shinra handles everything. Weapons. Big guns. Big bombs." Cid glanced at his watch. "Oh hell. I need to get the Highwind prepped for our assault."