Twilight Perfected Chapter 8: Too many war wounds and not enough wars, too few rounds in the ring and not enough settled scores.
"So, how did you and my brother first meet?" Kadaj asked Tifa.
Sephiroth barely held back his wince.
The four of them were already above the Plate and otherwise alone in the a train car headed for the Sector Five Mako Reactor, but this was still neither the time, or place to discuss such personal matters.
"Kadaj, I can share my history with Ms. Lockhart later…." Sephiroth cut in.
"No, it's fine." Tifa seemed to have other ideas, however. "Five years ago, your brother saved my life."
"Emergency ID scan initiated..." A mechanical voice cut Tifa's story short; Sephiroth almost sighed with relief.
Everyone in the car turned their eyes towards the voice's source. They'd already gone through one routine ID scan without raising any red flags but…
"Unauthorized IDs detected. Threat level: critical. Inspection and containment sweep initiated, commencing at the rear of the train." The monotone voice somehow managed to sound accusatory.
"Any chance that maybe some other bad people got on the train recently?" Kadaj suggested forlornly.
"We ain't sticking around to find out." Barret insisted, rising from his seat.
Before any of them could exit the compartment, several of its windows were smashed in by a quintet of vaguely canine Shinra drones.
Sephiroth's hand hovered over Masamune's hilt; there was no way to use it without carving the car to pieces with them still in it.
Luckily, he didn't need to
"My turn."
Tifa sprang from her seat and landed in a crouch before of the robots. A low hook kick launched it across the breadth of the train car. It struck a second drone on its path to the far wall with enough force to carry them both through the window, to be quickly left behind by the fast-moving train.
It struck a second drone on its path to the far wall with enough force to send the one it struck sailing out the window, to be quickly left behind by the fast-moving train. As for the original, it slammed into the far wall of the train with enough force to leave a noticeable dent and started shooting sparks.
That didn't seem enough to satisfy Tifa though, she closed in and stomped the machine into the wall enlarging the bulge to almost half a foot in length and turning the robot into so much scrap.
Before Tifa's leg was done fully retracting from her blow a third Shinra drone pounced on her from behind. She rode out the impact, and twisted around, grabbing the machine just above where the bladed segment of its leg began.
With loud "CRACK" she slammed the drone against the floor, then followed up with a kick savage enough to tear the limb free and reduce the machine to a lump of misshapen metal.
Kadaj handled the other two in short order; the confined spaces were little trouble for Souba which trisected a robot before he zapped the final one with lighting.
"Exeunt Avalanche pursued by mechanical bear." Sephiroth sighed dryly.
He raced over to the doors leading out of their compartment, but for one of the few times in his life. Sephiroth wasn't fast enough. His hand deflected away from the door, and he recognized the characteristic shimmer of the kinetic barriers that had already proven capable of resisting Masamune.
"Four unauthorized passengers successfully contained. Neutralizing threat..." The mechanical voice announced as half a dozen more robots flooded into the compartment.
"Getting real cramped in here!" Barret grumbled, clambering up on the seats in search of a clean line of fire.
"If we can't escape, Shinra will eventually decide they're okay with destroying this entire compartment. If they realize it's me, they'll destroy the entire train. We need a way out, even if we have to jump..." Sephiroth warned.
"And here I was worried you'd have trouble fitting in at Avalanche. Jumping off of a moving train is a Biggs' plan 'E' if I ever heard one." Barret chuckled.
Unfortunately, the nearest pair of side doors used to enter or exit the train also had a flickering fields protecting them. The doors at the far side lacked them, however, and the ruined remains of the drone Tifa'd embedded in the wall gave a fair guess at why.
They'd escape out those doors; once they dealt with with Shinra's robotic reinforcements.
"This is my plan G."
"How many plans you got under that silver mop, and when were you planning on sharing them with the rest of us?"
"Enough that most of them are numbered, and I'll share them when they become relevant. Somehow, they always seem to go better the less I talk about them..." Sephiroth deadpanned.
"That so? Alright, plan man, we all make it in plan G?"
"Yes. Kadaj does end up needing an eyepatch for a week or two in plan M, however."
While the two of them discussed strategy, Kadaj and Tifa were working together to clear a path through the robots and advance down the train compartment.
Once he had a clear shot, Barret fiddle with his gun arm, then fired a breaching round that left a noticeable dent in the door.
That, combined with a kick from Kadaj, dislodged it; at which point Tifa slammed an elbow into the emergency brake button.
By some miracle, a Shinra safety feature actually worked as advertised, and the sound of screeching metal filled the air as the train began to decelerate.
"We're still moving pretty fast, will you be all... right?" Kadaj found him asking the empty space Tifa had just vacated.
"Huh. Guess so!" He shrugged, then launched himself after her.
Kadaj flung himself toward the far wall of the tunnel, hitting it feet first, then kicked off, bleeding off momentum in a corkscrew spin to land lightly in the train's wake.
Tifa, having opted for a more conventional tuck and roll landing, was dusting herself off a few yards further down the tunnel.
Sephiroth's boots hit the ground a moment later, followed by Barret's. Even with the emergency brake engaged the train was still moving forward; more Shinra drones began to cluster around it like ants converging around spilled picnic food.
"Could have gone worse." Sephiroth admitted.
"You don't know how right you are..." Barret noted with a touch of pride.
He made his way over to a wall that bore a drawing of a cartoon dog in a green army helmet.
"See, this is why we sent Biggs in ahead. This here is OUR plan 'E'. He did a little creative graffiti to make sure that we don't get lost in these twisty train tunnels. The dog's nose will always point in the direction of the Sector Five Reactor. It's a straight shot, all we gotta do is take it." Avalanche's leader explained.
"Well, we've also gotta walk a long way. That's fine though; I don't get tired!" Kadaj added "helpfully".
XXX XXX XXX
"So, why did you join Avalanche?" Kadaj asked Tifa.
Sephiroth would have been fine with this trip taking place in silence, but unsurprisingly his younger brother had other ideas.
"I joined, because I couldn't live with myself if I didn't. Troopers, SOLDIERs, Mako Reactors, Shinra, I hate 'em all. They take away all the things and people you love. I swore to myself I'd make them all disappear."
/Planet, what did I do to this girl?\ Sephiroth sighed to himself, lengthening his stride to put some distance between himself and the conversation.
XXX XXX XXX
Just as Kadaj had predicted, after one very long walk through Midgar's subway system, they finally reached the Sector Five Reactor.
"This place reeks of mako..." Barret announced he crawled out of a ventilation shaft.
"Isn't 'reeks', overselling it? What's wrong with the smell of mako?" Kadaj couldn't help but ask.
"Bad memories..." Sephiroth instantly answered.
Kadaj could tell that this was another topic his big brother didn't want to discuss in depth until "later".
"We're already near mako storage, but remember that's only half of the reason we're here. Whatever brand new weapon Shinra is working on, we need to find it and trash it before we leave." Barret insisted.
"That's why Jessie set us up with this." Tifa noted with a slight smirk as she patted the pocket that held the remote detonator.
Said detonator would allow them to plant the bomb, but defer arming it until they were done dealing with Shinra's secret weapon. Kadaj could certainly see the wisdom in not having to search an entire reactor from top to bottom, with an armed and ticking time bomb inside it.
There was just one problem with the next phase of the plan.
"I'm not seeing a way down..." "We may need to make a ladder..." Barret and Sephiroth mused simultaneously
"Here, maybe?" Tifa offered, gesturing towards a large metal pipe jutting out of one of the reactor's walls, its starting point about ten feet below them.
"Tifa, you come up with the best plans!" Kadaj giggled, grasping the bar owner in an impulsive hug.
Then he broke away and vaulted over the guard rails, landing flat on his back atop the pipe.
"WEEEEEEEEE…." Kadaj cheered as he slid down.
Then as he neared the end of the pipe, he effortlessly rolled off of it, to land on a second pipe, riding that one the rest of the way down.
He was fairly sure the other three were saying something up above, but he was having too much fun to pay attention.
Tilting his head back slightly he noticed that the other three had opted to stay upright and ride down the pipe balanced on their feet; well, whatever they felt comfortable with.
"That was an… interesting approach to my plan." Tifa admitted after she fished sliding down the pipe.
"Kadaj, avoid taking needless risks." Sephiroth scolded as he hopped off the pipe.
"Well, I mean, it wasn't exactly needless, and it wasn't exactly a risk..." Kadaj faltered under Sephiroth's flat stare.
Kadaj tried to figure out how best to explain the importance of fun to his older brother. Sadly, just contemplating where to start ended up taking him so long that Barret also completed the trip down and noticed something the other three had missed.
"Hey, kids, over here..."
It was a computer console displaying a large mechanical… machine…
It roughly resembled a human from the waist up, but it ended at the knees, with everything from the waist down covered by plated metal cowling.
"So that's Shinra's newest weapon... The only question now is where in the reactor are they actually keeping it?" Sephiroth mused.
"And why did they just leaving a console turned on and broadcasting images of it to anyone walking by?" Tifa added a moment later.
"Morale building?" It wasn't much of an answer, but Kadaj couldn't think of a better one.
He didn't completely understand the concept, but the doctor's had explained that it was important to always be willing to show off what you were capable of; that way people would feel confident you could protect them.
"I wish I could believe that; by this point in our attack on the Sector One Reactor we'd already had to deal with roughly a dozen automated turrets and a handful of guard dogs. Why is this place less heavily defended?" Sephiroth pondered.
"Maybe Shinra got spooked and cleared out?" Barret suggested.
There was a soft humming sound and quartet of the "Monodrive" drones that Kadaj had been taught about fluttered into the room from some hidden entrance.
It sounded like he had some work to do.
XXX XXX XXX
The monodrives were no problem for her and the others.
Even the pair of sweeper robots hadn't put up much of a challenge thanks to Sephiroth and Kadaj. Avalanche kept moving with the inexorable nature of a rock-slide until they finally reached the reactor itself.
"So, who'd like to do the honors?" Barret pulled the bomb free from his jacket with a grim smile.
"This place may not be Seventh Heaven; but for some reason, I'm still in the mood to serve the drinks." Tifa eagerly snatched it from his hand.
"I've had a lot of experience making Cosmo Canyons… I think I'll call this a Cosmo Cannon..." She announced with a playful smirk while attaching the bomb.
"When the time comes, I press the button, and tomorrow Shinra's wakes up with the mother of all hangovers." Tifa quipped.
Except that once was the bomb firmly in place, a string of explosions started.
The ladders that they'd climbed down in order to get to the center of the reactor were instantly blown to pieces. The doorway that they'd entered through was blocked by a heap of rubble. The many platforms that they'd moved across collapsed one after another in a string of blasts.
"Is another cell hitting this reactor, too?" Tifa wondered, unable to come up with any other possible reason for why the reactor suddenly seemed to be suffering from a series of pinpoint acts of sabotage.
That couldn't be it though, the explosions weren't damaging the reactor; they were cutting off Avalanche's avenues of escape, with distressing thoroughness.
That was when the drones arrived.
There were over a dozen of them, but unlike the other Shinra robots Avalanche had encountered, these ones seemed to be completely unarmed. Instead, as they floated close together a glowing blue image emerged of a bearded man's upper body
"Gya haah hah hah! Greetings my dear sewer rats!" The man cackled triumphantly.
Tifa recognized him at once, and if this man knew what they were doing Avalanche was in a lot of trouble...
XXX XXX XXX
Sephiroth recognized the man at once; if he was Avalanche's primary opposition, they couldn't be in too much trouble...
"General Heidegger. Holograms? You're really committing to the REMF life, I see." Sephiroth remarked conversationally.
"Sephiroth, you should have stayed a MIA when you had the chance!" The translucent figure boomed.
"Who is he exactly?" Kadaj inquired, paying more attention to his big brother than the 20 foot tall holograph.
"Artillery commander in the Wutain War. Too much work and not enough distance for his liking, but he found a brilliant shortcut to acclaim: he'd order danger close bombardments on close quarters fights, then report all casualties as belonging to the enemy."
That introduction out of the way; Sephiroth returned his attention to the matter at hand.
"So, do you plan to kill me because I'm going to destroy this reactor, or are you just still upset that I was promoted to general before you?"
"That was a BREVET promotion, you jumped up noncom!" Heidegger roared, his larger-than-life simulacrum rendering the veins on his forehead with alarming clarity.
"Really? Funny how President Shinra never got around to revoking it in the two years after the war."
"Enough! You know, you should be flattered; you're getting another chance to command the undivided attention of every soul in Midgar." Heidegger's tone abruptly turned jovial in a manner not even Kadaj would consider genuine.
"At this very moment, countless people are being removed from their homes because of the evacuation which Shinra has been forced, with heavy heart, to order for the safety of the those in the path of your terrorist rampage. We in the Public Safety department are the only ones who can stand against such murderous blackguards! And so, to a people beset by chaos and uncertainty, we shall offer the finest comfort: bread and circus!" The holographic general boasted.
"Hah! I bet you ain't gonna give out one single crumb!" Harrumphed Barret.
"Foodstuffs are Urban Development's concern, not mine. As for entertainment though…" Heidegger held out his huge hands and a holographic representation of the same robot they'd seen before flickered to life in his palms.
Except the robot was no longer lifeless; it flexed its arms, and seemed to hover under its own power.
"I give you Shinra's latest triumph of technology, the Airbuster! Designed for combating only the greatest and most dangerous of monsters… I suppose it is only fitting that it gets a chance to prove itself against monsters like you!" Heidegger chortled gleefully.
"Engineering on the line. The Airbuster is only sixty percent operational! The estimates were optimistic..." Another more panicked voice abruptly announced.
"I'm on air!" Heidegger screamed at the unseen, uninvited interrupter before the gigantic representation of him vanished; most likely terminating the connection before anything else of value could be leaked to Avalanche.
Kadaj snickered.
Sephiroth felt like he should be warning his brother not to take the threat that Shinra represented lightly... but this was General Heidegger...
"Sounds like we got ourselves a lucky break, so let's show those fat cats what these 'sewer rats' can do! Mission is still the same, all that's changed is Shinra wants to bring their new toy to us. Make's sending it to the junkyard that much easier."
"To the imbecile in charge down there, you are hereby ordered to seize those intruders and bring them to me!" Heidegger's voice thundered, though this time it seemed to be coming through a much more mundane PA system.
The one remaining operational door leading out of the room opened, and four figures in red charged through it.
Eite shock troopers.
If Shinra hadn't changed their policy in the last five years, then their regular shock troopers were so pumped full of combat drugs that they'd probably die fighting before considering surrender; the ones who got promoted liked the feel of that hellish chemical cocktail.
"Come quietly or they'll be trouble!" Their leader commanded.
Barret simply pressed his index finger to his lips and blew out a soft "sssshhhhhhh."
XXX XXX XXX
"I'm really sorry about this." Kadaj insisted, as he dodged another strike from a clawed gauntlet.
"Stay still, you stupid pipsqueak!" Screamed the trooper.
His gauntlets lashed out again, but they were made for extreme close-in combat, and Kadaj saw no reason to play his opponent's game. Instead, he employed careful footwork to always keep himself just outside his foe's reach.
"Look, I'd really rather not hurt you all that badly, but I totally will if I have to..." Kadaj protested as he tried to figure out the best way to disable his opponent without actually hurting them.
The problem was that they were wearing so much armor, and that armor also doubled as their offensive tools, so how was he supposed to disarm them?
So much armor…
Oh, well that made it actually pretty easy once he stopped to think about it!
He concentrated, and an aura of arcing electricity crackled into being around him.
"Idiot." Scoffed the shock trooper as he lunged for Kadaj again.
"My armor comes with built in insulators, you could run a million volts through it and I wouldn't feel a thing!"
The claws came at him again, but this time Kadaj jumped straight over the shock troopers head before reaching out to gently tap a single finger on the shock trooper's shoulder.
"Good." Kadaj noted, and let the electricity loose.
The energy flowed into the trooper's armor, and he toppled over like a felled tree.
"What the hell?!" The trooper growled as he struggled in vain to move, but his armor might as well have been welded to the floor for all the progress he made.
"Electromagnetism is my favorite natural phenomenon. Okay, second favorite actually; without photosynthesis none of us would be here." As Kadaj spoke, he took up position on top of the fallen trooper.
After a few moments of careful inspection his hands located the release catch for the trooper's helmet, and began to poke and prod at it. Alas, Kadaj had no more luck removing the helmet than the trooper did standing up.
"Why won't this stupid helmet come off? It is like this thing weighs a ton! Why would a simple metal helmet be so- oh. Ohhhhhh... Heh." The youth couldn't hold back a chuckle as he realized that he might not have thought this plan all the way through.
After taking a deep breath and adopting a position that offered him greater leverage Kadaj applied all the strength his muscles could muster to the task. With a mighty heave managed to remove the troopers helmet and carry it three inches before it shot to the floor with a metallic "clunk".
"There we go!" With the helmet removed, the injector assembly on the back of the shock trooper neck was visible. Kadaj poked it, and, with another electrical surge, the indicator LEDs flared, then died as a tiny wisp of smoke floated upward.
The swearing trooper's struggles slowed, then ceased. Kadaj grinned as he recalled one of his lessons: the drug cocktail that Shinra pumped into their shock troopers greatly improved their strength and speed, but came with a severe crash if the feed was cut off too suddenly.
XXX XXX XXX
"Girl, I am gonna cut you to ribbons..." The elite shock trooper chuckled to himself as he sized up Tifa.
"No." She promised coolly and calmly.
The shock trooper's right arm struck out at her, but she drew back faster than the trooper could follow.
As the metal claws whistled through the air Tifa pivoted with superhuman speed, and grabbed the trooper's right shoulder, yanking him even further off balance. Then she sealed the deal with a side kick to her foe's knee, aiming for the joint where the armor was inevitably most vulnerable.
The sound of something of Shinra's shattering was music to her ear, it didn't matter if it was armor or bone.
Tifa yanked still harder and pulled the trooper to the ground as she launched herself upwards. She descended knee first into the trooper's right shoulder, driving him to the floor with no working limbs on the right side of his body.
Easy as that, the trooper was on the ground, his unharmed limbs denied any leverage with which to act.
At that point it really was no contest.
No contest, and no reason to stop until he stopped moving, forever.
Tifa couldn't help but smile at the results of her handiwork; one more broken weapon in Shinra's arsenal.
XXX XXX XXX
"I know self preservation isn't high on your list of priorities at the moment, but try to think about this logically for just a moment… I'm General Sephiroth." He warned the elite shock trooper.
Alas, the trooper refused to head his completely reasonable advice.
Instead of attacking Sephiroth head on, the trooper raised up his gauntlets, and they unleashed a several crackling discharges of electrical energy.
"Hmm, upgrades." Sephiroth admitted, he couldn't recall shock troopers being able to do that five years ago.
Not that it made a difference; the arcing blasts crossed the intervening space in the blink of an eye, but the man aiming them might as well have been swimming through mud.
He closed in with the shock trooper, and grabbed hold of his gauntlets; which were only dispersing electrical energy from their tips rather than coursing across their entire length.
What did course across their entire length was ice.
Sephiroth froze the gauntlets, then tightened his grip ever so slightly.
Chunks of ice flew through the air as both gauntlets shattered.
The elite shock trooper tilted his helmeted head downwards and gazed at his bare hands.
"I know self preservation isn't high on your list of priorities at the moment," Sephiroth repeated with a mild smirk, "but try to think about this logically for just a moment… I'm General Sephiroth."
XXX XXX XXX
"When I'm done with you, they're gonna be able to attach three more guns to your corpse." The elite shock trooper boasted.
This was not a fight that favored Barret Wallace. He knew that elite shock trooper's armor was bullet resistant without seriously impeding their speed, and his lighting materia wouldn't help him much either.
A gun was simply not the weapon you wanted against a foe who could quickly close with you before you could shoot them dead.
Barret was outmatched in every way… except one.
Even elite shock troopers took orders; Barret Wallace gave them.
"Sephiroth, I could use some help." He admitted.
The shock trooper lunged at Barret, a blur of red and white.
A faster blur of black and silver intercepted him.
Sephiroth's open hand caught the trooper square in the chest. Before the trooper could react, Sephiroth had carried him the length of the room, slammed him against a wall hard enough to buckle armor and wall alike, and sealed him within a shell of ice.
"What's Engineering progress on getting that Airbuster operational? Still only sixty percent? Bullshit! "Get it done, or I'll throw you off the plate myself!" Heidegger berated his subordinates over the reactor's PA system.
"It's been like, less than a minute since you last asked; you should really give them more time!" Kadaj couldn't help but point out now that he was done fighting for his life.
"You're wasting your time." Sephiroth muttered.
"I don't know; I kinda like the kid's enthusiasm." Barret chuckled.
XXX XXX XXX
"Get these components prepped for the Airbuster ASAP!"
"It's ready sir!"
"Component outbound from B8!"
Such was the chatter taking place between various Shinra personnel as Avalanche entered the room.
There were two elite guards and five regular ones manning various computer terminals in the room, but they soon abandoned that task to aim their weapons at the intruders.
They hadn't started shooting, though. Barret could work with that; it didn't hurt that there were also a dozen unarmed people in orange vests and hardhats who looked like they profoundly wished they were absolutely anywhere else at the moment.
"Here's how this works." He announced, taking a moment to remove his sunglasses so he could look the various troopers in the eye.
"Standing on my right is a woman who would very much like to punch you all to death."
The woman in question didn't say anything, she just gazed out into the room, hatred smoldering in her eyes.
"Standing on my left, is a man who would prefer you didn't die."
The man in question didn't say anything either, his expression was at best "not openly hostile".
"Luckily for you all, I'm the leader, and that means I get to make the final call."
Eyes shifted rapidly back and forth between the two men, one of whom was obviously General Sephiroth… and and yet this man was the one in charge?
"Now, I ain't got any love for you Shinra dogs, but a good commander, unlike the one you poor bastards have, listens to his troops. So here's how this is is gonna work: if you make like good doggies who run away with their tails between their legs, you'll get to live.
Just three conditions: you're gonna carry off these friends of yours we brought with us, you're gonna warn anyone else you see to get the hell out of this reactor, and before you leave the room, you're going to turn over your helmets.
We get into a fight with anyone who doesn't have a helmet..." Barret shrugged.
"I go for the head." Tifa filled in.
Then she held out her hands, and Kadaj placed a helmet into them.
She ripped the thing apart like it was made of wet cardboard and let the pieces fall to the floor.
"So, who wants to surrender?"
XXX XXX XXX
"I still can't believe Shinra is this incompetent." Sephiroth sighed as he looked at a graphical display of the Airbuster once room B8 had been abandoned.
"Far as I can tell, they played us like a damn fiddle..." Barret grumbled.
"You made the best call you could." Tifa insisted, placing a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.
"There are two key components to every ambush. The first, is convincing the enemy to go exactly where you want them to be. I'll admit they did quite well on that front.
The second though; that's having a force of you own ready to wipe out the enemy once they've taken the bait. Shinra's 'force' is a robot that is still under construction! They could have sent two dozen First Class SOLDIERs, they could have just had their own massive bomb that went off when we approached the reactor, but no; Heidegger insisted on using a fancy robot that isn't even off the production line yet." Sephiroth scoffed in open derision.
"If it's still under construction, can we do anything to deconstruct it?" Kadaj suggested eagerly.
Fingers flew across a keyboard.
A moment later a few of the bright lights on the Airbuster's digital representation went dark.
"Exactly my thoughts; that's why I just rerouted some of this machine's munitions straight to the incinerator."
XXX XXX XXX
"Component Construction Room B7, report!" Heidegger screamed into his radio.
At first there was only the crackling of static, but then a voice answered him, an infernally smug baritone voice.
"I'm sorry, the occupants of Room B7 decided they'd rather hand over their helmets, than die for your convenience."
"Traitors, all of them. Just like you." Heidegger half spat half snarled.
"By the way, I hope your precious Airbuster didn't need this 'AI Programming Core' too badly. You always knew so much more about industrialized warfare than I did… "Also, just for curiosity's sake, was it your idea to present a live broadcast of the Midgar's greatest hero rebelling against Shinra? Because one of my fellow terrorists insists it must have been Palmer's..."
"You aren't even worthy of the title of 'soldier' let alone 'general'; you were always nothing but a dog, and now you've gone rabid."
"Woof."
The line went dead.
XXX XXX XXX
"Component Construction Room B6, report!" Heidegger could feel his anger growing in time with the incompetence of his subordinates.
There was more static, then a voice, a voice that did not use the properly deferential tones to address the Head of Shinra's Public Safety Department.
"You want a report? Okay, listen up!" The voice was rougher than Sephiroth's, and a great deal louder.
"Mako is the lifeblood of the Planet! If we didn't rise up against Shinra then you'd turn this entire beautiful Planet into a lifeless hunk of rock! I don't gotta tell you that though; no, top Shinra brass like you knows exactly what you're doing, you just don't care! Does it make you feel proud to know that you're gonna be the last one to…." The voice continued.
Heidegger changed the frequencies on his radio.
"This is General Heidegger, I want all the radio equipment from room B6 dropped from the network!" He ordered.
"… The Planet is screaming in pain and you're busy shovin' piles of gil into your ears so you can pretend not to hear it! The day is gonna come when…" Was the first response he got back.
It seemed he'd underestimated their tenacity. How tiresome.
XXX XXX XXX
"Room B5 status report?"
The radio crackled to life.
"Brian Lockhart sends his regards."
The signal cut out.
Heidegger scowled. Who the hell was Brian Lockhart?
XXX XXX XXX
Everything else the Sector Five Reactor could throw at them had either fled or fallen. Avalanche had done everything they could to sabotage the Airbuster by rerouting important components to the incinerator.
Now they'd reached the critical T-intersection located just outside the reactor's entrance. If the Airbuster didn't get deployed against them soon Shinra wouldn't get a chance.
Sure enough, as they entered the area, a quartet of small drones floated up to meet them, before splitting apart to project a holographic image.
This one wasn't of General Heidegger, however.
"Hello John." Sephiroth greeted the larger than life figure.
"So it is true what Heidegger said, how disappointing." Reflected the Shinra Electric Power Company's CEO.
A moment later there was a series of sharp cracks and one of the drones was shredded by gunfire.
"Think you're forgetting someone?" Barret called out.
The holographic image wavered for a moment, but more drones arrived and it stabilized.
"Would that I could; at least even as a foe Sephiroth can be relied upon for his terse nature. You strike me as the type to go on without end." President Shinra sighed languidly.
"Ain't enough hours in the day to hold you to account for all your crimes!" Barret bellowed at the drone that was floating closest to him.
"You want to portray me as some kind of monster, but do you know what I am? I am a man who loves his life. I am a man who does not sacrifice his love or his values. Avalanche has no concepts of morality but the mystical or the social. You have would say that morality is a code of behavior imposed on you by whim; the whim of a supernatural power or the whim of society. To serve the Planet's purpose or your neighbor's welfare, to please an authority beyond the grave or else next door, but not to serve your life or pleasure…
An entity that regarded its means of survival as evil will not survive. A doctrine that gives you, as an ideal, the role of a sacrificial animal seeking slaughter on the altars of others, is giving you death as your standard. By the grace of reality and the nature of life, man, every man, is an end in himself; he exists for his own sake, and the achievement of his own happiness is his highest moral purpose."
Sephiroth and Barret exchanged glances, they could both tell what the other was thinking.
Sephiroth let loose with a series of lighting bolts and Barret still more bullets, each destroying one drone after another as President Shinra continued to drone on.
Once again the holographic image flickered out of existence, but Shinra seemed to have enough of their robotic minions on hand to filibuster the members of Avalanche despite their best efforts.
Except that when the holographic image coalesced a third time it was General Heidegger rather than President Shinra.
"Do you know what I hate about you most Sephiroth?" The dark haired man snarled.
Sephiroth remained stoically silent.
"You. Ended. The. War!"
"What?" Every member of Avalanche was caught equally flatfooted, and ended up gasping the word in unison.
"Shinra had a greater population to draw upon, a stronger economy, a greater industrial base, we had materia, we had SOLDIERs! We held all the cards, and by carefully limiting exactly how large a force we deployed, we were able to draw out the war for eight glorious years!" Heidegger chortled.
Sephiroth felt his always pale face going whiter still. This was insane, this was beyond insane. Heidegger talked about the Wutain War the same way that a farmer might talk about cows or crops, something to be carefully nurtured.
"Then you had to come along and throw everything into chaos! You brought Wutai to its knees, and suddenly everyone in Midgar was no longer willing to sacrifice for the good of Shinra. People who only weeks ago had been patriotic recruits, now started to demand things like education, healthcare, and countless other fripperies!
I thought that we'd never again have another chance to truly unite the people of Midgar, but then in their boundless wisdom, Wutai gave us a wonderful gift…. Avalanche!
Avalanche, the sinister servants of wicked Wutai who will inflict upon Midgar suffering the likes of which Wutai's armies never could have even dreamed of! All of Midgar will be howling for their blood, and this time, this time the war will never end! Gya haa haa haa!"
Sephiroth just stared straight ahead, utterly incredulous. How could he, how could anyone respond to something like that? "You're insane" seemed paradoxically far too self evident, and yet also far too milquetoast a response.
Before he could decide what to say, the holographic Heidegger gave way to a shot of the reactor's core, and the bomb Tifa had planted. More Shinra drones were surrounding it, but they didn't seem to be trying to disarm it...
"What are you doing?" Demanded Barret angrily.
"Don't you see? You fools were never in control. Never anything but pawns in our plans to sell great and glorious war to the people! And your instruments of insurrection will detonate, when we so choose!"
The bomb's display lit up.
"25:00"
"24:59
"24:58"
"Tifa, deactivate it!" Barret insisted instantly.
Tifa slammed the green "deactivate" button on her remote detonator, again, and again and again….
"24:57"
"24:56"
"24:55"
Nothing she did made a difference, Shinra must have somehow "hijacked" their bomb.
Shinra wanted Avalanche to destroy this entire reactor to make people rally to their banner.
Shinra... had doubtlessly been responsible for turning his previous from mission from a bit of pin-point sabotage into a sector-wide catastrophe. They were blowing up their own reactors, just so that they'd have more crimes to accuse Avalanche of.
Every time Sephiroth thought Shinra had finally hit the bottom of the barrel, they found a way to drill through it.
Heidegger flickered back into being, a terrifying smile on his face.
"Now let us raise the curtain on our main event! The trial of the eco-extremist group Avalanche!"
As he spoke, Sephiroth's keen eyes picked up the sight of an approaching transport helicopter.
Underslung by an array of wires was the Airbuster itself.
It drew closer and closer, then the wires were released. The Airbuster plummeted out of the sky and landed on the catwalk before them, flexing its mechanical muscles in preparation for the battle to come.
"Terrorists who conspired with Wutai against Midgar! Your guilt is undeniable! Your punishment: death!" Heidegger crowed.
XX X XXX XXX
"I'm sick of this. I'm sick of all of this!" Tifa insisted as she approached one of the drones, and kicked it straight into the general's holographic face.
"Shinra thinks they get to make all the rules because they're stronger than everyone else? Well two can play that game. Let me show you just how strong I am." She promised.
The last five years of her life, they'd been nothing but an extended training session; for her, this was going to be her first real fight, and she wasn't going to disappoint.
Especially since the Airbuster had decided to focus on Sephiroth and Kadaj, leaving its back wide open to her.
She hopped up onto the metal "skirt" that contained the Airbuster's engines, and then jumped up and wrapped both of her gloves around the behemoth's neck. Shinra probably hadn't been foolish enough to place the Airbuster's central processing unit inside its head, but she had to start somewhere.
Tifa could feel the Airbuster's outer layer of armor starting to crumple beneath her grip as she tried to choke the non-existent life out of it.
She was starting to feel the hair on her arms standing on end, and knew in her gut that it was time for a temporary retreat.
Tifa let go of the Airbuster and dropped to the ground, rolling away from it just as the machine let loose with a massive electrical discharge.
The moment the machine's attack ended, Sephiroth launched his own, and Masamune's blade tore away a chunk of the Airbuster's armor.
There was another crackle of lighting as both Kadaj and Barret blasted the thing with their own electrical attacks, leaving the machine momentarily staggered.
Tifa's eyes locked on the small gap Sephiroth had created in the Airbuster's armor...
She kicked off the ground and leaped at the robot, landing on its skirt and driving an arm into the opening.
When she felt her fist brush up against something, Tifa yanked hard on it and pulled out a bright red wire.
The Airubster's engines' kicked into overdrive and it zoomed backwards, causing Tifa to loose her grip and drop to the ground.
"You've seen but a fraction of this machine's true capabilities!" Heidegger's voice called out from somewhere overhead.
Bright purple light began to course along the Airbuster's entire chassis, building up towards an aperture in the center of its body.
"Move!" Sephiroth shouted, though his warning was probably meant more for Kadaj than anyone else.
Except that there was nowhere for them to move to; the Airbuster had parked itself at the dead center of the T-intersection, its chest weapon pointed towards the three of them, while Barret was still off to the side.
Well, there was almost nowhere.
Tifa hopped to one of the railings and then jumped skyward with all of the force she could muster.
A moment later the Airbuster's weapon fired, releasing a beam of magenta energy two feet across that gouged a hole in the side of the reactor.
Thankfully, it had completely abated by the time Tifa landed. Risking a glance behind her, she saw that Sephiroth and Kadaj had flipped over the sides of the safety railings, and were now climbing back up.
"Keep pouring it on!" Barret encouraged as he swapped ammo clips.
The Airbuster spread its arms wide… and then both of its limbs were launched free from its body by clusters of rocket boosters.
One of the arms promptly circled around and headed straight for Avalanche's leader.
Barret fired off a combination of bullets and lighting bolts, but it still wasn't enough to stop one of the Airbuster's fists from closing tight around him.
Tifa didn't think twice; now that the Airbuster's main body no longer had arms to fight with, it was easier than ever for her to climb its body. From there, a quick jump allowed her to land on top of the limb holding Barret.
Tifa secured her precarious position with one hand, and tried to pry its fingers apart with her other.
She was strong, but not strong enough to overcome the Airbuster's grip.
"Need some help?" Kadaj offered as he landed on top of the flying arm a few moments after Tifa.
"Yes." She admitted.
Out of the corner of her eye she could see Sephiroth avoiding the energy rays fired off by the other hand while continuing to slice away at the Airbuster's body.
"Try not to flinch okay?" Kadaj advised Barret, then drove his sword in between the Airbuster's fingers.
He shoved on the blade and Tifa joined him a moment later. Working together with Souba for leverage, the two of them managed to pry the fist open; dropping Barret down onto the walkway below.
That done, Kadaj began to slice away at the arm's engines while Tifa hammered away at its individual digits.
As the arm's engines began to falter and die, the errant limb veered back toward the Airbuster.
At the same time energy began to gather low on the Airbuster's trunk, accompanied by a bright crimson light.
"I've had enough of this." Sephiroth declared.
He charged the machine, with Tifa and Kadaj a few steps behind.
Tifa unleashed a storm of blows upon the Airbuster's central focusing lens, pouring on strike after strike until the reinforced glass fractured, then shattered.
Kadaj leapt into the air to dance across the Airbuster's collar and shoulders, Souba's blades slicing parallel gouges into its face
Sephiroth plunged Masamune straight into the Airbuster's center mass, then ripped it down and away, steel parting like flesh in the path of the draw cut's inhuman force.
Whatever weapon it had been charging detonated… while it was still inside the machine.
The Airbuster exploded.
The massive concussive force tossed her up into the air and hurled her across the length of the room. The heat from the blast didn't scorch her bald, but it felt like she'd just gotten the worst sunburn ever, and all across her body….
It was promptly followed by an entirely different kind of pain as she slammed back-first into the reactor's superstructure.
Time seemed to slow down for an instant as Tifa realized what that meant and risked a glance downward, to behold a yawning void; she was about to plummet all the way down to Lower Midgar.
So after everything she'd been through, she was still going to die be falling. If she could draw a full breath, Tifa would have laughed at the absurdity.
Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion, as if she was sinking through syrup.
As she fell she spotted a pipe just right size for a handhold, and she grabbed it.
Time seemed to speed back up again, now that she'd arrested her own downward momentum.
That was when she realized… there hadn't been any handholds for Sephiroth.
That black and silver object that she'd been vaguely aware out of the corner of her eye, was General Sephiroth getting further and further away from her.
He'd always seemed so calm and in control throughout the entire Airbuster fight- hell, the entire mission- but gravity might be the one foe even he couldn't defeat.
She wanted to feel sorry for him, but right now she had her own problems to worry about...
/This AGAIN?\ Tifa groaned as her fingers clenched ever tighter around the pipe.
/Well, nice try Planet, but Tifa Lockhart isn't the same damsel in distress she was last time...\ She reassured herself.
Tifa was strong enough to pull herself up, she knew it, she wasn't going to fall….
There was a sound of creaking metal as the pipe she was hanging from began to bend and deform.
/OH COME ON!\
It seemed that the more she tightened her grip, the more unsteady the thing she was gripping grew.
Urgent as it was, this was not her most immediate problem.
"SEPHIROTH!" Kadaj screamed, thrusting out a hand helplessly towards his older brother; his voice loud enough to hurt Tifa's ears.
Her ears weren't the only part of her that he was endangering, though; bolts of lighting ripped free from Kadaj's body and lashed away at the reactor, one of them nearly zapping Tifa into a muscle spasm she could ill afford.
"Kadaj! Not. Helping!" Tifa screamed right back at him.
There was a faint sound of sniffling as Kadaj struggled to fight back more tears, but the electrical discharges abated.
"You're right. That… that wasn't helping anyone. Heroes help people…." Kadaj spoke slowly, unsteadily, as if he was trying to make himself believe his own words.
His worries for Sephiroth aside, Kadaj was in a better position than Tifa. He'd managed to grab hold of a section of the walkway, and even after the blast it didn't seem to have any trouble supporting his weight.
"What can I do to help?" "What can I do to help?" The enthusiasm in Kadaj's voice sounded brittle, a thin shell over desperation.
Tifa looked back at the pipe, she gave it another thirty seconds at most before her weight tore it loose from the reactor and she took the exact same plunge Sephiroth had.
"Think you can catch me?" She asked, regretting that this was this was the best idea she could come up with.
Kadaj glanced at the catwalk he was holding onto, then locked eyes with Tifa.
"I'd have to hold onto myself with only one hand, but I can do it!" He promised.
Tifa took a deep breath.
She curled her body, bracing legs against the reactor wall, and then just as the pipe tore free,
launched herself towards Kadaj.
Tifa could feel the wind brushing against her bare skin, the pull of gravity seeking to once more yank her downwards into its pitiless embrace.
There were about a hundred different ways that this could end up killing them both.
She tried not to think about those things, she tried to only think about Kadaj's right hand that was reaching out towards her.
It didn't work: if she missed him, if the shock of having to support two people with only one arm proved too great, if the catwalk itself couldn't handle their combined weight….
A black gloved hand seized her tightly by the wrist.
Kadaj didn't try to maintain his position, he instinctively rode out the transfer of momentum, and swung Tifa up towards the catwalk he was clinging to. She grabbed hold of it with her free hand and desperately pulled herself upwards onto something approaching solid ground.
The moment she was across the threshold, she yanked on Kadaj's arm so hard he practically flew over the railing.
"Thanks for catching me." She gasped, struggling to avoid a fit of hyperventilation.
"Thanks for pulling me up." Kadaj answered.
"All on board for the getting the hell out of here express..." Barret called out as he yanked Tifa to her feet.
Her legs still shook slightly, but once she actually made an effort they easily bore up under her weight.
/Seriously, what are the odds that I'd find myself hanging on for dear life three times?\ Tifa Lockhart couldn't help but think to herself.
XXX XXX XXX
/Seriously, what are the odds I'd come here to tend the flowers and find someone had crashed through the roof a second time?\ Aerith Gainsborough couldn't help but think to herself.
End Chapter.
AN: So to start with, remember how I said Nibelheim happened a little differently which resulted a different version of Tifa Lockhart? Well Nibelheim happened a little differently and so it resulted in a different version of Tifa Lockhart
A "breaching round" is a specially designed shotgun slug made for damaging doors and forcing them open. Given that in the remake Barret has a long reload high powered single shot attack (Overcharge) it's not unreasonable that he has options for firing such a round from his arm.
It hurts my suspension of disbelief slightly that in the remake our heroes are within touching distance of the Airbuster, yet decide to leave it alone after noting that they'd have trouble against it in a straight up fight. Why not just have Cloud hack away at it with his sword while its deactivated until its just a pile of scrap? That's why in this version Avalanche are never in the same room as it is until they have to fight it.
The term Sephiroth uses to address Heidegger: "REMF" is military slang for personnel who are never on the front-line; it stands for Rear Echelon… well you can probably guess the rest.
The exact meaning of a "brevet" promotion varies from army to army, but the general (pun not intended) rule of thumb is that they're given out as a reward for you doing something praiseworthy during a war, but aren't actually a true promotion. In the US army, (or at least the early US army, since brevetting went away in 1922 and various medals started to be given out instead) for example; brevet promotions aren't supposed to last any longer than the conflict that they are earned in does.
Basically, the most obvious explanation of his rank would be that Sephiroth was so amazing at killing people during the war that he was brevetted all the way up to General. Then when the war ended, President Shinra realized that it would be a bad publicity, especially among Shinra's SOLDIERs and those who aspired to become SOLDIERs, for him to "demote" Sephiroth back to his original rank. Thus, he simply let the brevet rank stand far longer than it should have, because why be a tyrant if you're not going to ignore the rules the moment they become they inconvenience you?
Likewise the phrase "noncom" means "Non-commissioned officer" it refers to someone whose rank is no higher than Sergeant at best. Heidegger is using it to insult Sephiroth because he (Sephiroth) never attended the Shinra equivalent of West Point.
If you were interested; my editor was quick to point out that voltage is not actually a measurement of current. So we decided to look into how electrically resistant garments are actually rated….
It turns out they're either rated in highly technical terms that would only mean something to a person who actually does a lot of electrical work… or they're rated in voltage.
If you're super interested, half a million volts is the standard amount of resistance desired you're working with live wires; given that in the remake elite shock troops have "pulse shot" a magical attack that seems to be chiefly electrical in nature, their suits might actually be rated to protect above a million volts, but it's not like that guy had any pressing reason to tell Kadaj the exact truth anyway.
Tifa's father is never directly named in any of the games/movies/etc, but his original concept art labeled him as "Brian Lockhart" so that is what I'm using in this story.
President Shinra's monologue about who he is happens to simply be a slightly altered and much abridged version of another literary speech. Kudos to anyone who can guess where it came from...
Finally, yes, Heidegger's "Shinra didn't want the war to end" argument is entirely my own invention, but I feel it's a fairly reasonable one. How else do you explain the Wutain War lasting for eight years as an actual war given the disparity of the forces involved, unless for some reason Shinra wasn't fully committed to winning?
As for why they might not want to win, well that's obvious enough, fighting a war with Wutai makes a convenient way to excuse how terrible life is the vast majority of people in Midgar, basically the exact same reasons that they want to restart the war in the FF7 remake.
After all, they supposedly started the war over wanting to build a mako reactor in Wutai, but six years after the war ended, there's still no reactor. It's like they were more interested in having a reason to go to war than actually building that reactor…