Chapter 100 [nominal]
Malfunction
"I must say I am disappointed by the results of your mission," Rufus said. The party had returned to Shinra Tower and told them what had happened at the Sector 6 reactor. They had to explain the specifics of what occurred, but Rufus, the board of directors, and the entire city already knew about the outcome, as the explosion was visible for miles.
Rufus stood flanked by the rest of the board of directors. Directly to his left stood Heidegger, director of the so-called Public Safety Department. He was a large man with a bushy black beard, and he wore a green military uniform adorned with badges and red and gold details. To Rufus' right was Scarlet, director of the Weapons Manufacturing Department. She was a blonde woman who wore her hair tied up, and she wore a long red satin dress with a plunging neckline and a slit in the side, as well as red high heels. Next to her was Professor Hojo, director of the Science Research Division. A slightly-hunched man who appeared to be in his mid-sixties with his graying black hair tied into a ponytail, Hojo's attire of a white lab coat over top a business suit and thick round glasses marked him as a scientist. Next to Heidegger stood Reeve, director of the Urban Development Department. He had black hair tied into a ponytail and a small moustache and beard, and he wore a long dark blue coat with yellow lining, and pants of a slightly lighter shade of blue underneath.
The Turks stood behind the main party.
"Sorry, sir," Zack said. "The bomb was outside of my capability."
"On the plus side, we got rid of all of the Heartless," Sora added.
"I suppose little could have been done about the bomb," Reeve consoled. "The presence of the incredible numbers of Heartless made it impossible for specialists to reach the core. We had not even been made aware of a bomb until it was about too late. Fortunately, no one was grievously harmed in the explosion."
Aqua turned her gaze down as she became lost in thought. "Who could have placed that bomb?" she wondered. "And who would have destroyed that reactor and put so many people in danger?"
"Gya haa haa haa!" Heidegger laughed hoarsely. "I'd think it would be obvious. It's that no-good AVALANCHE!"
Donald looked at him in bemusement. "What's Avalanche?" he asked.
"It is an eco-terrorist unit that stands in opposition to Shinra's practices," Elena explained. "Usually, they have been short on resources, and their activities had been limited to public protest and low-scale vandalism. But when they are suitably armed, they have been known, or at least suspected, to attack robots and initiate attacks on our factory and generator sites." She approached Kairi and took her sketch book, showing it to the gathered group. "And, based on Kairi's drawing from her brief glimpse, and what Zack described of the circuitry, the bomb shares some key elements of technology that AVALANCHE had used in its previous attacks."
"There are similarities, but there are also noticeable differences," Cissnei corrected. "Suspecting them would be a reasonable assumption, but we cannot prove that they were responsible." Next to her, Reno's phone vibrated, so he took it out of his pocket and answered it.
"Besides, from what you just said, I doubt a ragtag gang like that would be able to control hundreds of Heartless, particularly when there were also dozens of Nobodies among them," Riku argued, doubting Heidegger and Elena's theory.
"Nevertheless, I would say that it is a reasonable conjecture," Rufus insisted. "I say that, until any further developments prove otherwise, we should prioritize locating AVALANCHE and arresting them."
Reno hung up on his phone and flashed everyone a grin. "Well, I guess that's my cue," he bragged. "I just received word that a member of AVALANCHE has been sighted in Sector 4."
"Well, then!" Heidegger shouted. "I say we send in a squad of my troops to capture the suspect and bring him in for interrogation."
Mickey raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Or we could do things a little more discretely," he suggested. "If we send a bunch of people after one guy in the streets, it'll cause a panic and give him a chance to run. Besides, with your soldiers being as trigger-happy as they were earlier today, they might cause unwanted casualties and maybe even kill the suspect."
"You seem to know quite a bit about tactical operations," Tseng said, impressed.
"I spent a few years as a Royal Musketeer," Mickey explained offhandedly.
"But he's right," Zack affirmed. "How about we have a few people go there to secure the area without raising too many red flags, talk to the guy, and find out what he knows?"
Tseng considered the suggestion for a moment, then nodded. "That would be a less-risky method, with less chance of going wrong, and it would be less costly if it turns out our suspicion proves to be little more than a conjecture."
All eyes turned to Rufus, seeking his approval, since he held the highest authority in the room. He sighed. "Very well. Mr. Fair, I suppose you would like to lead your friends in the search?"
Zack turned to face Sora, Aqua, Mickey, Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy. "All in favor?" he asked.
Kairi raised her hand uncertainly. "Actually, you guys go on ahead," she said. "There's something I'd like to look into while we're here." There was a beat as the board directors and the Turks eyed her uncertainly. "With permission and a chaperone, of course."
Reno chortled. Sora and Riku stared at the redhead in bewilderment, wondering why he seemed so familiar.
Reeve nodded. "I see no problem with that, within reason," he said.
"Alright if I stay back to help her?" Riku asked. He turned to his friends. "You can handle it yourselves, right?"
Sora, Mickey and Goofy nodded. Tseng nodded in affirmation. "Very well. The Turks will follow along to canvas the area and gauge the situation," he said. "We will contact the local troops if the investigation gets out of hand."
Zack nodded. "Got it. Everyone else ready?" he asked the rest of the party. Sora, Aqua, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy nodded.
"Great!" Reno said. "The AVALANCHE guy was spotted on Kitase Street in Sector 4. The troop who reported it said he had brown hair and he was wearing a green T-shirt, brown cargos, and a red bandanna. If you hurry, he won't get far."
Zack nodded. "Then we'd better go take a look," he said.
After Zack, Sora, Aqua, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and the Turks had left, Rufus sent the directors to return to their usual business. Reeve took Riku and Kairi and gave them a tour of the building, barring the sections that were classified. Soon, he led them to visit his office, a small room with a desk decorated with a desktop computer, office supplies, a photograph of a woman who appeared to be Reeve's mother, and a stuffed cat wearing red shoes and a crown.
"So, this is the Urban Development Department?" Riku asked.
Reeve nodded. "Yes. My team works on maintaining the city of Midgar, building homes, providing the people with energy and clean services, and ensuring that everyone is able to enjoy a solid standard of living," he explained.
"And what about the people 'downstairs'?" Riku asked, raising finger quotes around the word "downstairs".
Reeve nodded. "Yes. I know. I have made efforts to improve the condition in the slums, but the president, both our present and past CEOs, shot them down," he said regretfully. "They have been more interested in the performance of the upper city than that of the old towns below."
"So, you're responsible for repairing any damages suffered across town?" Riku asked for clarification.
"Yes. And I know what you're going to say next. I am indeed stuck having to deal with repairs for whenever Heidegger's 'Public Safety' units inflict collateral damage in their dealing of 'justice'."
Kairi tilted her head. "Sounds like you're not a big fan of your colleagues," she surmised.
Reeve sighed. "None of us particularly care for one another, although we have different reasons for our mutual distaste." He paused and shook his head. "All save for Hojo. He just creeps us all out."
"Sounds like you have it rough," Riku said sympathetically. "It also sounds like you're the white sheep of the board."
Reeve nodded. "It's not the nicest job I could imagine, but I do what I can. Now, is there anything else I can help you with?"
Riku and Kairi traded glances. "Actually, would it be alright if we had a look at the Weapons Development areas?" Kairi asked.
Reeve's face fell. "I'll see what I can do," he replied.
The street-level party meandered along the sidewalk, searching for the suspect. The avenue consisted mostly of factories and shops. Most of the passing civilians were interested in entering or exiting shops.
Zack fingered an earpiece communicator. "Any sign of him?" he asked.
"Negative," Tseng answered from his vantage point on a nearby roof.
"'Fraid not," Reno affirmed, squinting through his binoculars. "There is a pretty brunette exiting the jewelry store. I wonder what—"
"Focus, Reno," Tseng, Rude, and Cissnei interjected simultaneously.
Reno sighed. "Fine."
As the party proceeded in their search, waiting for the Turks to provide an update, Goofy found himself distracted by Zack's sword. "Hey, uh, Zack? Aren't you worried that your sword will draw too much attention?" he asked.
Zack stopped and turned to face him. "Actually, it hasn't really been much of an issue," he replied. "I spend a lot of time in town, and I always have my sword with me in case I run into trouble. Besides, the Firsts all get their own fan clubs, so seeing me around doesn't raise suspicion or make people afraid all that much. And the sword probably wouldn't be as much of a distraction as a walking, talking mouse or duck, anyway."
They had to concede the point. The group fell silent for a moment before Aqua posed a different question. "So, what was that you did earlier?"
"What do you mean?" Zack asked, not sure what she was referring to.
"When you took out that giant robot Heartless," Aqua clarified. "When you took that funny pose and aimed yourself at it, and it was hit with those little things. I've never seen anything like it."
"Say, uh, y'know, that pose you did looked kinda like a Cactuar," Goofy added, chuckling as he recalled the shape.
Zack nodded. "Yeah. That's what it was. I don't quite get it myself, but I have this ability to internalize the power of a Summon Materia and use its abilities for myself," he explained. "For example the Cactuar can shoot a thousand needles at once, so I fired a thousand needles of what I'm told is some kind of compressed kinetic energy. I can do others, but I can't really decide which ones I do when."
"Summon Materia?" Donald parroted.
Sora raised an eyebrow. "As in, Materia that conjures the spirits of powerful beings with strong hearts?" Donald, Goofy and Mickey gave him surprised looks. "Like the Summon Gems that called up Simba, Mushu and Bambi, and those charms that connected me with Peter Pan and Chicken Little."
Zack nodded. "Yeah. Kinda like that. Although I don't need most of the Materia stones in me anymore to use the power. At points, during periods of stress, the combat-type, something just flares up inside me, and I can pull off some powerful stuff. But it's not something I can fully control. I can't even do it often, which in some cases is a good thing. Hojo called it an 'emotional stimulus wave'. Things line up in my brain, and the power courses through my veins. He says it has different effects depending on my state of mind, but other than that, I can't make sense of how it works."
Sora shook his head. "I don't think I follow. You can use it but you can't?"
Zack shrugged. "The best way I can describe it: think of it as the world's dumbest slot machine. It runs on its own, and it will match up when you least expect it and fail when you think you need it most. Or not. It feels totally random."
"Well, don't tell Riku, but I prefer to know what I'm doing with my power," he joked.
The conversation faded again. Sora stood on his tip-toes to peek above the crowd in hopes of locating the target. Zack spoke into his comm link to check if the Turks had seen anything, but with the same result as before.
"So, the sword never gets in the way?" Mickey asked, returning to the earlier topic of conversation. "We could teach you to store it in a pocket dimension, if you want."
Zack crossed his arms, considering the offer. "That might actually be helpful. Though, half the time I barely notice it," he admitted.
Aqua's eyes widened in bewilderment. "You barely notice a two-hundred pound sword hanging off of your back?" she asked incredulously. Zack simply shrugged.
"Where did you even get that sword, anyway?" Donald asked.
"Oh, that was—" he began, only to be interrupted almost immediately.
"Hold on. I think I see him," Elena reported. "Just around the next corner from you guys."
Zack fingered his earpiece. "On it," he replied. He looked up at the others. "Target sighted." Sora, Aqua and Mickey nodded. The whole group continued down the sidewalk at a brisk pace, not wanting to raise any alarm by moving too fast. They turned at the corner and walked down the street, glancing around in search of their quarry.
"Fifty feet ahead," Elena said over the comm link. At this point, Goofy noticed a figure matching Reno's description.
Sora, Aqua and Zack noticed him as well. "I see him," Sora said.
Mickey and Donald looked around to try to see what Sora could, but to no avail, as they were too short. "Where?" Mickey asked.
"This way," Aqua replied simply. The human party members continued along, maintaining their brisk pace, with the mouse and duck following.
They were twenty feet away when the AVALANCHE member saw Zack. It took a second for him to register that the SOLDIER was walking toward him, and a few seconds more to guess what he was doing. He cursed and ran across the street. Cars screeched to a halt to avoid hitting him, and one driver honked his horn.
"Target is on the move," Elena reported.
Zack rolled his eyes. "We can see that," he answered irritably. The party chased after the suspect, dodging around civilians to avoid running anyone down.
The AVALANCHE member slipped into an alleyway. He moved toward a fire escape, thinking that he could escape up to the rooftops, but then realized that it would only leave him cornered, and there were probably reinforcements up above as well. He continued through the alleyway, but the party pursued him. Mickey jumped up to the first level of the fire escape and ran over everyone, then jumped off and landed in front of the suspect, forcing him to stop in his tracks. A few moments later, the others had caught up to him.
"Hey! What are you doing? I didn't do nothin'!" the young man protested.
"We'll see about that," Zack said plainly. "But right now, we have a few questions."
"Such as: two hours ago, the Sector 1 reactor was blown up," Aqua stated.
The AVALANCHE member gulped. "Oh, yeah. I saw that. Was-was anyone hurt?" he asked nervously.
Mickey shook his head. "Thankfully, no fatalities were suffered in the explosion," he answered. Curious to see if the suspect would spill any details by mistake were he involved, he left out the details regarding the employees who had lost their hearts, or the presence of Heartless.
The young man breathed a sigh of relief. "Glad to hear that, man," he said. "As I'm sure you could figure out, I ain't the biggest fan of Shinra, and I'd actually be glad to see something put a stop to them draining the planet, y'know? But man, if I wasn't scared when I saw it blow its top!"
Goofy scratched his forehead uncertainly, starting to think that he might not actually know anything about the bombing. Sora took Kairi's sketch out of his pocket and unfolded it, showing it to the suspect. The young man blinked in surprise and his face contorted into a fearful expression, but then it faded as he noticed certain details.
"Hang on. This almost looks like something we would be able to make," the young man said. "But this here is kinda different. I don't think I recognize these components, but I think I saw one of these types in pictures at that big ol' fun park."
Aqua raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that this isn't the work of AVALANCHE?" she asked.
The member shook his head. "Couldn't be, lady. Couldn't be," he replied. "Wait. You guys got a look at this thing?"
Zack nodded. "Yeah. When we got to it, there were ten minutes on the clock. I tried to disarm it, but failed."
The young man blinked. "Funny. I'm pretty sure that you'd be able to disarm ours pretty easy. I think someone did on one of our factory hits."
Mickey and Donald looked at him, dumbfounded. They were trying to wrap their heads around the fact that he had just confessed to at least one of AVALANCHE's attacks without provocation, and he did not seem to realize his blunder.
Zack, Sora and Aqua traded glances. "I'm starting to think we've hit a dead end," Zack surmised.
Before they could discuss the matter further, they heard a scream. The AVALANCHE member jumped in fright.
"Heartless in the street right ahead of you," Cissnei reported over the comm link.
Zack turned to the man they had been interrogating. "Stay here," he ordered. With that, he and his six companions ran out into the street, where they saw more than twenty fiends running or flying around.
Director Scarlet sat in a chair filing her nails as she watched her employees assemble machines and weapons through a window into the workshop below. She swiveled around when she heard three pairs of footsteps. She put the nail file down and stood up. "Now, what are you doing here?" she asked sharply as Reeve, Riku and Kairi entered her office.
"These two wished to investigate something of concern," Reeve explained. He looked down at the two teenagers, opening the floor to them.
"We ran into a few of your robots in the streets earlier today," Kairi prefaced. "At first, they seemed to do what they were supposed to, whatever the troops told them to do."
"But then, all of a sudden, they went out of control," Riku continued. "A few Heartless caused some damage to them, and they just went haywire, attacking wildly and turning on the troops."
"We wanted to know how that could have happened," Kairi finished.
Scarlet glared at them, but Riku and Kairi simply stared back, waiting for a response. After a long moment, Scarlet sighed. "Fine. I suppose that malfunctioning weapons won't be able to get the job done, and that would certainly be bad for business. Come along, children. Let us take a look."
The four of them took the stairway down into the workshop. Scarlet led her visitors to a group of men assembling circuitry. When the electricians felt Scarlet's stink-eye, they stopped what they were doing and turned to face her.
"Freddie, tell these two about how you program the robots," Scarlet ordered.
"It's Frank, ma'am," the electrician whom she addressed said sheepishly. He promptly recoiled from her glare and cleared his throat. "Of course. You see, the circuits are designed and put together so that the computer 'brain' sends the commands directly to each part of the machine, and the 'brain' only sends commands based on what remote controls order it to do." He pointed to direct the guests' gaze to a blueprint mounted on a nearby wall. "As you can see, the computer is housed in a fortified section near the back. If the surrounding circuitry is damaged, the commands following the damaged paths are lost, like if you suffer spinal injury and are crippled, you won't be able to use or even feel your legs."
Kairi put her hand to her chin contemplating what this would mean. "So, if the circuits are damaged, the robot wouldn't move around erratically, but it would stop working," she surmised.
Frank nodded. "Precisely. We take our programming very seriously, especially since most of the machines we build in this workshop have guns and saw blades mounted on them."
Riku crossed his arms. "So, if the damage the Heartless dealt didn't cause the robots to go haywire, what did?" he wondered aloud.
Frank shook his head. "Now that is the million-Munny question."
Up on Floor sixty-seven, Professor Hojo examined a set of test results while comparing them to previous results and statistics. Suddenly, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He let out a wheezing chuckle. "I was not expecting a visitor," he said. "If you want a tour, I'd suggest you join the club downstairs."
"I am not interested in viewing your company's claustrophobic cubicles," the visitor said in an accent that informed Hojo that he was not a local.
The scientist turned around and looked down to see a large gerbil with rabbit ears and a red cape standing in front of him. "Well, what would bring a unique specimen such as yourself to my laboratory?" he asked, already wondering what sort of twisted experiments he could run with this bizarre creature.
Dr. Hämsterviel chuckled. "Today, I had developed an interest in your colleague's inventions and your company's energy supply. But I have also heard rumors of your innovations in genetic science," he said. "I also happen to be a pioneer in genetic engineering," he added proudly.
Hojo grinned. "So, you are the one responsible for recent events," he guessed. "I would then assume that you are also behind the presence of the Heartless?"
Hämsterviel smiled. "Indeed. And I am quite curious about their physical properties."
Hojo let out a high-pitched, wheezing laugh. "Well, then. How about we swap notes and take a look for ourselves?" he suggested.
Sora, Aqua, Mickey, Zack, Donald, and Goofy proceeded to fight the Heartless in the streets. In the meantime, they worked to evacuate the civilians, with help from the Turks. After the majority of the civilians were out of the way, Reno and Cissnei entered the fray, brandishing their baton and Fuuma Shuriken, respectively. Troopers, Paratroopers, Neoshadows, and Morning Stars rampaged around the avenue, but the eight fighters made sure that they would not be able to cause significant damage.
Sora carved through a trio of Neoshadows at the edge of the battlefield, guiding the last of the bystanders out of the crossfire. While he was busy with the Neoshadows, a Morning Star came up behind him, aiming for a surprise attack. He heard a thud and a slashing noise and turned around to see the Morning Star fall down, split cleanly in half with a large sword down the middle. He followed the length of the silver blade up to its towering owner.
The newcomer stood nearly eight feet tall, the exposed sections of his arms rippling with muscle, and he was fully garbed in red, silver and gold armor blended with a red coat, evoking the image of a samurai. A large red sash was wrapped around his head and chest, and he also wore gold boots and black fingerless gloves. His belt had a circular bronze buckle designed to resemble a demonic face. His skin was a medium grey tone, and his face was drawn with red makeup lines. More amusingly, his legs were covered in gray cloth pantaloons with red polka dots.
"Well, then! We meet at last, warrior friend!" the samurai shouted in a deep, booming voice. He hefted his sword up and raised it high in the air while locking his solid white eyes on Sora. "I have traveled far and wide to enter this challenge, and I hope neither of us will be left disappointed."
Sora cocked his head to the side. "And who are you?" he asked.
The giant warrior laughed. "I am a swordsman of legend and revere, traveling the universe for challenge and adventure! I have heard tales of your heroic exploits, and I believe that the legends you leave in your wake may be almost as great as mine! Now, allow me to face you in a duel of champions!"
Sora shrugged. "Listen, I appreciate the offer, but this isn't really a good time. How about we do this some other time?" he suggested.
The warrior shook his head and brandished his sword, conjuring a naginata in his left hand as well. "Nay, Keyblade master! Our epic standoff starts now, for you now face the master swordsman, Gilgamesh!"
However, before he could make another move, Gilgamesh found himself being barreled over from behind as a Shinra robot plowed into him from behind. The robot, consisting of a floating black orb for the bottom half, a torso, two armored and clawed arms, and a head with a foot-long spike with a cross-shaped cross-section jutting out of the "face". The robot stopped to regain its balance after knocking into Gilgamesh, then turned to chase after the Heartless.
Gilgamesh used the naginata as a support in pushing himself to his feet. He looked at Sora sheepishly. "Or maybe you're a bit preoccupied at the moment. I should try to engage you later," he said. With that, he jumped so high so fast that he quickly vanished from Sora's sight even as the boy looked up to try to follow his path.
Sora turned his focus back to the action when he heard Reno scream "Oh, come on!" He saw that a Neoshadow was on top of the robot, which was flying around and attacking the Turk and Donald. Donald cast Blizzard and knocked the robot, designated Moth Slasher, back through the air. Reno swatted at its arm. Goofy threw his shield, which sliced the Neoshadow and knocked it off of the Moth Slasher. Sora blinked curiously as he saw something pink attached to the back of the robot's head. He threw his Keyblade, letting it spin horizontally as it flew toward the robot. It cut right through the point where the torso met the orb. Donald and Reno backed away as the Keyblade passed them. Sora summoned his weapon back to hand as the top half of the robot slid off of the orb and crashed into the ground.
He turned to see that Mickey, Aqua, Goofy, Zack, and Cissnei were defeating the last of the remaining Heartless. When Aqua sliced through the final Neoshadow, the party regrouped. Donald stooped down to rip the pink deformity out of the Moth Slasher's head, then shoved it into his pocket.
"Well, that was a bit of a complication," Cissnei declared as she folded her shuriken up.
"Wasn't really much of an issue," Mickey argued. "I think we got what we came here for, anyway."
"I'd actually like to ask that guy a few more things, though," Aqua said.
Suddenly, Zack, Cissnei and Reno heard a report over their comm links. "Suspect has been apprehended. Bringing him back to HQ for interrogation." They turned to locate the troop who had spoken, and the others followed their gaze. They all saw a trio of Shinra troops dragging the AVALANCHE member down the street, the young man sporting a fresh bruise under his eye.