Another chapter is here!
Reaper2908: haha
Enjoy!
Tifa and the others noticed what was wrong the moment they reached the surface of the base, at the runway where the airship was stationed. For one, there was a noticeable lack of guards along the path. For another, the mooring lines tethering it down had already been severed by blades rather than being unhooked. But they couldn't see anyone, and that posed a problem given how their enemies weren't to be trifled with. Were they onboard the ship or hidden out of sight, waiting to spring an ambush?
"Nanaki," Cloud said, hidden behind a stack of barrels and crates with the rest of them. It was subtle, but Tifa felt that there was something different about him since they departed from Kalm. "Can you smell them?"
"Being so close to the reactor makes it hard to discern the them by the scent of mako," Nanaki said, nose raised into the air. "However, I smell blood. It trails to the water."
"So they dumped the bodies," Cloud said, leaning over the edge to peer at the airship. "There's no cover along the path to it, so if they've got snipers they'll be able to line up a shot easier. Any ideas?"
Tifa put her hand to her chin in thought, bringing her bangle into view. The sight of Shiva's Summoning Materia gave her a jolt of inspiration. "I think that I can have Shiva lower the temperature of the area to form a veil of mist."
"Do it," he ordered. "But try to make it not so obvious."
Tifa nodded her head and then spoke to the materia nestled within her bangle. "You hear that, Shiva?" The response was a small chill running through her wrist to confirm, giving Tifa the go ahead. She focused on the materia and manifesting that which lied inside, electing a familiar sensation through her mind that she had grown accustomed to.
Shiva manifested subtly. Not with the roar of a blizzard, but a soft presence like the first flakes of winter snowfall. Floating behind the group while they remained behind cover, she began to weave her power throughout the area and the air grew thicker as mist rolled in like a curtain. The spreading veil was halfway to a satisfactory density when an alarm began to blare from somewhere.
Tifa looked around at that, searching for the source. She half-expected to find troops pouring out of the doors to gun them down. But none were coming out of the exits for them, at least not yet anyway.
"It's coming from below," Nanaki said. "Something must've happened in the reactor."
The mist around the airship began to dissipate and distort with the roar of its engines starting. The propellers whirled to life. It was beginning its ascension into the air and the noise drew attention, leaving them with no option but to act then.
"Aerith can get them out if something goes wrong," Cloud said as he broke cover. "We need to get on the airship now!"
"Shiva, block the doors and windows!" Tifa said to her summoning. Shiva responded not with words, but by expending her power to encase the entire base in a thick bulwark of ice and frost. Every entrance was frozen shut, doors and windows alike, and it would take them minutes to forcibly thaw the ice at the very least.
That would mitigate the threat coming from Rufus' faction barring the main cannon for a while. Cait Sith could handle that… hopefully. She wasn't exactly sure if she could place that much trust in someone who worked at Shinra's highest-level, regardless of what Crimson said.
Maintaining the connection to Shiva as a safety measure, Tifa followed after the others down the runway towards the airship as it began to rise. Silhouettes moved through the mist on the deck of the ship, taking a firing position against the railing. Orange streaks from bullets followed as the Deepground Snipers that were perched there began taking shots through the mist.
Shiva acted on her own accord and conjured ice to intercept the shots, followed by encrusting them and their weapons in ice as well before vanishing after expending her remaining power from the summoning. The ice didn't kill them like it would normal troops; their bodies were durable enough to survive. But it created an opening for them to use.
"Red!" Tifa called as she came to a stop in front of the leonine warrior and extended her hands. The message carried and he jumped towards them. She then wrapped her fingers around his wrists and then hurled him through the air as hard as she could, while Cloud did something similar with Barret and Cid, using the flat of the Buster Sword, getting all three on the deck of the airship to deal with the snipers as they thawed.
"Like in the marsh," Cloud said, cupping his palms and lowering his stance to give her a boost. Tifa nodded in understanding and hopped on, only for him to put more than enough of his enhanced strength into it.
The air roared in Tifa's ears as he launched her airborne, allowing her to easily reach the optimum height. She came to a roll on top of the deck as the others finished knocking the snipers off of the steadily climbing airship and into the ocean waters below, removing them as a threat. She looked over the railing to see that Cloud had jumped up as well and caught the mooring line, climbing up now.
While he finished pulling himself up, Tifa ran over to the entrance of the airship as Barret opened the door, only to close it again as a hail of gunfire began to smash against both the door and the platform on the other side. She took cover against the wall on the outside with the others and then turned to Nanaki. A nod was all the exchange they needed to get the message across and she opened the door.
Nanaki fired the Laser spell. The red beam speared through the entrance and then split into four thinner beams that arced around towards the targets. The gunfire halted as they found their marks and gave Tifa a chance to let loose an Ice 3 into the room.
The moment the spell was unleashed, an explosion of frost and cold swallowed everything beyond the door whole. A glacial gale billowed out of the entrance that forced Tifa and the others to shield their faces until it passed. Breathing out a plume of frost as Cloud finished his climb, they took the imitative to advance inside.
It looked like the inside of a freezer. Everything was covered in ice with the exception of the machinery on the lower floor that thankfully managed to avoid freezing and kept the ship aloft. The four Deepground Troopers were also still alive, with their black suits covered in patches of white rime as frost rolled off their bodies and slowed them. They fought the cold to toss aside their useless firearms and reach for their combat knives.
Cloud leapt off the top of the platform and didn't hesitate to bring down his sword on nearest one before he could draw his blade, the thick metal of the Buster Sword cleaving down diagonally with enough force to break through his opponent's mako-enhancements. As he pulled the blade free, Nanaki let loose a Fire spell toward the one at the base of the stairs to set his foe ablaze, before pouncing down to finish the job while Cloud rushed the third. That left the last for Tifa, Barret, and Cid to deal with.
Tifa hopped down over the edge of the platform railing along with Cid, landing in a roll at the bottom while Barret opened fire with his gun-arm and proceeded to hammer the trooper with bullets. But the trooper moved to avoid the shots and threw his knife at the gunner as hard as possible, forcing Barret to break-off or be impaled as it managed to penetrate the steel next to the door. Cid came swooping in with his weapon in an arc afterwards that forced their opponent back as Tifa came in to deliver an uppercut that caught their assailant from below and sent him airborne. Fire gathered into her palm in the form of a sphere from the materia and was then thrown to meet him mid-flight, erupting into a violent flame that snuffed his scream as it consumed him before he even hit the ground as a smoldering corpse.
"Look out!" Barret abruptly shouted to Tifa.
"Huh?" The warning came a second before the feeling of impending death ran up her spine. She turned towards the source in time to see the barrel of the dual-bladed weapon that belonged to Rosso pointing towards her. She raised her hand and prepared to conjure a Barrier to protect herself, but the Crimson Tsviet pulled the trigger before she could.
Klunk! The bullet smashed into the thick metal blade that interposed itself between Tifa and the Tsviet. Cloud now stood in front of her, the Cover Materia shining brightly within the slot of the blade. Tifa released a breath she hadn't been aware she had been holding and recomposed herself as the woman spoke.
"I must say, I did not expect to see you here, Darlings," Rosso said with her weapon still raised. She momentarily shifted her gaze towards the fallen, two bodies charred to death and two cleaved by the blood-stained blade that blocked her bullet previously. Her smile didn't waver. "If I had, I would have brought more competent men along. Such is the fate of the weak, do you not think so?"
She's not the least bit bothered we killed them, Tifa thought. There was no sense of camaraderie between them. Just a 'might makes right' logic she'd come to expect of the worst of Shinra. The weak weren't to be protected, they were to be used and discarded.
"Then again, I did bring one or two who may prove their worth." Rosso snapped her fingers and the doors to the Operation Room and Stables simultaneous burst open violently and scattered ice fragments. From it emerged two more Deepground agents. They were heavily armored compared to the ones they'd dealt with before now, with swords that resembled oversized knives with jagged teeth on the backside. As they tried to flank the group, Rosso opened fire again towards Cid.
Cloud blocked the shot again and then leapt towards her, bringing the Buster Sword down where she stood. The agile woman managed to hop back, leaving the blade to cave into the metal floor. The Crimson Tsviet then somersaulted backwards into the air, firing a third time mid-spin, this time towards Cloud.
It caught Cloud's upper-thigh this time, and the shot carried enough force behind it to make his leg buckle. But it wasn't enough to get past his skin. He glared as she landed on top of the platform leading out to the deck and playfully gestured for him to follow before leaving through the door, and then glanced over his shoulder towards Tifa. "Can you handle these guys?"
"We've got this," Tifa said. "Just make sure she doesn't get away."
Cloud nodded and then leapt, making a great bound that carried him to the top of the platform and out the door. A gunshot rang out not even a moment later, just out of her view, but Tifa paid it no mind as she cracked her knuckles.
The two armored soldiers then began their attack.
[-oOo-]
A battle-cry filled the night air over the whirl of the propellers as Cloud attacked Rosso with all his might. The thick slab of metal in the shape of a blade, the Buster Sword inherited from his predecessor, came crashing down with all the strength he could muster. If she tried to defend against it, she would be cut in two.
Rosso could tell as much with a glance, so she didn't repel or deflect his attack. Instead, she avoided it by pivoting on the ball of her feet and then brought her weapon around as the Buster Sword smashed into the metal surface of the airship that parted underneath its weight and power. Her blades, which had already drawn blood several times, would add another rend to his flesh the moment that they met.
Cloud kept the momentum and pulled the blade around in an arc, ripping a gouge out of the floor in the process as his blade met hers. The Buster Sword won over and knocked her across the surface of the deck until she skidded to a stop several feet away. He kicked off the ground to rush her again with another straightforward assault.
However, Rosso met his charge with one of her own, the point of her dual-blade aimed for his head like a lance meant to pierce through. It forced him to shift his own swing into a parry, resulting in a screeching sound as the edge of her blade slid across his until they were locked together.
"Aren't we spirited today?" Rosso smirked before she brought her free hand around, attempting to rake her clawed gauntlet across his face. She was going for his eyes, intending to blind him.
He pulled his head back just enough to avoid it and then felt a hard blow to his midsection as she thrust her foot into his stomach. It forced him to break away from her weapon, which she brought around with a spin and let loose a blood-tinged crescent wave of her power to toss him across the deck similar to how he'd done before. Cloud grunted as he landed and then rolled to the side as the next shot she fired blew a hole into the deck where his head was.
"I must say—" She fired again. "—it has been some time—" And again. "—since I've had a single opponent last so long!" And again.
She kept shooting as Cloud ran to circle around her, each shot leaving more holes in the deck. Through them he could grasp in passing the battle waged below as well—a scream of pain here, the smell of burning flesh and fabric there. He forced himself to ignore it since he couldn't afford to worry about them right now. If he did, if he was distracted for even a moment, that would be the end of it against someone of her strength.
Going into the mission, he'd thought long and hard about how best to match her after their last encounter outside the Temple of the Ancients. She had more technique and experience than him, refined over years rather than his combination of inherited skills from Zack, lessons from Odin and Kunsel, and his self-taught style. After thinking about it and conversing with Odin, the only solid advantage that he had was his strength—a body capable of matching her durability or surpassing it.
The deciding factor would be which made the first mistake. Would he be overwhelmed by her speed and technique? Or would she slip up and he'd exploit the resulting opening to finish her off with a deathblow from the heavy blade?
A clicking sound reached his ears. Rosso had run out of ammunition, presenting an opening for Cloud to exploit. He changed the direction of his charge to close in on her and swung the Buster Sword around diagonally. She avoided it once more, but this time Cloud took a play out of her book and freed one hand from the sword's hilt to curl into a fist that he slammed into her face.
The blow connected across her cheek. He sent her spiraling to the side and then pressed to take the advantage. But before his blade could connect, Rosso activated her Bloodburst form and the bloody vapor that made up her aura erupted out with enough force to put distance between them.
Cloud immediately activated the Haste spell from the Time Materia that he borrowed from the others, resting in the bangle around his wrist, to counteract her aura of power and enhanced speed. The pale light wrapped as his frame as his personal time quickened for the duration of the spell. It was just in time, as it allowed him to react when Rosso abruptly appeared in front of him in a crimson flicker with her blades scything for his neck.
Their blades clashed with a thunderous force that made the metal deck groan.
[-oOo-]
Water splashed as Tifa fell onto her back into one of the many puddles formed of the Ice and Fire spells that had been unleashed to this point. The pain from where the blade had shattered her skin-tight barrier was enough that she felt certain it would have been a deathblow if she had been hit without it. But she pushed it out of her mind as she forced herself backwards into a roll to escape the sword of the heavily armored solider that sought her out as it scraped against the metal floor.
She got back onto her feet in time to give a one-two punch against his helmeted face, which did nothing to stop him as he swung the edge of the sword around again. Bobbing as the sword passed overhead, she activated the Ice Materia that she had and froze her right fist in a ball of dense ice before she sprung up with all her might into a rising uppercut. The bludgeon of ice backed by her trained muscles managed to send him aerial, even as the ice shattered from the impact.
Tifa then triggered the Fire Materia and flames condensed into a cannonball of fire in the palm of her left hand, which she flung mid-spin at the second one attacking Cid and Nanaki. The resulting explosion of heat and force knocked his impending strike off-mark, allowing Cid to get the upper-hand. He thrust his weapon straight into the man's helmet, knocking it off as the armored soldier twisted his body and swung blindly with his free arm to knock the pilot away before he could strike again. Landing in a crouch, Tifa then cast the Ice 2 spell and encased him in an icy prison of hard-rime.
Nanaki roared and then activated his Limit Break, which wreathed him in a cerulean shroud of power that formed a shell covering him. Then he launched himself towards the entrapped armored soldier like a shooting star. The blow shattered the icy prison and carried the prisoner into the metal wall, where his broken body was embedded as the protective shell faded and Nanaki turned his attention to the surviving one with Cid.
Tifa stiffened as the pain in her abdomen flared for a moment before running over to where Barret laid unconscious with his gun-arm severed at the barrel and a large gash across his chest from where the blade caught him. She reached into her pouch, found a Phoenix Down there, and crushed it over his body. It shattered into reddish motes of light that covered him, sinking into his body and closing the wound.
He snapped awake and sat up, groaning. "What happened?"
"One of them managed to get close to cut you down before I could get a barrier on you, and you tried shielding yourself with your arm," she said as he looked down to it with a glance that held more weight than Tifa could fully grasp before clicking his tongue. "It could have been worse."
He opened his mouth to say something when there was a resounding crash that drew their attention back to the others. Cid had finished off the remaining opponent by impaling him to the wall with his weapon, the light of the Limit Break fading from his body. The corpse lingered there, unmoving and limp. But there was violent shaking coming from up top on the deck, meaning Cloud's battle was still being waged.
"You stay here with the others and get the ship under control," Tifa said, rising to her feet and heading for the stairs. "I'm going to help Cloud!"
She ran up the stairs by threes until she reached the platform and entrance to the deck. The moment she opened the door, a heavy shockwave battered her and made her stagger away from the door. She steadied herself and then looked to the source, a chaotic maelstrom of steel and light as Cloud and Rosso exchanged blows faster than her eyes could fully track.
I can't get in the middle of this, Tifa thought as their clash continued. Any interference could draw Cloud's attention away from the battle and cost him his life. Not that she could find an opening to exploit in the first place with how closely they were attacking one another.
The bloody vapor seething from Rosso had thinned to being roughly an inch off her skin from the exertion. It was a sign that Cloud was tiring her out, despite having more wounds on him from which blood flowed. If things continued as they were, Tifa was sure he could win…
At least until the pale light covering Cloud faded. His Haste spell had ran out.
Rosso didn't hesitate to take advantage of the opening it presented before he could get it back into place. She swung her blade and unleashed a crimson disk of energy that forced him to block with the Buster Sword, and then appeared behind him in a flicker with her blade coming for his neck.
Cloud twisted his body and swung his heavy sword around in a desperate attempt to try and catch her before she could cut him down. She saw it coming and crouched low, allowing the blade to pass over her head. Then she thrust the point of her blade upwards, backed by her bolstered strength, before he could get the sword around in time to protect himself.
It ran him through. "Ngghh…!"
Cloud's face contorted in pain, but he wasn't out of the fight. He grabbed hold of her arm to hold her in place and raised his other with the sword in it to cut her in two. But the Crimson Tsviet stopped him by planting her foot into his chest with a kick, pulling her own blood-stained blade free in the process of knocking him to the ruined floor of the deck. "Agh!"
"It is over now," Rosso said as she took her first step towards him, readying to finish him off. As she did so, she eyed the blood staining her blade lovingly. That was when Tifa's Fire 2 spell hit home and consumed the Tsviet in the scorching flames entirely.
"Don't touch him!" Tifa yelled with the light of the Limit Break flaring around her. She refused to lose someone else to Shinra. So she rushed forward with her fist chambered towards the burning body, intending to break her in two, when Rosso extinguished the flames with a swing of her dual-bladed weapon and unleashed a crimson wave of energy that rushed out to meet Tifa.
She couldn't keep her voice in check as she was overpowered. The wave of pure power hit her like a brick wall, and all excess momentum carried her crashing into the metal railing hard enough that it bent under the force. Strength left her body as she collapsed against it, a hair's breadth from falling off the top of the airship, and her effort to rise left her fumbling to even get her feet under her from the pain.
She barely managed to force her head up to see the Tsviet looming over her now. Her bloody aura was gone, expended in that last attack. Not that she needed it with everyone wounded and Cloud down.
I have to take her out now or she'll kill everyone. Despite knowing that, despite trying to force her body to move and fight, Tifa couldn't before the blood-stained blade came around for her neck. Time seemingly slowed as she saw her death coming, unable to do anything to stop it.
Then Tifa's vision went red as something wet and hot splashed against her face. She blinked to get it out of her eyes, only to see Cloud standing behind Rosso now. She could also see the point of the Buster Sword sticking out of the Tsviet's chest and covered with blood.
Rosso turned her head towards him with seemingly great effort, a look of surprise and disdain on her face. But when she opened her mouth to say something, only blood came out instead.
"Now… it's over," Cloud said in a pained breath as he freed his sword with a wet sound by pushing her forward with his other hand, sending her over the railing and towards the dark waters below. Not a second after, the Buster Sword fell from his grasp and he collapsed onto his knees to clutch his stomach, where he'd been impaled.
Tifa tried to get up and check on him, but the pain from the attempt stopped her cold. She settled for asking him, "Is it bad?"
"I'll… ngh… manage until we meet with the others," he said. "Thanks for…coming back for me."
"Anytime."