Author's Note: Hello again, everyone. So this chapter sort of blew up to be bigger than I intended for it to be. Because of that, I've elected to break it into two chapters. While the chapter after this one might be a bit shorter comparatively, there shouldn't be a particularly long wait for it. I'd like to anticipate that I'll have it ready in the next three days or so, but I don't want to commit to a hard date.
Until then, I do hope you enjoy what I have here so far.
The Watcher facility in Junon was abuzz with blaring alarms and chaotic chatter as several of the tech personnel watched the readings from Mt. Nibel light up with flashing red dots across their monitors. Shalua dashed into Rufus' observation room where he and Reeve could see the count of Jenova cell signals spike across the screen.
"Shalua," Rufus barked. "What the hell is going on?!"
"I have no idea," she replied, shoving the former Shinra president to the side as she commandeered his terminal. "Sorry, but I need this. There's no time to wait for my station to be granted full privileges."
"Hey," Reno stepped forward. "You can't just come in here an—"
"Can it, Reno," Rufus said, shutting the Turk down. "Just let her handle it."
Reeve and Ruffus looked over the scientist's shoulders as her hand furiously danced across the keyboard, her single blue eye shooting and darting across all the information before her. After a moment of silence that went on just long enough to become awkward, Reeve finally spoke up over the sound of Shalua's fingers clacking against the keyboard.
"Do you at least know what was happening before the sudden signal spike?"
"Yeah," she said as the counter on the monitor continued to rise at an extraordinary rate. "The mako reactor went online, and then thirty-seven seconds later, brand new Jenova signals started pouring into the area. Hold on…" She grabbed the mouse and clicked over to a blinking tab. "There's a WRO chopper in the area that has a visual."
With the click of the mouse, a live feed came in from the helicopter's mounted camera. Based on how small the reactor appeared, the scientist guessed that the aircraft was perhaps three or four kilometers away from the epicenter of the anomaly. Taking direct control of the camera, Shalua zoomed in, giving everyone in the room a better view.
"Holy shit," Reno said, going wide-eyed at the image of the Mt. Nibel reactor coated in a thick, red, semiliquid-like substance. Before he or any of the others could fully process what they were witnessing, everyone felt their hearts sink when they saw Deepground footsoldiers and aircraft alike emerge from the mysterious red matter.
"Took the words right out of my mouth," Rude said, having to tilt down his sunglasses to make sure what he was seeing was real.
"Is that…" Shalua made a few more keystrokes as the scanners evaluated the red substance, breaking down its composition to the very last particle before bringing back its results. The findings were, to put it lightly, terrifying.
"Impossible!" Reeve's hands slammed down on the desk in disbelief as they all read the text printed across the monitor.
Substance Composition Confirmed: Lifestream (99.97% Probability)
WARNING: JENOVA CELLS DETECTED (100% Purity)
"Oh my god," Shalua gasped, holding her hand over her mouth. She wanted more than anything to disregard what she was reading, but repeat scans brought back the exact same results. That heap of tainted Lifestream encasing the mako reactor wasn't simply a fragment of the Lifestream carrying Jenova's memetic legacy. Rather, it was Jenova.
"Now it's all making sense," With crossed arms, Rufus looked at the screen and shook his head. "So the snively bastard actually completed it."
"Care to enlighten the rest of us on what the hell you're talking about?!" Shalua shot around with a stern glare from behind her glasses.
"The WAVE device," Rufus said. "It was one of Hojo's many pet projects from during the war with Wutai. I don't know the exact details, but the idea was that by utilizing the tides of the Lifestream, one could covertly transport soldiers through its currents. In essence, a WAVE device could drop an army anywhere in the world as long as there was a proper vector to siphon them to the surface.
"Like a mako reactor," Shalua replied.
"Exactly."
"Why didn't you tell us about this earlier, Rufus?!" Reeve grabbed Shinra by the shoulder and pulled them to meet him in the eye.
"The project never got off the ground," Rufus replied, his stony expression unmoved by Reeve's outburst. "My father shut it down at the proposal stage, believing that the war would end long before they could even finish constructing a mere prototype. It was such an insignificant footnote amidst a tome of research that I didn't think anything of it at the time."
"Still," Reeve looked down to the ground, trying to piece together the information. "The Lifestream abandoned the Nibel Region years ago, so how could the currents bring them to the reactor in the first place?"
"Because the planet isn't controlling this portion of the Lifestream," Shalua's voice was unnervingly even as she stood from the terminal, gazing through the observation window at the gray finger floating in the vat on the other side. "Jenova is. All she needed was a beacon to guide her there."
XXXXX
The sound of whirling helicopter blades cut through the air, blowing harsh gusts of wind and dirt around Cloud and the others as Azul and the wall of Deepground soldiers marched toward them.
"Son-of-a-bitch!" Barret growled, swinging his gun arm from target-to-target, but hesitating to open fire. Their backs were to a ledge and they were beyond outnumbered and outgunned. With gritted teeth, he looked to Cloud only to find them crumpled to their knees, clenching a hand around their head and using their Fusion Sword to support themselves from falling over.
"Take the one with the large sword," Azul said to the soldiers as a Deepground chopper descended, dropping a ladder as the forceful gales stirred up the dirt around the squad. "Kill the rest."
"Affirmative," the squad commander nodded, the blue cyclopean eye of their helmet fixated on the group standing before them. In unison the line of soldiers raised their assault rifles, placing their sights on Cloud's companions.
"And where do you think you're going?" Barret brought his aim toward Azul as the massive man grabbed hold of the ladder. Based on the Tsviet's empty expression, they were less than impressed with Barret's bravado.
"I have more important places to be." Without another word the helicopter ascended with Azul clinging onto the ladder as it flew away toward the eastern mountains.
Vincent's crimson eyes trailed the aircraft as it soared away into the horizon. Nibelheim was to the south, but to the east was…
The former Turk's expression shifted and he found himself guided by pure instinct as he opened fire on the Deepground soldiers, shooting three of them dead before they could so much as blink.
"Alright," Barret said, readying his gun arm. "Looks like we're doing this!"
"A little warning next time would be nice!" Yuffie said, flinging her shuriken in a wide arc to cut through several soldiers as they opened fire on the group. "If we even get to live long enough to see a next time, that is!"
Cloud struggled to pull himself back to his feet as chaos unfolded around him. He was fortunate that they were ordered to take him alive. Otherwise he would've been all too easily gunned down.
"Come on, Cloud. You gotta get up," he felt a kind, yet firm hand atop his shoulder. "She won't admit it, but she needs you more than she's letting on."
The SOLDIER looked up to meet the voice, but nothing was there other than the carnage of the fray between Deepground and his allies.
With a hard exhale, Cloud stood and brought his weapon to arms. With a twist of the hilt, the internal cogs released and his sword broke apart into two smaller blades that he held firm in each hand.
With a dash, Cloud joined his companions, cutting through a horde of soldiers as the rattling of gunfire shook through his ears.
"About time you decided to help out!" Yuffie quipped, calling back her shuriken before flinging it again.
The battle roared between the two groups. Cloud used every bit of his speed and strength to cut down the troops up close while Yuffie and Barret offered support from a distance. Vincent however moved with what the rest of them could only describe as a determined ferocity.
In a red blur he dodged and weaved between barrages of gunfire, blasting his enemies away at point-blank range, and swatting them down with his golden gauntlet between reloads.
Though the soldiers at the reactor were going down in droves, the helicopters high above were beginning to move south toward Nibelheim, along with the entire platoon of infantry they were carrying between them.
"This is all just a damn distraction!" Barret roared, unleashing a heavy burst of machine gun fire.
"I know," Cloud replied.
"We need to hurry up and get rid of these guys!"
"I know."
"There's just too damn many of them!"
"I know!"
As if the heavens heard their call, two WRO choppers swooped in from behind the reactor and unleashed a hail of gunfire at the Deepground infantry. As the bullets tore through the vast remainder of the squad, those who still survived recognized the futility of their situation and activated their camouflage, vanishing into thin air in a blurry haze before scattering to regroup.
"Need some help?" A thickly accented voice shouted over the speakers. As the group looked up they saw the instantly recognizable form of Cait Sith's cartoonish cat face smiling down at them as they waved from the open passenger bay.
"Yeah!" Yuffie shouted back. "Mind giving us a ride, too?!"
"Sure thing!" The animatronic replied, throwing down a ladder for them to climb up on.
"Reeve," Vincent called up to the chopper. Despite him barely raising his voice, his words carried over the loud whirling of the aircraft. "I need to use the other chopper."
"What for?"
"Azul isn't heading for Nibelheim. He's going east."
The cat's expression remained unreadable. Across the globe, Reeve glanced at the screen. There wasn't a doubt about it. Azul was moving straight for the known entity nestled in the south eastern Nibel Region.
"Alright," Cait Sith replied. "But take someone with you! I don't want you going alone!"
"Count on me, then!" Barret raised his fist. "After all, I still owe him one for what he pulled back at Corel!"
Vincent gave Barret a nod as the other helicopter dropped down a ladder for them.
"Hey," Cloud said as he snapped his two swords back together into a single blade. "Be careful out there, alright? I know you've beaten him before, but something isn't right about all this."
"I agree," Vincent replied as he and Barret moved for the ladder. "Take care of yourself as well, Cloud."
Cloud and Yuffie watched as Vincent and Barret's helicopter ascended as it moved toward the eastern horizon before they boarded their own. Once the two were loaded up, Cait signaled the pilot with a wave of his paw. With a slight tilt of the nose, the chopper moved toward Nibelheim, following the trail of Deepground aircraft ahead of them.
XXXXX
"I think that's the last of them," Shalua said. "We're not detecting any more new signals from the Mt. Nibel reactor."
"But that thing is still there," Rufus replied, pointing to the dense red blot on the map surrounding the reactor.
Reeve was the one to speak up. "I've already ordered a small contingent of WRO forces to keep an eye on it. They'll alert us if anything happens," he said, glancing down at a remote device in his palm before bringing his full attention back to the others. "However until we have the situation in Nibelheim under control, the bulk of our forces will need to be dedicated to repelling Deepground."
"There's also the matter of their other target," Rufus sighed.
"Vincent and Barret will handle it," Reeve said with the first firm display of confidence in his tone since this entire debacle started unraveling.
"He's right," Shalua added. "If Vincent is there, there's not a doubt in my mind that he'll…" the scientist stopped as she felt her phone vibrate. Pulling it out of her pocket she glanced at the notification. It was a message from Gh0stdiver.
"There are abnormal readings coming from the Junon reactor mimicking those displayed at Mt. Nibel."
"Shit!"
"That's always a good thing to hear coming from you," Reno quipped.
"What is it, Shalua?" Rufus' words didn't ring as a question, but rather a demand for a response. Before her answer could come, the trembling of the earth spoke first.
A deep boom rattled Junon, sending quakes rumbling throughout the city. Furniture rattled inside homes while picture frames came off the walls and shattered on the floor. The people of Junon's undercity stopped in unison to look up as clumps of dust and small rocks cascaded from above.
The Watcher facility went black. With no lights and no windows, the lab became nothing but an endless abyss. After three seconds of all encompassing darkness, the backup generator kicked in and the facility lit up with a deep red glow as the emergency lights came to life. The monitors flickered back on, taking a few seconds before they could redisplay the map.
"That was the sound of a mako reactor rupture," Reeve said, looking up to the ceiling as though trying to peer through over one-hundred meters of foundation, concrete, and metal separating them from the Junon reactor.
"But the reactor is decommissioned?" Rufus snapped.
Before they could dwell on the matter any further, a blaring alarm rang throughout the dimmed laboratory as a flashing crimson message burned into everyone's vision.
WARNING: ROGUE JENOVA CELLS DETECTED WITHIN PREMISES
"What the hell?" Reno twirled his shock baton between his fingers while Rude slid on his gloves.
"They're in the building already?" Reeve stared at the screen in disbelief. "How many are there?"
"Just one," Shalua answered with a steady tone. "They're currently moving through the western entrance."
"Strange," Reeve said. "Our security detail should've seen them."
"They must be brave coming here alone like that," Rude said, flexing his gloved fingers. "Or stupid."
"Or powerful," Rufus added, glancing at the Turks. "You two, go investigate, and keep the specimen protected at all costs."
"Yes sir," Reno and Rude replied in unison before heading down the corridor. Once they'd left, Shalua watched the monitor as the blinking red dot at the west entrance suddenly flickered out entirely. Raising her hand she readjusted her glasses, needing to do a double take to comprehend what she just witnessed.
"Hold on," she leaned forward, her blue eyes darting up and down the monitor. "They just vanished!"
"Vanished?" Rufus peered over the screen. "How?"
What little time there was for frantic postulation came to an abrupt end as the sound of screams filled the main lab. Rufus, Shalua, and Reeve all looked out the observation window as techs and researchers alike began running for the exits in a chaotic frenzy of bodies and panic. Then just like that, the red dot reappeared on the monitor.
"Reno, Rude," Rufus said into the short range communicator on his watch. "Get to the main lab now. The target has moved."
"Roger," Rude replied, speaking for both he and his partner.
A deep thud clashed against the observation glass as a researcher banged against it in a desperate panic. Shalua jumped back in surprise, looking the man in the eyes, sensing the terror within them.
"William?" Shalua spoke, recognizing them as one of her assistants. "William, stay calm! Help is coming!"
"Help me!" The researcher screamed. "Get me out of…" before the words could escape his lips, a shapeless black fog engulfed William in its cold embrace. Then just as swiftly as the fog appeared, so too did it vanish, leaving nothing behind but the faint silhouette of a lanky figure standing in the center of the room, framed by the dark red emergency lights as two spindly, almost skeletal wings stretched outward from the figure's back.
"No," Reeve gasped. "It can't be him, can it?"
"So much shame on you all," the figure spoke with a barely contained cackle. "Keeping her locked away in your filthy machines." They stepped forward, their features coming to light as they neared the window. "You all must be punished for your transgressions," they chided. "No, not just punished, but mauled, shattered, broken, and beaten!"
"Nero, the Sable…" There wasn't a doubt about it in Rufus' mind.
The western door leading into the lab shot open as Reno and Rude stepped inside, capturing the attention of the Tsviet.
"Oh?" The bound man cocked his head and appraised the two interlopers with wide, demented eyes. "Turks? Good. I was hoping for the chance to play with toys that don't break so easily."
XXXXX
Vincent sat hunched over, silently waiting for their transport to arrive at its destination. As the helicopter's blades hummed, Barret shifted in his seat, glancing out the window as they soared over a vast stretch of mountains leading toward the southeast Nibel Region.
"You good, Vincent?"
"Yes," he replied with a voice that hinted at the slightest bit of a harshness in his tone. "I'm good."
"Now you see," Barret adjusted his large frame so that his arms were resting on his knees. "I don't really believe that."
Vincent didn't give a verbal reply, but instead simply brought his crimson eyes to his companion.
"I know where we're headin'," Barret continued. "And I can tell just by looking at you that you ain't ready for this."
"Is this the part where you're going to try to give me reassurance?"
"No," he shook his head. "This is the part where I tell you that if you don't get your damn head on straight, then we may as well crash this chopper right now and get it done and over with, because I can't take that big bastard on my own."
"Believe me," Vincent sat up straight and leaned his back against the rest. "I'm more than capable of handling myself right now," he crossed his arms. "That said, I see your point."
"If you don't mind me asking though," Barret averted his gaze a bit. "How's she doing these days? Still the same as when we all saw her last time?"
"Still the same," Vincent answered.
"I'm sorry to hear that, man."
"Don't be," he replied, gazing toward the cockpit window, spotting a familiar waterfall in the distance. "It's better this way."
As they neared the waterfall, the pilot saw the Deepground helicopter had already landed and was being guarded by two soldiers who didn't waste time opening fire on the WRO chopper once it came within range. Azul however was nowhere to be seen.
"I'm going to have to hot drop you!" The pilot shouted to Barret and Vincent.
"No need," Vincent stood up and unholstered his gun before sliding open the passenger bay door. Without another word, Vincent leapt out of the aircraft and plummeted to the ground, his red cloak billowing in the wind.
"Hot shot," Barret snickered.
The former Turk took aim at the two Deepground soldiers by the grounded helicopter and fired. The first shot landed in the center of the soldier's cyclopean visor. Then with a slight adjustment of his shoulder, he brought the other soldier into his sights and fired off another shot.
By the time Vincent landed on the grass in a graceful three-point stance, both of the Deepground troops had already fallen to the ground lifeless.
However just as Vincent made touchdown, the blue and silver Deepground helicopter whirred as its rotor spun to life. The former Turk brought his gaze to the a.i. controlled aircraft as it took to the sky and fixed its turrets on him. With a deep breath he lined up his sights, aiming between the four eye-like blue lights on its central dome.
His finger squeezed against the trigger, but before Vincent could feel the familiar kickback of Cerberus' recoil in his grasp, a deep, thunderous boom rattled the air as a red sphere of concentrated energy darted from the edge of his vision and collided hard against the helicopter's rotor. The sphere exploded on impact in a concussive blast that sent three of its blades flying as the aircraft came crashing to the ground in a smoking heap.
"You think I'm just going to stand here doing nothing while you're showing off like that?" Barret shouted, his gun arm simmering with white smoke. The barrels illuminated a subtle red glow from the heat as he stepped down from the WRO helicopter once it landed. From behind the cover of their tall red collar, Vincent allowed himself to express the smallest hintings of a grin before gesturing for Barret to follow him toward the waterfall.
Behind the veil of the rushing cascade, and beyond the entrance to the isolated cavern which it hid, Azul marched on with two Deepground operatives at his side. With haste and purpose in his stride, the Tsviet's pointed ears twitched at a distant sound that would've been too faint for a typical human to pick up. Azul, however, didn't even consider himself human. With a slight tilt of his head he signaled for the operatives to head back toward the entrance and meet their pursuers.
He knew what his objective was, and he didn't have any intention of letting idle distractions get in his way. Joyous as he was at the prospect of facing Valentine in battle again, his personal desires came second to the mission.
He moved past several crystalline structures lining the tunnel before coming upon a large opening in the cavern. Coming to a stop his yellow eyes scanned over the cave, finding nearly every inch of the walls covered from top to bottom in shimmering, jagged crystals. Those who relished in the natural beauty of the world might've found them nothing short of breathtaking, but to Azul they were just trifling rocks. What mattered to him was the largest, most brilliant of the crystals on the far end of the cavern, or more specifically, what was encased within it.
Wrapped in a fine white cloth, a fair skinned woman remained suspended in a timeless slumber behind a wall of dense crystal. With her hands placed gently over her chest as though she'd been laid there for her eternal rest, her eyes remained closed and her expression devoid of emotion. Looking at her one couldn't ascertain whether she were dreaming of beautiful days long past, or lamenting a dreaded storm that lay ahead.
The massive man cocked his head, curiously gazing upon the crystalline prison surrounding his target. With a clench of his giant fist, he drew back his arm and readied to lunge. He'd identified precisely where he needed to land his punch to ensure the crystal shattered in one strike. However the sound of rattling gunfire followed by the approach of footsteps echoing throughout the cave brought him to a halt before he could commit to the blow.
"I suppose you'll just keep coming until one of us drops dead, won't you?" Azul reared his head and looked to the entrance where he saw the forms of Vincent and Barret standing at the ready with their weapons raised and their aim fixed squarely on him. "Although you were so certain that you'd finished me off last time. Yet here we are."
"Last time I wasn't there to fill you full of holes to make sure the deed was done." Barret replied, his gun arm locked and loaded.
"Oh yes," the Tsviet replied. "You were the one from the mining town. I thought I recognized you earlier."
"You put a lot of people in danger back there," Barret took a step closer. "People that I care a whole lot about."
"And you seek vengeance for it?" he scoffed. "Do you have any idea how many times I've heard that before?"
"You little pu—"
"Barret," Vincent held a hand over Wallace's arm and gently pushed it down. "Not yet, not while he's so close to Lucrecia."
"Oh?" Azul cocked his head. "So you know this woman?" He turned on his heel and stared at the crystallized figure for a moment.
"Get away from her, Azul," Vincent started walking, and Barret kept a close pace behind him.
"You'll have to do much more than make idle threats, Valentine," A fanged smirk crept along his bestial features. "Although that may be all you're capable of now that Chaos has abandoned you."
"I don't need Chaos to kill you," Vincent and Barret were getting closer.
"That's not how I recall it," Azul cracked his neck and loosened his jaw. "Perhaps I should jog your memory!" The Tsviet didn't allow either of them the privilege of starting the battle on their own terms as he barreled toward them with surprising speed, his body shifting and contorting as his transformation took hold. His posture shifted onto all fours and horns protruded from his forehead as he took a behemoth-like form before leaping into the air with his claws and fangs bared as they shimmered beneath the light of the crystals.
XXXXX
Cloud stood in the helicopter as all sorts of chatter filled the air around him in an unintelligible blur. He could see the Deepground choppers ahead of them, and he knew they were nearing Nibelheim, but he couldn't shake the cold sensation of chills still running down his skin as he thought back to what he'd seen at the reactor.
There wasn't a doubt about it in his mind. That thing was Jenova. He didn't need to hear Cait Sith regurgitating information coming from the Watchers to know that. He could feel it the moment she came charging for the surface.
"The planet is… well, it's sick."
Sick. Aerith talked about it like it was a simple cold, a minor illness in need of being treated. Yet what he saw, what he felt as that twisted parody of the Lifestream tore through the reactor and opened the gates of Hell upon Nibelheim wasn't a mere sickness; it was a malevolent cancer.
"Aerith, why are you hiding so much from me?"
"What was that, Cloud?" Cait Sith looked over to the SOLDIER with a cocked head and a curious expression.
"Nothing," Cloud replied, turning his attention back to what lay ahead. Nibelheim was coming into view, and the Deepground helicopters swarmed the town like flies around a rotting carcass, ready to strip down to the bone.
By the time they passed over the town, gunfights between Deepground and WRO troops had already broken out. Though the WRO maintained a few aircraft over the parameter, Deepground's sheer numbers ensured they maintained air superiority. Whatever progress the WRO made on the ground was all too easily repressed by the sky. That was to say nothing about the seemingly endless supply of ground troops encircling the WRO's position.
"We need to take down those choppers," Cloud said, taking hold of his Fusion Sword.
"Leave that to me!" Yuffie jumped up and spun her shuriken around her index finger.
"You think you can handle it on your own?"
"You doubt the greatest ninja in Wutai?" She smirked. "Don't worry about it, Cloud. I've got this! You handle the ones on the ground, and I'll make sure you're covered."
"I'm counting on you, then." Cloud gave her a nod and a light pat on the shoulder as the ninja stepped up to the open passenger bay door. Reaching out to her sides, Yuffie's arms remained outstretched as she let her weight tilt her over the edge, her posture remaining in a rigid 'T' shape as she submitted herself to the will of gravity.
Pivoting to her left, she eyed a Deepground chopper roughly twenty meters away. With a precise eye and perfect form she flung her shuriken into the fuselage. The metal star spun with a wide arc before lodging deep within the reinforced hull of the aircraft. With the weapon securely bound, Yuffie activated the magnetic materia tied to her wrist to propel her through the air toward her target.
Once she'd planted her feet onto the side of the aircraft, she reached down and ripped out the shuriken before slicing it across the wing, sending the helicopter into a wild spin as it lost altitude. Kicking off the hull she leapt back into the air and found sight of her next prey.
Cloud watched the ninja perform her artful yet destructive ballet through the air with a smirk as Yuffie swatted down Deepground's air support piece-by-piece. That only left the ground forces for him to deal with. With a shrug to stretch out his shoulders he jumped from the helicopter with his Fusion Sword in hand as he descended upon a large contingent of Deepground troops with his weapon raised high above his head.
The force of the impact alone was enough to send them flying through the air before crashing into the hard cobblestone road as Cloud's massive sword slammed into the ground. With a swift step and movements as mighty as they were graceful, the SOLDIER slashed his weapon through squad after squad as he fought alongside the WRO forces to secure the town square.
At the corner of his eye he caught sight of Deepground troops attempting to break down the door to the asylum. Recognizing them as his highest priority he dashed toward them only to be cut off at the last second as a lone figure stepped in to interfere. They were unlike the other Deepground troops he'd seen before. They were taller and even from beneath their concealing armor appeared visibly bulkier than their compatriots. Yet despite their larger stature they moved with an unearthly flow as they brandished a three-pronged lance.
Recognizing them as a higher threat compared to the rest of the footsoldiers, Cloud braced himself for a real fight. However as he brought his sword parallel to the ground in a guarded stance he couldn't help but feel that there was something distantly familiar about the figure. It was as though he'd seen those same graceful movements before, but he couldn't place where. Nonetheless, he couldn't allow them to stand in his way. With a strategic eye and a warrior's zeal, Cloud charged them.
XXXXX
Reno lunged toward Nero with his shock baton sparking to life with brilliant electricity, only to be caught by the Tsviet's mechanical wing as it moved in to intercept. Though the sparks danced along the mechanical bones of the wing, they dissipated before they could reach Nero's physical body.
Nero's battle with Reno and Rude had already made a mess of the lab. Machine gun bursts from the Tsviet's wings had littered the walls with bullet holes, and the force of Rude being flung into the reinforced observation glass left it badly fractured, partially obfuscating Rufus, Reeve, and Shalua's view of the battle. Yet the Jenova sample still remained in its vat, untouched by the chaos of the fighting.
Nero fixed his purplish, almost red eyes on Reno as the wing contracted and locked the shock baton in place as his other wing bent to aim the tip of its gun barrel directly between the Turk's eyes. Reno remained uncharacteristically silent, clenching his teeth as he pulled at his baton to break it free of Nero's grasp. To try fighting someone like a Tsviet without his weapon was a death sentence in and of itself. He had to break it free, even if it meant the risk of taking a bullet between the eyes.
Rude shook his head and staggered to his feet. The frame of his glasses were broken, and one of the chipped lenses fell to the ground as he stood. Throwing off the glasses, he reached into his breast pocket and retrieved another pair. Flinging them open, he rested them firmly atop the bridge of his nose before rushing in with a mighty punch aimed for the trespasser.
Sensing the approaching danger, Nero reared his head quick enough to see what was coming, but not fast enough to properly react. Rude's fist collided squarely on the Tsviet's cheek, sending him crashing into a nearby wall.
Reno pulled his baton out from the grip of Nero's wing just as his partner managed to intercept. With their opponent down, the Turk's baton lit up with a yellow spark as he channeled a surge of electricity around them. With eyes of contempt, Nero looked around as a yellow pyramid of electricity encased him, trapping him in place.
"Got ya," Reno finally managed a quip, but Nero remained unfazed.
"You humans are so arrogant," Nero murmured, taking in the details of his electrified prison. "Confidently wielding power without the means to understand it. Mother was right to despise your kind."
"Mother?" Rude adjusted his glasses and exchanged a look with Reno. Behind the observation glass, the three observers hadn't failed to notice Nero's choice of words either.
"Wait," Reeve looked over to Rufus and Shalua. "He isn't talking about…" His thought was cut short by the shrill alarm blaring from the monitor as another warning message backed by a red light flashed across the screen.
"Jenova cell potency rising!" Shalua held a hand over her mouth and gasped. "That's impossible! Eighty percent purity! The only one with a purity rate that high was…"
"Eighty percent?!" Reeve shot a pair of wide eyes to the monitor, refusing to believe what he was hearing.
"Reno, Rude!" Rufus shouted over the loudspeaker. "Destroy the sample and get the hell out of there!"
"Destroy the sample?" The redhead looked over to the fractured observation glass. "We've got him dead to rights here?" He felt a tap on his shoulder from Rude. With a slight nod of his head, the bald man gestured for Reno to turn his attention back to their opponent.
A black cloud formed at the center of the lanky man's chest, growing and expanding outward until it filled the entirety of the electrified pyramid with the abyssal fog. As the fog continued to grow and spread, spider-web cracks crawled across the walls of the pyramid, allowing inklings of creeping black to seep through.
"Ah, son-of-a-bitch!"
The two Turks pivoted on their heels and ran for the vat housing Jenova's finger. It wouldn't take much. A few specific keystrokes, a solid blow to the container, anything to tamper with it would be enough to set off the self destruction protocol and eviscerate the sample. Though the Watcher program would be effectively terminated, it was a small price to pay to keep it out of Nero's hands.
Simple as it would've been, the Turks weren't given the opportunity to see it through. The pyramid shattered into a blast of electric currents that caused a momentary short-circuiting throughout the facility. That however was only a prelude of what was to come.
The abyssal cloud engulfed every inch of the lab. Reno and Rude's bodies were overcome by the crashing wave of darkness as it spread with a voracious ferocity. Once the darkness had completely overtaken the lab, the view from the observation room became nothing but endless black.
"Shit!" Shalua frantically typed away at the keyboard. She was going to have to do a manual override to destroy the sample.
"What's going on in there?" Reeve asked. "Are they still alive?"
"Yes," Rufus said, looking at Reno and Rude's vitals on his watch. "They're unconscious, but aliv— What the hell?!" The vital readings disappeared as yet another warning message flashed before him. It seemed there really wasn't going to be an end to it.
GONGAGA FACILITY SECURITY BREACH: SUBJECT R-2006 AT RISK
"What is it now?!" Shalua shouted, still typing away.
"Nothing that can be dealt with right now," he replied. "What about the sample? Where are we at?"
"I just need to authorize it, and the annihilation protocol will be activated."
"Authorize it quick, then," Rufus said, peering into the void before them. "We need at least one thing to go right for us today."
Within the empty black, Nero approached the large vat and unfurled an arm from his straightjacket-like attire and placed a black-nailed hand along the glass with a gentle caress. His magenta eyes gazed deeply upon the floating gray finger with a look that almost hinted at feelings of admiration interlaced with twinklings of sorrow.
"Dear mother, what are these beasts doing to you? Don't worry. I'll return you to where you rightfully belong soon enough."
A black fog took form within the vat, encompassing the interior without committing any harm to the machinery itself. Back in the observation room, Shalua's mouth fell agape in shock as several error messages popped up on the monitor.
"Sequence aborted? No Jenova cells detected?" her blue eye glanced up to the endless dark beyond the window. "Oh god, no!"
The darkness before them dissipated, vanishing into a dwindling fog before ultimately succumbing to the power of the red illumination of the emergency lights. Bodies of various scientists and technicians laid strewn across the floor. Carts and tables were overturned. Shattered glass and broken vials littered the room. Reno and Rude were laid out, barely moving, and the large vat in the center of the room sat empty with Nero nowhere to be found.
With an icy chill crawling down her neck, Shalua brought her attention back to the monitor to find three words boldly displayed across the Watcher map.
NO DATA AVAILABLE