NINE
We didn't have to wait long.
As Jessie, Aerith, Biggs, and I crouched behind the mound of rock to the left of the road, we watched as Cloud waited expectantly for the Shinra advance force right out in the open. They'd spot him as soon as they came around the bend—which was the idea, of course. After a few minutes, we suddenly heard the sound of boots on concrete, humming engines, and the thudding of heavy feet hitting the ground. As they got closer to our position, Jessie gave each of us one of her raspberries and held one herself as well, her fingers on the pin.
Not long after that, the advance force finally came into view. It was made up, as far as I could tell, of about twenty grunts both normal and elite, fifteen mechs including sweepers, cutters, and moth slashers, and ten soldiers of different kinds. There were regular troops, ones holding riot shields, others carrying grenades, and two officers. And trundling alongside them, one on the right of the group and one on the left, were the two devil riders. I gazed at them intently.
The riders themselves wore black suits of armor with spiked helms that completely hid their faces except for their bright yellow eyes. I was glad for that. They each carried a huge iron hammer with a long reach and sat confidently on their mounts. As for the lizards, they were huge, easily twenty feet long, with bright red scales and sharp black claws on their feet. Their teeth were like razors, and they had purple horns from their snouts down to their necks. They also had two bigger white horns curving out from the sides of their heads.
As soon as they saw Cloud standing in the middle of the road, the entire column came to a halt. The officers were, conveniently for us, at the front, and they motioned to the others, who took aim at Cloud but didn't fire yet. He just stood there, calm and casual as if he didn't have a dozen rifles or more all aimed at him at once, and for just a moment, the two officers looked uncertainly at each other. I couldn't help being amused at how he'd caught them off guard.
"Outta the way!" one of the officers ordered.
Cloud slowly reached back, drew Buster, and spun it around with a flourish. "You first. Get lost, asshole."
The guy brought up his rifle. "Drop the weapon!"
"Not happening," Cloud retorted.
"We're an elite Shinra strike force," the officer sneered. "You gonna try and stop us all by yourself, hotshot?"
Cloud smirked. "No."
Right then, the four of us all threw our raspberries over the mound and into the midst of the Shinra ranks. They clattered to the pavement, then exploded a second later, scattering troops and grunts like rag dolls and tearing several of the mechs apart. And in the midst of the chaos, I flicked my wrists to unsheath the mythril claws of my gloves and leapt over the rocks and into the fray. Jessie flipped forward over the mound, drew her weapons while upside down in midair, switched them on in a single fluid motion, and landed next to me.
"Great entrance, Jessie!" I told her as I pummeled the nearest grunt with a blinding barrage of punches.
She laughed. "Thanks! Kinda liked it myself!"
Hitting the glowing white circle on the back of her right glove, she started moving faster, darting from one enemy to the next so quickly I could barely keep up. Jessie was a blur of motion as she cut and slashed with what looked like two curved, bright orange energy blades. And at the same time, Biggs and Aerith climbed over the rocks, laying into the crowd with deafening blasts of gunfire and tempests of magical energy. Cloud charged at the two officers while Barret and the others sprang in from the other side and closed the noose.
"Shit!" the officer swore. "Take 'em down! Take—"
He never got to finish. Cloud saw to that, overpowering him with a trio of quick, sharp slashes while I sent another grunt flying into one of his allies with a high roundhouse kick, knocking them both down. The air was filled with gunfire as the soldiers, grunts, and sweepers all tried to shoot us. We just kept moving, though, staying a step ahead of them as much as we could, and with them clustered so closely together, they often wound up hitting each other instead of us.
"Eat it, you Shinra punks!" Barret roared, firing his gun-arm.
Yuffie concentrated for just a moment, infusing her shuriken with lightning magic, then hurled it into the two moth slashers that charged at her while Lena blew holes in a cutter with materia-charged electrical shots from her guns and Red struck a pair of troopers with a spinning blow that knocked them flat before they could toss their own grenades. At the same time, I grappled with one of the elite grunts as it fought to cut me to ribbons with its steel claws.
It managed to slice my arm a little, but I just took the hit and drove my knee into its gut, then pounded it with a flurry of punches followed by an uppercut that launched it skyward. It didn't get up, but its friends were eager to take its place. Jessie was right there with me, though, her energy blades cutting enemies down left and right. She engaged one of the riot troopers while I backhanded one soldier and swept the legs out from under another. The riot trooper swung at her with his metal club, but she was way faster as she easily darted around his shield to slash at him from behind. He didn't last very long.
While Jessie stabbed both her weapons into an elite grunt that had tried to pounce on her, Aerith chilled several more with her ice magic. That gave me an idea, and I focused on my Enemy Skill materia. While Biggs blew away one grunt after another with his shotgun, I decided to unload on the rest with Matra Magic. Fire Breath would only hit one of them, and Firestorm was too risky with all of us still fighting inside the blast radius. But Matra Magic's enchanted missiles would only seek out enemies, so it would be safe to use here.
I let loose with the spell, and with a bright flash of yellow light, the streaks of magical energy raced through the air and slammed hard into the grunts and elite grunts, blowing holes in them while nearby, Cloud fought one of the devil riders. Barret, Lena, Yuffie, and Biggs were busy trashing mechs left and right—Yuffie blew apart a cutter with a blast of electrical energy that left an intricate bluish rune floating in the air for a moment before pushing back another one with a sudden, strong gust of wind. Barret finished it off with a big shot.
One of the things that worked to our advantage in the fight was the tight natural corridor we'd chosen for our ambush point. Caught there where the road went in between the two mounds of rock, the sweepers and cutters in particular didn't have much room to move around to get at us, lined up as they were, and it was easy for us to flank them to keep from getting shot or sliced. The moth slashers were a bit more mobile, but only two were left out of the original five. They both converged on Aerith, but I darted into their path, fists raised.
"I don't think so!" I yelled, pounding one of the spiked metal balls with a charged fist and unleashing a chi trap.
Aerith shot an piercing beam from her staff. "Nice try!"
It slammed into one moth slasher as my trap fired bursts of energy into the other, and between Aerith's spells and my fists, they didn't last long. I looked up to see Jessie surrounded by soldiers and a few grunts, but before I could race over to help her, she quickly dove aside to evade their attacks, then with a flash of purple light from her materia, sprang into the air, spun around with her arms stretched out and her weapons extended, and struck her enemies with a wide, glowing orange circle of fiery energy that slammed them to the ground.
"Pretty cool!" Aerith grinned.
Jessie smirked over her shoulder at us as she landed. "Thanks! You haven't seen anything yet, though!"
Just then, the other devil rider charged at us, the lizard's pounding feet forcing us to scatter for a second to avoid being trampled. But then Yuffie jumped in, driving it back with her shuriken long enough for us to recover. As the devil rider swung around again, the four of us stood in a row, Jessie and Aerith on either side of me and Yuffie on the end to my right, and stared the monster down.
"Ready, ladies?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the rider.
Aerith hefted her bladed staff. "You know it!"
Jessie spun her energy daggers in her hands. "I'm always ready!"
"Just lemme at him!" Yuffie readied her shuriken.
"Then let's show him just how hard a big guy can fall!" I answered, narrowing my eyes and tugging at my gloves.
As Jessie and I charged at the monstrous devil rider, hitting it with fists and blades, Aerith and Yuffie covered us with spells and shuriken. Jessie wasn't moving quite as fast as before, so I figured her speed boost must've worn off at some point, but she still kept up with me just fine. I was proud of her for fighting so well today. It was the best I'd ever seen her. And there was still a lot more to come.
I easily dodged a vicious bite from the lizard and countered with a high roundhouse to the side of its head as Jessie jumped up and hit the rider with a diving kick just like I'd taught her. Then, while Aerith's ice magic pierced the lizard with huge spikes of frost and Yuffie's shuriken sliced across its side, Jessie struck at the rider with her blades, then did a backwards flip and landed on the ground.
"Bye-bye!" she taunted, hitting her left glove switch.
My eyes widened a little when Jessie suddenly disappeared amidst a rippling orange energy grid, but I didn't have time to think about it as the lizard whipped its tail at me. It caught me on the side of my chest as I tried to avoid it, but although it hurt and I gasped in pain, I managed to stay on my feet and keep moving.
"Knew she'd pull that trick again!" Yuffie chuckled.
"She's done it before?" Aerith wondered.
Yuffie threw her shuriken again, this time at a sweeper. "Yeah, back when we first met. We fought, ya see."
"Save it for later!" I ordered. "No time now!"
The sweeper was driving us away from the devil rider as its gunfire forced the three of us to scramble to avoid being shot. I jumped, using the nearby rock mound as leverage, and bounced myself off it with my foot to strike the mech with spinning midair kick that crushed its right arm and skewed its aim so the bullets struck a nearby soldier instead of Aerith. At the same time, I noticed the devil rider flinching repeatedly as Jessie struck at it from one direction after another, and as much as it lashed out again and again, it couldn't find her.
Then the sweeper fired its chains, quickly snaring Yuffie before she could escape. Her shuriken dropped from her hand and clattered onto the ground as the thick metal chains wrapped her up tight in an instant and held her firmly a foot or two above the ground. As she struggled to get out, Aerith and I rushed to help her.
"Yuffie!" I called.
Aerith spun her staff. "Just hang on! We're coming!"
She grimaced as she kept squirming. "This is so embarrassing… if I could just… damn, these chains are freaking tight! I knew I should've paid more attention to my rope escape lessons!"
While I pummeled the sweeper with a blinding shower of punches and kicks, Aerith blasted it with a tempest of magical energy, filling the air with flower petals as the spell tore into the mech. It staggered back, then released the chains holding Yuffie. She dove away from it as soon as she was free, grabbed her shuriken as she rolled, and sprang back to her feet. Then she spun around and glared darkly at the sweeper while Aerith and I continued pounding on it.
"Alright, you piece of junk, time to face some Wutai justice!" Yuffie snarled. "Nobody does that to me and lives!"
After blasting the sweeper with a shot of lightning magic from the green materia on her mythril armlet, Yuffie jumped into the air with a yell, brandishing her shuriken. She landed right in front of the sweeper, slashed it hard across the nose, then sliced it repeatedly with a flurry of close-range cutting attacks before finally jumping up again and ripping her shuriken across the sweeper's body along the way. Belching sparks and smoke, it collapsed, then exploded.
"Nice job!" I grinned.
She slapped me five. "Just what ninjas do!"
Aerith blasted another grunt with more ice magic. "Better keep on doing it, Yuffie. We're not finished here yet!"
"With pleasure!" she laughed.
While Yuffie darted off to help Lena take down a cutter, Aerith and I turned back to the devil rider. But before we could do anything, Jessie suddenly reappeared in front of it with a flourish and a smirk, her twin blades glowing even brighter than before. The giant red lizard snapped its teeth at her while its armored rider swung his huge hammer toward her head, but she was faster. Jessie easily dodged the bite, then blocked the hammer with her weapons crossed in front of her. Its weight forced her back a few steps, but she didn't falter.
After shoving the hammer away and ducking underneath a sudden swipe of the lizard's thick tail, Jessie went on the offensive, slashing not only the monster but the rider as well. I wanted to help, but Aerith and I were busy fighting off a pair of riot troopers so there wasn't much we could do. Jessie held her own, though, unloading on the devil rider in a mad rush like nothing I'd ever seen her do before, and I was amazed to see how much she'd changed. She was strong.
As Aerith and I took down those troopers—her with her ice magic and me with a string of fast, rising punches that punctured the soldier's body with my mythril claws—Jessie's attacks were fast, furious, and left trails of glowing orange energy behind them. The devil rider never had a chance to keep up. And after finally finishing off our enemies, Aerith and I both caught our breath for a moment and just stood there, totally mesmerized as we watched Jessie fight.
Then she jumped up and buried both her weapons into the lizard's head, releasing their stored energy in a single thunderous blast. It blew the monster's upper body apart and threw its rider to the ground like a broken doll as Jessie backflipped away. She landed nimbly in a crouch in front of us, one leg stretched out to the side, one arm down low, and her glowing, mako brown eyes fixed on what was left of the devil rider. There wasn't all that much, truth be told.
My jaw just fell open. "Holy…"
"Shit…" Aerith gaped.
Jessie straightened, stood up, and smirked over her shoulder at us. "How'd ya like that? One less ugly thing in the world!"
Aerith grinned. "Nicely done!"
"Thanks!" Jessie laughed. "Blew you away, did I?"
"More or less," I admitted.
She did a little bow. "I aim to please!"
"The others could use a hand," Aerith reminded us. "We've still got some enemies left to clear out."
I nodded. "Right."
Aerith looked at Jessie. "Ready, Firebrand?"
"You bet!" she answered.
"Then let's move!" I ordered.
Together, we hurried and joined the others. Cloud, Barret, and Red were busy fighting the other devil rider as Yuffie, Lena, and Biggs took on the remaining mechs and soldiers. While Aerith backed us up with her magic, Jessie and I rushed in. She went for the devil rider as Aerith and I helped the others, and between all of us, we decimated what was left of our enemies. We all fought hard, knowing what was at stake, and didn't stop no matter how many blows our attackers managed to get in. We just shrugged them off and kept going.
Cloud leapt up with a yell and split the lizard's head and neck right in two with a spinning overhead chop while Barret and Jessie took out the rider, blasting him with bullets and an arc of blazing orange energy that Jessie whipped through air with her weapons. Red finished the job by pouncing on him from behind and dragging him to the ground, his sharp teeth piercing through the armor.
I was just backhanding a soldier across the face when I saw the last of the cutters suddenly charge right at Biggs, slicing at him with one of its bladed arms. He tried to fire, but his shotgun clicked empty, and my stomach twisted itself into knots. As the cutter closed in on him and he desperately tried to reload, I ran across the road and jumped, knocking him aside just as the mech's arm swept through where he'd been only a moment ago. And as I did, there was a blast of ice magic, the whir of a flying shuriken, and steel clanging against steel.
The cutter exploded behind us as Cloud, Aerith, and Yuffie took it down hard, fire and smoke filling the air as Biggs and I rolled away. We finally came to a stop in the middle of the road a moment later, and as I laid there on top of him, my arms around him just as his were around me, I forgot about everything else. My heart slammed against my chest as I realized just how close he was, and my eyes were locked on his. For a minute, neither of us moved. And then, before either of us could stop ourselves or even think about it, we kissed.
Our lips slammed together like magnets as our eyes closed and we tightened our embrace, and I forgot about everything else. Heat rushed through my blood and sizzled my brain, and although I could tell from how much quieter it was that the fight was winding down, I was hardly aware of it. All I knew in that moment was Biggs and how wonderful it felt to have his mouth pressing fervently against mine. We pulled away for just a second, gazed at each other, and then went right back in, our lips passionately locking and unlocking.
Biggs came up for air first, looking at me in wonder and giving me one of his crooked grins. "Thanks for the save."
I smiled. "Anytime."
Then there was a discreet cough, and I quickly jerked away as if I'd been splashed with cold water, blushing furiously. I looked up and saw Cloud reaching out his hand to help me up. I took it, and even though he didn't say anything, I didn't miss the faint little smirk on his face. As Biggs joined us, I saw that the others had pretty much finished the rest of the Shinra advance force. Only a few soldiers were left. As the others all closed in on them, they turned and ran.
Barret chased them away with a few parting shots. "Ha! Yeah, that's right, assholes! Run like the cowards you are!"
"Everyone alright?" I asked.
"More or less," Lena winced, rubbing her shoulder.
Biggs was banged up, too, with a little blood on the side of his face. We all had some minor cuts and scratches, but nothing serious. Aerith bowed her head for a moment as if she were praying, then refreshed us with one of her healing winds while Jessie used magic from her Restore materia to help as well. I felt the pain lessen a bit and smiled gratefully at both of them. Then my eyes went to Biggs next, and I was surprised by how much I needed to be sure he was really alright. I hadn't realized until then just how much he meant to me.
"You sure you're okay, Biggs?" I asked, dabbing at his wounds with a cloth from my pocket until he was clean.
He nodded. "Yeah, Tif. I'm fine, thanks to you."
I gently took his face in my hands and planted a tender kiss on his lips. "Good. Better keep it that way."
"Well, it's about time!" Aerith giggled.
"Way to go, guys!" Jessie added, her eyes dancing.
Yuffie rolled hers. "Oh, great. Not again…"
My cheeks flamed. "Um…"
Barret grinned, slapping Biggs on the back. "Guess you two finally sorted it out, huh? Took ya long enough."
"Wait'll Wedge finds out!" Lena said. "He'll be so happy!"
Red padded over to join us. "I hate to infringe on this moment, but shouldn't we go? We need to defend the fort."
"Always the party pooper, ain'tcha, Red?" Barret grunted.
"He's got a point, though," Cloud reminded him.
Barret snorted. "Yeah, yeah, I know, merc. But after we protect the fort an' send them Shinra assholes packin', we gonna throw one helluva victory party! An' it's gonna be wild!"
"Hell yeah!" Jessie agreed, pumping her fist.
"Sounds good to me!" I added.
Aerith gave us a thumbs up. "Right on!"
As she, Barret, Yuffie, Lena, and Red started heading back the way we'd come, Cloud caught up to Biggs and took him aside for a moment. Of course it was about me, although I doubted there'd be any problems. As I watched, I couldn't help smiling a little at how nervous Biggs was. He was actually sweating as Cloud stood there in front of him with his glowing blue mako eyes and stared him down.
"Biggs," Cloud said, his voice quiet. "You ever make her cry and I'll kick your ass. You know that, don't you?"
Biggs grinned shakily. "Without a doubt. Thanks, man."
"Take care of her," Cloud told him.
"Will do," Biggs promised.
Satisfied, Cloud nodded and walked away. As I went over to Biggs, he let out a long, unsteady breath. But he was smiling, and I returned it as I slid my hand into his. It felt so natural now, so right. He might not have been a powerhouse fighter like Cloud, but he had his own talents. A keen mind that could make a good plan for anything and a generous heart that never stopped giving. Not to mention that handsome, manly charm of his. Biggs would always be there for me when I needed him, a hero in his own sweet, thoughtful way.
As Cloud started to walk down the road, Jessie grabbed him with a little smirk. "And just where you do you think you're going, handsome? Gonna head off all by yourself, are ya?"
"I, uh…" he blinked.
"Get your ass over here," Jessie laughed.
Before he knew it, she was pulling him into a fierce kiss, her lips all over his. Cloud's resistance melted like snow in the sun, and I smiled as he let his guard down enough to return her affection, even if only for a moment. But that was enough for her. As she pulled away, Jessie placed her index finger over his mouth and winked.
"To be continued…" she teased.
"Better be," Cloud agreed.
Jessie slid her arm through his as we followed the others down the road toward Fort Condor. "So, what'd you think of me in action, merc? Did I knock your socks off back there?"
"Yeah," he admitted. "You fought like a SOLDIER."
"Really? Guess I've got you to thank for that," Jessie quipped.
Cloud shrugged. "To start with. But you obviously put in the effort to learn and train, Jessie. So it's not just me."
"I just wanna be able to keep up with you guys," she said.
"I'd say you definitely are," I assured her.
Jessie smiled. "Thanks, Tifa."
As we left the wreckage of the advance force behind, the sun slowly sinking down on our right toward the horizon, my hopes about tonight rose. Shinra wasn't expecting us to be so well-prepared or our defenses so solid. And even though we were badly outnumbered, I still believed we could win. Of course, I also hoped Wedge would make it back soon with those reinforcements. We really needed them.
About an hour later, I finished working on Barret's gift, then Cloud and I met him and the others in the mess hall so I could give it to him. Cloud carried it for me since it was pretty heavy, and as soon as Barret saw it, his face split into a wide grin.
"Damn, Jessie!" he laughed. "That what I think it is?"
I nodded, standing proudly with my arms folded in front of me. "It most certainly is! A heavy vulcan cannon. You're really gonna have fun with this puppy! Faster rate of fire, larger magazine capacity, less recoil, and much better armor penetration."
Barret gazed lovingly at his new weapon. "Thanks!"
"You're welcome," I smiled. "Now just have a seat and we'll get this on so you can go out there and kick ass tonight!"
Barret pumped his fist. "Damn right! This is gonna be great!"
"Like a kid with a new toy," Cloud said.
"Pretty much," Tifa chuckled.
I got to work after Barret sat down and laid his arm on the table. "I can't really blame him, though. I'd be excited, too. Anyway, Barret, this thing heats up a little faster than your old gun and goes through ammo the way Wedge chows down on Tifa's cooking. On the upside, though, it's got more materia slots. Two linked pairs."
"Good to know," he said.
"Packs a hell of a punch, too!" I added.
It didn't take that long for me to upgrade Barret's gun-arm with the heavy vulcan cannon. It was a shiny, triple-barreled weapon with twice as much firepower as his assault gun. When we'd still been in the slums of Sector 7 in Midgar, I used to help Barret out sometimes with repairs and maintenance, so he didn't mind me seeing his arm as I helped him replace his weapon. But Aerith got the hint readily enough and shooed the others away, all except Cloud, Tifa, and Biggs. Only us, the original Avalanche, had ever seen him like that.
Barret had never said it openly, but I'd always been able to tell that he was a little self-conscious about his arm. The stump just beneath his right elbow was wrapped in a soft brown sleeve fastened in place with a black leather strap over his bicep and securely covered with a flat metal socket that allowed him to attach different sorts of weapons to it. After removing the assault gun, we fit the heavy vulcan cannon into place. It locked with an audible click. Then we added the ammo along with the materia that he'd had in his old weapon.
"Lookin' good!" I smirked as he hefted his new gun-arm.
Barret nodded. "It feels good, too. But, uh… what's this new purple materia in here? I don't remember havin' it."
I pointed at it. "Lifesaver. It'll help you protect us."
"I like the sounda that," he grinned.
Tifa smiled. "That's definitely you. How does it work?"
"Basically, it'll let Barret take a hit for someone who's really hurt," I explained. "The stronger it gets, the more he can do it. I picked it up at the quartermaster's shop this morning. Lifesaver's a passive materia, so it's always on, so to say. Like my Deadly Dodge."
"Pretty flashy move, Jessie," Barret chuckled. "I like it."
I laughed. "You know me, I just love putting on a good show! And kicking some serious ass at the same time."
With Barret's upgrade finished, we joined Aerith and the others to grab a bite to eat while we had the chance. Then we all set about doing what we could to help finish the preparations for the attack. It wouldn't be much longer now, but everything was going as well it could. Wedge still wasn't back, though, and I was a little worried. He'd have been here with us if at all possible, and he knew when Shinra was gonna attack. I just hoped that he'd get back here in time.
It was dark outside when Cloud, Tifa, Biggs, and I joined Edwyn in the lookout area above the gate. Barret and the others were all standing on the wall with the rest of the soldiers, and the ravine was empty now, all our work finished. Several large white lights shone into it at regular intervals along the wall, spaced in between the turrets, and a few more were on the roof of the lookout area.
Through the wide forward windows, we could see down the whole length of the ravine, and there were several panels just below them for operating the gate, the lights, and other things around the fort. I'd also installed the controls for the automated sentries as well. They'd run by themselves once they were ready, but they still had to be turned on and calibrated. So once we were all inside, I sat down and did that, tapping buttons and getting the displays online. I activated the two anti-aircraft cannons as well and got them warmed up.
There were also windows on the opposite side of the lookout area, and through them, we could see the courtyard, the fortress, the reactor, and the condor. We'd made sure to have all the vital areas locked down, so if Shinra did break through and get in here, there were only so many places they'd be able to go. Although most of the troops were stationed on the outer wall on the front lines, there were a few others throughout the complex as well, as many as we could spare.
"Well, guys, we're as ready as we'll ever be," I said. "The sentries are online. As soon as Shinra shows up, we'll know it."
Edwyn nodded. "And now we wait."