FF VII Redux: SOLDIER Edition
Chapter 07: Mission 1 Part 2
AN: Hello all, it's been a while. Firstly I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter and everyone who favorited, followed and sent messages regarding this. I'll be honest this chapter kicked my ass for a while until I figured out how to do it. Also I tried really hard not to summarize events too much and give a bit more detail. I really don't have a lot to say now though so I hope you enjoy it.
Start Now:
Commander Hogan's office had been completely torn apart; the door had been shot to hell. The Commander herself had been killed in the hallway though she apparently put up one hell of a fight taking out seven mercenaries before she was taken out judging by the number of bodies in the hallway. The inside of the office had been no better. Bullet holes covered the walls and the windows while the floor was littered with papers, pictures and books. The bookshelves were still standing, most of them because they were floating shelves and thus secured to the walls, though one large standing bookcase that had somehow survived intact. There was a heavy wooden desk, atop of which were the destroyed remains of the office's computer tower and behind it a large landscape portrait had been pulled from the wall revealing an open safe that had been completely cleaned out.
"The office was tossed and the safe is open. No sign of the mobile workstation. The office computer was destroyed too." Said Cloud.
The workstation was in actuality a laptop but took the form of a briefcase, the size giving it extra power.
"I came up empty too. I did find who I'm guessing is the guy in charge sleeping in the Commander's bed though." Said Nat.
"Acknowledged." Came the response from the operator
"Finding that thing was a longshot anyway, good work you two. Kunsel and I just cleared the maintenance level, we're on our way up." Came Madeleine's voice over the comm.
Leaving the office Cloud made his way to the Commanders private quarters where he found Nat standing over a groaning man who looked to be in at least his mid-twenties. He had obviously been pulled right out of the bed and wore only a pair of sleep shorts and a pair of dog tags dangling from his neck. Once Nat was done checking the room over they took the man to one of the rooms on the SOLDIER floor and locked him inside. From there they proceeded outside to the front of the headquarters. A few minutes later Madeleine and Kunsel emerged from the maintenance level and only barely reached them when the comms kicked in.
"Hercules to Unit One"
"Unit One online." Said Madeleine
"Unit One this is Captain Hoffman speaking. I've just got off the line with HQ and luckily Commander Hogan didn't have access to any active weapons systems outside of that controlled by that particular base. Unfortunately, we've learned that her office computer was used to access the Shinra mainframe from within which was used to steal the information on how to create 3rd generation SOLDIERs, a list of Turks that were currently in deep cover assignments, and a roster of all current SOLDIER members and their personal information all of which was downloaded to the workstation. After consulting with Director Deusericus, we are amending your current mission to include retrieving Commander Hogan's workstation. We've already tracked it and found it is currently within the Central Base, it hasn't been accessed yet and HQ is working to give you time to reach its location." Said the Captain.
"Understood, we'll handle that when we move to that phase of the mission." Said Madeleine.
"In the meantime, we're sending forces to secure the prisoners in the base. Good luck unit one." Said Captain Hoffman before the line went silent.
"Alright let's restock then head out." Said Madeleine turning to enter the building.
'Interface' thought the blond as soon as the others had turned away from him.
As the Edge System appeared he was greeted by notifications immediately.
Mission: Counterpunch – Retake control of Shinra bases in Wutai – 1of 3 completed – Bonus Objective: Avoid detection to maximize rewards.
Achievements:
Liberator: You have successfully freed 50 hostages. Reputation amongst Shinra personnel increased.
Side Mission: Commander Hogan's Workstation – Retrieve Base Commander Hogan's stolen mobile workstation within the time limit – 2 hrs. 40 min
A quick look at the time revealed that it was 12:50, meaning he had until 3:30 in the morning to retrieve the workstation, after which time he'd probably be unable to retrieve it. That wasn't actually a lot of time, and he realized that going with the stealth approach they'd unknowingly placed the time limit on themselves.
"Guys we need to pick up the pace. This is supposed to be a stealth mission, and we've got less than 6 hours until sunrise." Said Cloud into the comms before quickly following after the rest of his team.
The armory was located on the ground level and while it wasn't large had more than enough to supply the base. Cloud made quick work of storing the rest of the makeshift rope darts he'd created inside his personal Inventory as he determined he wouldn't actually need them for the time being. He found a holster of six throwing knives and debated taking it but decided against it since he already had the pistol out. He'd found that his standard SOLDIER equipment couldn't be placed in the Inventory while he was training or on missions. This was a bit unfortunate as he had all manner of things stored within the Inventory that he'd collected over the years.
In terms of Materia he'd come pretty well stocked, which was good as there wasn't anything aside from basic level combat materia stored here. His sword for instance was equipped with Thundara, Elemental and Fira. The Supreme Bracer on his right arms was equipped with Magnify, Aeroa and Cura and the standard metal bracer on his left arm he quickly swapped out with a Copper Bracer which was not only higher quality but boasted an additional materia slot bringing the count for that arm up to two.
Removing the Assess materia from the old bracer he slotted it into the new one and added the Steal materia from his Inventory as well. He'd only fired two shots from his pistol meaning he still had 17 remaining, so he didn't need to do reload that. Still, he took a pair of magazines and stored them in his Inventory just in case. Turning to leave he paused as he noticed something sitting on the ground just inside of the door and after opening the lid couldn't help but smirk.
"Hey guys, look what I found."
The eastern research base was located deeper in the forest within a clearing. It was an old, decommissioned military outpost that Shinra discovered and converted into a research base. It was a three-section building that sat on a piece of land that was slightly elevated on grass covered stone with about five feet of space between the edge of the stone and the forest ground. The inside of this space had been hollowed out creating an underground level for the base. As for the building itself each section seemed to have its own roof each portion of which had someone positioned on it, all of whom wore Shinra military uniforms.
"Well, this isn't what I was expecting." Said Zack.
They had left their jeep about two minutes away from the base and covered the last bit of distance on foot.
"Calm down Zack, it's going to be a long night, and we've got a few more stops to make I'm sure you'll get to fight somebody." Said Mac causing Chloe and Tank to chuckle.
"Let's go introduce ourselves." Said Tank after a few moments.
Walking out of the cover of the trees they soon had guns pointed in their direction, something that didn't deter them in the least. By the time they reached the platform the base was situated on someone was standing outside and waiting for them. He was a big man standing 6'1" and covered in muscles and armor which made him seem even larger.
"SOLDIER, didn't think I'd see your type around here." Said the man.
"Are you aware of the situation?" questioned Tank.
"Yeah, my team was at The Farm when it was attacked. We managed to fight our way out and make it here." Said the man
"Well as you can guess that's why we were dispatched. This is one of the bases we were ordered to secure." Said Tank.
"That makes sense all things considered. Anyway, welcome to The Lighthouse, my name is Phoenix by the way, Sgt. Marcus Phoenix. Come on in." said the man before turning and waving a signal up to the roof.
Following the man inside they found a room that looked like the common room of any normal house decorated with couches, coffee tables and even a fireplace. They were soon introduced to the rest of his team called Delta-One. The three who had been on the roof were introduced as Baird, Cole and Dom while the others were Jace, Tai and Sam who was the only female of the group.
"Now you see why I don't go by Sam." Said Mac.
"Yeah, it is a really common name, Samantha." Said the newly introduced Sam.
"Samiyah, just call me Mac."
"So, what's the play, please tell me we get to hit back." Said Cole, the largest of the group.
Before any response could be made another figure entered the room. This one was clearly no fighter, he was a young man standing at 5'8" with short cut brown hair and blue eyes. Still, he was one person that Tank recognized from the briefing information he received about the base.
"Right on time. Leopold Fitz this is Tank, his team has been assigned to secure the base." Said Phoenix.
"It's a little more complicated than that. We've got orders from the President himself to not only secure and lock down the base but evac everyone residing here." Said Tank.
"Of course you do, I figured this would happen when the network went down." Said Fitz.
"You did?" questioned Mac
"Yes, I designed the network, I'm also in charge of its maintenance and updates. I've already got a new security update ready; I was just waiting on word that it was safe to install it" Revealed Fitz before walking over to a wall and pressing a button.
"Jemma its safe and our predictions were right." Said Fitz.
"Ok, I'll handle my end, you handle yours." Came a voice through a speaker in the wall.
"Cole bring the truck around. The rest of us will help clear things out." Said Phoenix.
It took only twenty minutes to reach the western research base. Keeping in mind their stealth approach they decided against taking any of the vehicles at this point. The research base was the next mountain over and rather than travel by land, which would take over two hours they elected to travel by air. Specifically, they elected to use the gondola lifts which consisted of cabins that travelled through the air on cables, a travel system that expanded over the entire mountain range on this side of Wutai. Shinra had never bothered with trying to occupy the lifts or travel using them as the carriages couldn't hold the number of people they would need to move. On hearing this it had left Cloud with little doubt that this was how the base had been infiltrated.
Regardless, getting off of the lift on the second mountain had only been the start as from that point they'd had to repel down the mountain until they reached the base, which in this case was an old mansion built into the mountain. The building itself was clearly ancient with its foundation built from the mountain itself with four levels built on top of it each of which had a blue pagoda style roof while the exterior walls blended in with the mountain. The entrance on the first level was shaped like a large arch over which was a stone railing for the next level with a stone staircase that descended down the mountain.
They made quick work on moving from the roof to the front of the mansion and stepping into the arch where there were a pair of doors on the left and right about two feet in. Just past those doors was about another two feet into the arch was a wall made of stone bricks the same color as the mountain and the mansion's foundation. Approaching the wall Kunsel pressed three of the bricks in succession and for a moment nothing happened before the wall silently popped open and swung inwards revealing it to be a doorway which they quickly entered and closed behind them.
Once inside they found themselves within a large, dark tunnel which didn't affect them thanks to the night vision in their helmets.
"We're in." said Madeleine.
"Good. You won't encounter any resistance in the tunnel since the robots are offline. By the time you get to the entry point you'll be deep enough that comms will be down so listen closely. You'll have to go a mile in to reach the service vehicle that will take you to the entry point. This thing is high speed, and you'll have exactly 45 seconds to prepare before it goes, it's a 25-mile descent and one of you will need to stay topside. When you reach the bottom of the shaft the door that opens will do so in the back of the server room and from there you can access the main hall.
Kunsel from the server room you'll need to initiate a system reset which will be the first part of lifting the lockdown. After this point everything will be down for approximately five minutes during which time the power and thus the security of the mansion will be lifted. The person who stays topside will need to clear out the mansion within those five minutes. After the system resets the consoles in the security room of the mansion and the central station of the base will initiate phase two of the lockdown lift, you will have exactly 90 seconds to answer the prompt and if you are late or answer incorrectly the place will go into lockdown again for the next 48 hours." Explained the operator.
"Guess that means I'm staying topside." Said Cloud.
Nat frowned beneath her helmet, she did not want to experience a high-speed 25-mile descent but not only did Cloud outrank her, they also all knew that he would be the only one that could clear out the mansion and handle the console in that timeframe. With all of this in mind Nat, Madeleine and Kunsel took off at a run covering as the distance quickly as they were able to run a straight line to their destination. Building a research base 5 miles into the base of a mountain was inspired, Kunsel actually wondered how this place had even been discovered as from what he understood these guys didn't get out much.
It took three minutes for them to reach the area where the service vehicle was located. Upon seeing it all of them were surprised as they discovered they would be travelling by rail; the only problem was there was nothing on the rail. They solved that issue soon enough as there was a nearby console on which only a single lever was present. Pulling the lever resulted in part of the wall to the left giving way revealing what appeared to be a small cart with four seats inside, two in front and two in back.
"It's a draisine, never thought I'd see one of these." Said Kunsel.
"You can nerd out later, we don't have much time." Said Nat.
With that said the three of them each selected a seat with Kunsel sitting behind Nat on the right side of the cart. They had to maneuver a bit with their equipment as their swords were removed from their backs and Nat's sniper rifle was placed on the ground between her seat and Madeleine's. That was the best they could do as the cart was soon taking off down the rails.
Cloud had decided against delving deeper into the tunnel, instead he'd decided to go back outside. The reasoning had been simple as he'd be able to see when the lights went out in the mansion. It was only afterwards that he'd come across an idea which was why he was currently on the mansion's right side beside the mountain wall going through his Inventory. Quickly going through it he found what he was looking for, his tool kit. Removing his screwdriver, he went to work removing the cover of a vent on the side of the mansion, thankfully the helmet came with a flashlight and his enhanced strength made removing the screws much easier though he only removed two. Giving it a quick test he was pleased to find that he was now able to move the cover to give him clear access to the vent.
"Come in Control." Said Cloud.
"Control here."
"You have access to the mansion's camera's right?" questioned Cloud.
"I do, what do you need?"
"Can you tell me if there is anyone inside other than the mercs?" questioned Cloud.
"I'll run a check." Came the response.
"The mansion's clear of hostages." Said the operator after nearly three minutes.
"Good, that makes this easier." Said Cloud.
"What are you up to?" questioned the operator.
"Keep watching, you'll see." Said Cloud before ending the call.
Going back into his Inventory he quickly found what he was looking for. He was soon holding a pair of grenades in hand, though rather than the green frag grenades with the Shinra logo stamped on them, these were dark orange cans with the words 'SILENT NIGHT' stamped on them in black. Upon finding them in the armory they immediately realized these were the same grenades that were used to take out the SOLDIERs stationed at the communications base. While the crate hadn't been full it had possessed more than enough for all of them to take a couple while leaving the rest behind. According to the schematics in the crate a single cannister was strong enough to fill a standard home within 15 seconds.
Shifting the vent cover out of the way Cloud pulled the pin from one and immediately tossed it through the hole into the mansion before quickly following it with the second and rather than shifting the vent back in place he stuffed the hole with a towel he'd prepared beforehand. Gas being what it was he knew that it wouldn't take long for it to spread throughout the mansion but as big as this place was he knew just that wouldn't be enough and as such looked up to the next level and gave a simple thumbs up causing the clone situated there to slide his grenade in as well.
Nearly five minutes later the lights of the mansion finally went out signaling that it was time for him to move. Going over to the door he was pleased that it opened easily as the electronic lock had been disabled. While nothing spectacular like a wall of smoke rushing out of the door happened he still left the door open to allow the house to air out quicker. As he made his way through the mansion he came across several people seemingly sleeping, though he could tell at a glance the sleep they were in there would be no waking from.
The security room was an easy find as it was on the third floor in the center of the mansion within a small hallway. The door to the left was the security room while the door on the right was a bathroom. The door to the security station was open and he found one person inside who seemed to have fallen out of the chair after the gas hit as he was on the ground.
The room itself wasn't extremely large, big enough to fit four people comfortably. The wall just inside the door to the left had a mounted piece of wood that acted as a desk with a single computer monitor in the center along with the keyboard and mouse. The wall further in had nine televisions mounted into the wall in three rows of three going horizontally across the wall. Taking the seat in front of the main monitor he simply had to wait for the power to come back on which it did a few short minutes later.
"Cloud you there" came Kunsel's voice over the comm just before the monitor lit up showing a blue screen with a start-up prompt.
"I'm in position." Said Cloud.
"Alright, password is eight digits. 8,6,3,7,6,1,1 and 9." Said Kunsel over the comm.
"Got it." said Cloud.
There was silence for a few moments before it the system started booting up causing him to release the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. The desktop popped up quickly and within 30 seconds of that the Shinra Security auto launched. The wall to his right soon lit up and he turned to see the wall of televisions lit up each of which showing a different part of the research base. He could see Madeleine on one screen in a room with researchers while Nathaly was at the central station of the base.
"I've got eyes inside." Said Cloud after he finished.
"Right leave the rest to me. I've got power restored to the elevator so you can come down. I'd advise coming down the way we did, it'll be faster." Said Kunsel
Movement out of the corner of his eye had Cloud looking over to see a pair of mercenaries on one of the monitors in what was clearly a garage with several motorcycles, a truck and a car covered with a tarp. He frowned though as he realized that there didn't seem to be an exit, but the presence of the vehicles meant that there was some way to get them out. Looking at the downed mercenary he checked him and quickly found a picture of a young man with his face circled and a name on the back of it. Curious he checked the staff registry and quickly found the name listed as a researcher.
"Hey, Del there wouldn't happen to be a Tobias Shavers with the hostages would there?" questioned Cloud
"No, why?" questioned Madeleine after a few long moments.
"Looks like he was being targeted specifically. I've got a pair of strays on the screen in a garage in sector B, in what I'm guessing was the last place he was sighted."
"According to one of the lab coats Shavers has a secondary personal lab which that garage is an extension of." Said Madeleine.
Cloud was quiet as he went to work on the computer specifically tapping into the camera system only to find he couldn't access any other parts of sector B. That was quickly solved by Kunsel and after a few minutes Cloud found him sleeping at his desk in the lab.
"Alright found him. Del you want to handle the strays?" questioned Cloud
"On it." Said Madeleine
"In the meantime, Kunsel can you tap into the room and wake him up?" Said Cloud.
"Got it, see you when you get here." Said Kunsel
"Control you there?" questioned Cloud.
"I'm here." Came the voice of the operator.
"This place is clear. I'm heading down to regroup." Said Cloud.
"Copy that. Two squads are in route to secure the site." Came the response.
Stepping back into the small hallway revealed its true purpose as the back wall was now gone and in its place was the interior of an elevator. Ignoring that he quickly made his way back through the mansion, this time going through the other side of the place before walking out of the door to the outside. Once out the door he turned to the wall and hit the sequence of bricks needed to open the path into the tunnel and took off at a sprint.
The feeling of racing down the track on the draisine was exhilarating, so much so that he actually wished that he could go again when he came to the end of the track. At the bottom the path ahead revealed only one direction which was a narrow path that he had to squeeze through and when he reached the end Kunsel was there warning him that there was a bit of a drop. It wasn't far but Cloud had no doubt he'd have probably fallen if he'd just stepped out without that warning.
"How are things down here?" questioned Cloud.
"Handled for the most part. Just waiting on Del to finish taking care of the strays."
Kunsel led him out of the server room and to the central room of the base where Nat was still standing amongst the scientists with her helmet off. Taking the queue from her the two of them removed their own helmets as they approached.
"Dr. Solomon, these are two of my teammates Kunsel and Cloud. This is Dr. Victor Solomon he's in charge of this place." Said Nathaly handling the introductions.
Dr. Solomon was a tall man, Cloud guessed around 6'5" with greying blonde hair and blue eyes. Despite his advanced age his frame was still muscular, so much that Cloud was curious about what the man looked like in his prime.
"Thanks for coming, though I gotta admit it sucks I needed you kids to clean this mess up for me." Said the man
"You had more important things to do someone had to keep your people safe." Said Nat.
"Was anyone hurt?" questioned Cloud.
"Aside from the security team and me, no. I'd still have a hole in my shoulder though if not for this one." Said Dr. Solomon motioning to Nathaly.
"Well Doc, if you want your get back I have a way you can help." Said Cloud retrieving the last can of gas he'd had on his person and handing it to him.
"What's this?" questioned the man.
"Some kind of gas they used to take out the SOLDIERs stationed at the communications base and what I'm guessing they used here as well. I've got a few more cans if you think you can figure out a way to reverse engineer the stuff." Said Cloud.
"Using their own weapon against them. I like you kid. I'll put a team together to figure this out as soon as everything is settled here." Said the man to which Cloud produced five more cans from his Inventory that he handed over.
"We'll see if we can't salvage more of it and send it your way." Said Kunsel.
"Good. Now I know you have a busy night, feel free to take a vehicle from the garage." Said the man before turning to continue with his duties.
Before they could linger long they Madeleine called for them to meet her in one of the labs in sector B over the comm. When they reached the lab a few minutes later they found Madeleine with another man who Cloud recognized from the picture as Tobias Shavers. He was a young man in his early 20's at the latest with short cut brown hair and hazel eyes. Unlike most of the others in the facility he wasn't wearing the white lab coat over his clothes which consisted of a pullover vest, beige pants, a dress shirt and a tie. Madeleine did a quick introduction for them introducing him as Toby rather than Tobias which Cloud mentally filed away.
"So now that my team is here, why don't you fill us in." said Madeleine and though it was phrased as a question Cloud realized it wasn't one
"You asked why they were targeting me and while I can't say for certain I have a pretty good guess. Re-Commander Hogan and I were working on a project together." Cloud did his best not to react to the slip realizing that Toby and Commander Hogan were more than just professional associates.
"Truth is she brought me in specifically to help her out. We've known each other since we were five years old, so when she called and said she needed me here I couldn't say no." said Toby.
"What was it exactly you were working on?" questioned Kunsel.
"We had a couple of projects, though one of them we went different ways on."
As he said this he motioned them to follow him over to another part of the room where a metal briefcase was resting on a table. Opening it revealed a gun inside, some kind of modified revolver the likes of which Cloud personally had never seen before.
"That's a 629 Competitor." Said Nat surprised.
"Heavily modified but yeah. It was part of a little competition Commander Hogan, and I had going between us. It's got a custom muzzle brake, a weight under the barrel to catch knives, Crimson Trace laser sight grips, an unfluted cylinder and a C-More red dot sight. It fires not just standard pistol rounds but also a selection of specially designed darts. This was meant to replace the sidearms of the standard public security force. Commander Hogan had a decidedly more wicked idea for military use that was also capable of firing different types of rounds including Armor piercers, incendiary and high explosive rounds. She never brought it into the world though, still just a design." Said Toby with sigh before closing the case.
"The idea she had that brought me here though was something much bigger, something she thought would be enough to give the military the edge in the war and get them away from relying on robots. In simple terms it was an exo-suit what she named The Accelerator. We never got past the design phase and until we could get the approval she kept the specs with her. Just to give you an idea though those things had a pair of gatling sub-machine guns capable of firing 50 rounds per second, three triple explosive, heat-seeking, fire-and-forget missile rockets, wind and gas repelled grappling spear gear, and a cloaking device just to start. They also increased the wearer's physical ability theoretically to the level of a 3rd Class SOLDIER." Explained Toby.
"Who else knew you guys designed this suit?" questioned Madeleine
"Here, nobody. She wanted it done quietly, so if there was a leak it came after she sent the data to HQ for approval." Said Toby.
"When did she send the data?" questioned Kunsel
"Around six months ago give or take a few weeks." Said Shavers
"Six months and no word?" questioned Madeleine in surprise getting a shrug from the man.
"Advanced Weaponry is more about robotics these days. It probably got forgotten by Chen's people." Said Shavers
"You're not with W.D?" questioned Nat in surprise.
"I'm something of a floater. I was NSA before it got shut down. Now I work with Weaponry and Research depending on what project I'm working on." Said the man
That actually peaked Cloud's interest. The NSA had been a part of the Republic of Junon's government before being absorbed into Shinra after Junon fell. According to what he'd learned they'd operated for around fifteen years within Shinra slowly losing power before being absorbed into General Affairs and thus being replaced by the Turks.
"You were NSA? You're kind of young." Said Cloud.
"I was only with them for about a year and a half before it got shut down." Said Toby getting an understanding nod from Cloud.
Mission: Counterpunch – Retake control of Shinra bases in Wutai – 2 of 3 completed – Bonus Objective: Avoid detection to maximize rewards.
They didn't stay much longer within the research base. Toby showed them how to access the garage from his lab which had a hidden door that connected the two spaces. From the garage they took a group of motorcycles equipped with offroad tires through the tunnels until they reached the hidden entrance of the mountain which closed behind them. From there they rode until they were about two miles away from the base and proceeded the rest of the way on foot. There was a designated meeting point a mile away from the base where they found team two already waiting. They travelled together until they reached their destination at precisely 1:47 am.
The Central Base was a massive facility between the eastern and western sides of Wutai located within a forest of trees. If one looked from above they would see that the building was made entirely of fortified stone and took the form of a large circle with a large five-pointed star taking up the center with the points overlapping with the construction of the rest of the building. This base much like the mountain bases that had been under the control of Shinra was older than the nation of Wutai itself.
"So how do we do this?" questioned Chloe.
"That's the question, I was able to loop the cameras and take out communications, but security is still running." Said Kunsel
"Right so we need to get Kunsel to the server room, from there you can handle security." Said Madeleine.
"Easier said than done. These guys aren't as lazy as the rest that we've encountered. They've got snipers on each section of the roof and what they miss I'm sure the turrets and sentry guns will pick up." Said Nathaly
"Actually, we don't actually need to worry about that." Said Tank catching the group's attention.
"Our mission, the guy we evac'd was in charge of maintenance for the entire network and has remote access. Once we're ready I'll send word, and he'll shut it all down." Said Tank.
"Then this'll be easy. We've got enough people that each of us can handle a portion of the base. Take out the snipers and go in through the roof." Said Cloud.
"Control, any hostages we need to worry about?" questioned Madeleine.
"Plenty. The exterior of the base between each of the star's sections has been turned into makeshift prisons. Sephiroth and Genesis are being held in the center of the base on the fourth floor in the detention area with a steady supply of that gas being pumped into their cells as well." Came the prompt response.
"Well, it looks like I know what my job will be." Said Cloud with a sigh, he really didn't want to be doing Sephiroth any favors, but he already knew having those two would make retaking the base easier.
"What about enemies, how many are we dealing with?" questioned Zack.
"It looks like the bulk of the mercenary forces are here. The barracks are all occupied, and the active patrol guards are light right now. Even with the freed hostages you'd still be outnumbered 3 to 1 if the rest of them get woken up." Came the response.
"Ok. So, I'm guessing they pulled the same trick here that they did at the Communications HQ and used the robots to take out most of the base personnel." Said Nathaly
"That means I still need to get into the server room. I'll see what I can do to help even the odds." Said Kunsel
"The rest of us will thin the numbers and free the hostages. That will make taking the base back much easier. Let's try not to make any noise until Kunsel can work his magic." Said Tank.
The attack began this time with Tank making a call over the comm and within less than two minutes of that call the group of SOLDIERs watched as sentry guns and turrets around the compound went offline as they folded in on themselves and lowered into powered off positions. Thirty seconds after that they were witness to the entire base going dark as power was killed. Only a few seconds after this the first two snipers went down on different sides of the roof. As one of them was on his portion of the roof Cloud broke from the cover of the trees in a full sprint clearing the distance between the edge of the forest and the base in mere seconds leaping the remaining distance to the wall and landing feet first on the wall about halfway up and continuing as if it was a flat surface.
Peering over the edge of the roof he found that there was no one else within his vicinity and quickly pulled himself over the top. The roof of the building showed its true scope as even from his position it was clear that the building was massive in size as there was so much space between positions that the next sniper wasn't even within shouting distance. There was a door into the building not far from his position that was unfortunately locked though it didn't give him much trouble picking it. After slipping inside he found himself at the top of a flight of stairs that were angled so he would have to go down four levels to reach the bottom judging by the opposite side of the hall. The interior lighting was dim with the hall illuminated only by small light strips along the bottom of the wall at least as far as this section was concerned.
Getting through the hall proved to be no issue as there were only a trio of guards all on different levels but proved easy to evade as they were far enough away to not be an issue. While he could have just as easily taken them out he didn't see the point and wasting time on such a thing. Slipping out of the door and into the circular corridor he was greeted to almost complete darkness with the exception of the light strips at the bottom of the walls. Instead of continuing further however, he paused as a pair of voices he guessed were patrollers caught his attention coming from the right side of the corridor.
"Look all I'm saying is they should at least give us the chance to bid on them or something."
"What's the point. What are you going to do with one of those big ass swords, you can't even use a regular one."
"Idiot you don't use a sword like that. You put it on display on a mantle. Give it a few years, maybe a decade and those things will be worth a mint to the right people. Think about it man, the sword of fucking Sephiroth, you don't come across shit like that every day." Said the first man.
"That's why Sam locked them up in that office, keep them out of reach of morons like you." Said the second man laughing.
Cloud waited in silence until the sounds of their voices and footsteps faded away. Moving further into the corridor Cloud moved to the left and up the stairwell on the other side of the corridor to the next floor. Thankfully the next level was just as empty as the lower level. To his left was the access door for the center of the base that split open at his approach and closed immediately after he entered, he moved warily but quickly through the hall each side of which was lined with offices. The doors for the offices were open and Cloud was beginning to think he'd need to go up to the fourth floor to find the right office when he came to a door that was both closed and locked. The locks were all electronic, requiring a keycard to unlock them, meaning he couldn't just pick his way in.
"Kunsel, are you in position?" questioned Cloud.
"Just barely, what do you need?" came the response.
"Can you unlock the office of Lt. Cameron Dawson."
"Give me a minute."
Cloud waited until there was a click and checking the door was pleased when the doorknob turned, and he was able to push it open. Behind the door he saw three chests scattered around the office, there were two metal briefcases atop the desk and on the wall to his right a sword rack which held a pair of large, sheathed swords.
"You find what you were looking for?" questioned Kunsel.
"More than I expected actually." Said Cloud.
"Good. I'll work on cutting off the gas and clearing the room. By the time you get there it will be safe to enter." Said Kunsel
Entering the room, he closed the door softly behind him and made his way over to the desk and the two briefcases. He noticed immediately that one was a bit thicker than the other and a closer look revealed it had a dial combination lock holding it closed.
"Control, you there?" questioned Cloud.
"I'm here."
"I think I've found the mobile workstation. I want to open it up to verify but it's got a combination lock." Said Cloud.
"Cloud this is Hoffman, combination should be Niner, Tango, Seven, Oscar, November"
"Got it, Niner, Tango, Seven, Oscar, November." Said Cloud.
On the dials he moved them from left to right to show 9, T, 7, O and N. Once that was done he tried opening it and was able to lift the top easily showing the upper half was an incased screen while the lower half showed a keyboard.
"Package confirmed." Said Cloud
"Roger that. I've been informed of your storage ability by Director Deusericus. You're being charged with the care and protection of the package until I can retrieve it from you personally." Said the man.
"Understood" said Cloud.
Closing the case, he spun the dials and tested it to make sure it was locked before storing it in his inventory. Next he turned his attention to the other briefcase. This one, instead of a tumbler dial had a simple key lock and while he didn't have the key he was able to pick it open pretty easily. Opening the case, he found a manila folder inside stuffed full of documents and after picking it up found two small devices inside placed inside of foam inserts.
Picking one up he noticed a single button that once he pressed ejected a key. Pressing the button again caused the key to retract and he turned his attention to the folder. Inside the folder he found a folded piece of paper which he opened to reveal a map of Wutai with a few locations marked. Aside from the map there were several other documents inside, which thanks to his enhanced brain power he was able to read through quickly the contents of which surprised him immensely.
Apparently the leaders of this band of mercenaries were survivors of the Republic of Junon's Head Families, the children of the country's political and financial leaders. There were five of them that teamed up and after working their way up the ranks eventually took over the Wild Bisons. Now they were using the group's mercenary activities as a smokescreen to find Old World knowledge so they could try and resurrect Junon to what it had once been.
This was the real reason these mercenaries had shown up in Wutai allowing them to profit from the job multiple ways. Looking the map over once more with his new understanding regarding the markings he was able to see which places had already been checked and found only one that wasn't marked as a failure and that was located within the combat zone. Packing it all up and storing it in his Inventory he was not surprised when he received an alert from the Edge System but ignored it.
Next he went around the room to the various chests and proceeded to empty them out. By the end he gained 3 Hi-Potions, 2 Eithers, 3 Phoenix Downs, 4 Antidotes, a Poisona materia and 3,000 gil. He stashed everything aside from the Poisona materia inside his inventory while he replaced the Steal Materia within his Copper Bracer with the Poisona knowing he'd probably need it for Sephiroth and Genesis. The final chest was beneath the sword rack and opened it to find a pair of armlets with four linked materia slots all of which were full. Finally, he collected the two swords from the wall and placed it all in his inventory.
On a whim he checked the Edge System and found that the mission had been updated.
Side Mission: Commander Hogan's Workstation – Active – Deliver the workstation to Captain Hoffman
Side Mission: Knowledge is Power – Remnants of the Republic of Junon are searching for Old World Knowledge. Retrieve it before they can. Time Limit – 3 hrs. 45 minutes
Mission: Counterpunch – Retake control of Shinra bases in Wutai – 2 of 3 completed
Counterpunch – Central Base – Active – Locate and revive Sephiroth and Genesis – Bonus 1 Complete – Bonus 2 Avoid detection – Bonus 3 Unknown
Frowning he wondered what Bonus 3 was and also what Bonus 1 had been. He'd have to start looking the thing over more often, so he didn't miss anything going forward. Leaving the office, he made his way to the end of the hall and up the staircase to his immediate right rounding the corner of the staircase just in time to dodge to patrol. Continuing up the stairs he bypassed the third floor entirely and came to the fourth, which was blocked by a large metal door lit by neon blue light.
The detention area was a modification that Shinra had created upon claiming the building and had seen the most modifications in comparison to the rest of the base. The metal door was simply one example, the space on the other side he knew had been modified to host an abundance of turret guns in the walls, floor and ceiling.
The door itself was slightly ajar which told him that Kunsel had already worked his magic and security in the area was down. Opening the door and stepping inside he found that this area, in contrast to the others, was pitch black as not even the panel lights were lit and another modification that was easy to see was that the corridor had been converted from offices to prison cells as it had the same layout as the office corridors. Genesis and Sephiroth had been placed at the very back of the corridor in cells directly across from each other, the one smart thing Cloud felt the mercenaries had done other than keep pumping the gas into the cells.
Genesis was the first person he saw to, mostly as his cell was on the left and that was the one he decided to open first. The door was already unlocked and stepping through he found that Genesis was out cold still lying on a small cot. Using a Phoenix Down followed by the Poisona materia had him stirring in very little time and after dropping his equipment Cloud moved over to the other side of the corridor to Sephiroth's cell and repeated the process and waited in the corridor for them to emerge.
"It appears that you are the one we have to thank for our liberation." A voice came causing him to look up and see Sephiroth fully equipped standing in the doorway of his cell.
"A 2nd Class, I'm impressed. You even managed to retrieve our gear." Came from the other side causing him to look to see Genesis.
"I specialize in stealth and infiltration as such freeing the two of you from your confines was my assignment." Said Cloud.
"How did we get here anyway? We woke up in confinement." Said Genesis.
"A mercenary group called the Wild Bisons in conjunction with Wutai agents infiltrated the bases. They gassed the SOLDIER quarters, you two were the only ones who survived. While there is a longer more detailed version that's the basics of the situation. My team is in the process of gaining control of this base as we speak." Answered Cloud.
"Team?" questioned Sephiroth.
"There are eight of us, split into teams of four that have been working on taking back the bases all night, including the research bases this is the 5th one we've gotten to tonight." Said Cloud.
"That's certainly different. Usually only one or two of us are sent out at a time." Said Genesis.
"What's the status of the base?" questioned Sephiroth.
"About 65%. This place is huge, plus we're trying to be quiet, we don't want to trigger the alarm and wake up the rest of the occupying force." Said Cloud after a few moments.
"I see. Let's aid them." Said Sephiroth before striding forward with Genesis right beside him.
In the end it took just over 22 minutes for the base to be completely recovered from the time that the network went down until the last mercenary was taken out. From that point not a single enemy shot was fired nor were any reinforcements called. As for the ones who were sleeping they would never get a chance to fight as Kunsel locked down the barrack corridor that they occupied. Genesis and Sephiroth once loose cut a bloody swath through the base both making the former captives unneeded and giving the newly enhanced SOLDIERs an idea of what they could one day be capable of. In truth it was only the knowledge that the base needed to be protected until reinforcements could arrive that kept them there when the two learned that they were next heading for the combat zone.
The Executive Conference room was once more in use. President Shinra observed the people seated around the table silently, the full executive committee was present and while Director's Palmer and Tuesti weren't necessarily needed for this he'd included the two of them in the summons anyway. Also attending was his son Rufus, he actually was needed considering that his role would change soon after the war was over. Currently the room was silent, understandable as they were watching a live feed of the goings on in Wutai thanks to the Hercules. While it was just after 2 in the morning in Wutai the time difference between the continents was a solid 16 hours, making Wutai nearly a full day ahead of Midgar. As such it was not even 10 in the morning and well within the operating hours of the Shinra staff.
They had been gathered initially because he'd wanted to be kept informed of the happenings in Wutai however he hadn't expected that they would get control of communications and the camera system so swiftly. As such they currently had screens dedicated to both teams and as such were able to see the action as it was happening. Furthermore, the audio communication between the teams and The Hercules were being sent to them in real time as well and as such they'd seen and heard everything that was happening since before the very first base was hit.
"This is nuts, it hasn't been three hours, and they've already recovered all five bases." Said Palmer, his grayish blue eyes wide in surprise.
"They move like Ghosts." Said Director Reeve Tuesti quietly.
"Wutai's ninja forces move similarly. We have been lucky thus far that they do not make up the bulk of Wutai's forces." Said Heidegger gruffly.
"Perhaps, but these are SOLDIERs, Wutai's ninja train their whole lives from what I understand. This group have only trained for a few months." Said Reeve.
"We have a bit of a cheat when it comes to training. Virtual training is something that Wutai cannot boast to have." Said Lazard speaking up for the first time in a while.
"It's surprising, I didn't think you were versed enough in stealth to design such a training program." Said Heidegger.
"I'm not. Cloud designed the program." Said Lazard.
"I fear he may have done too good of a job." Said Reeve pulling attention to himself.
"While in the short term this training may be a boon for the war. I fear however that the civilian populace will become unsettled if too many people have this skillset." Said Reeve
"Elaborate." Said the President causing the rest of the rooms occupants to pay attention.
"With respect sir, this group, eight people were able to seize control of five occupied bases in less than three hours without a single enemy being made aware of their presence. With the exception of a few silenced bullets they have hardly used anything aside from their wrist blades. There hasn't been a single usage of materia. Granted in some cases they used the enemy complacency against them but that's not my point. While we are all present and witnessed how this was done the regular populous will not have that understanding. Unless this is handled right they will believe we have begun training assassination squads as this has none of the signs of SOLDIERs at work." Explained Reeve.
"Its fine." Said Rufus bringing attention to himself once more.
"As was recently pointed out to me, most people want this war over and done with. They don't care how just that it gets wrapped up sooner rather than later. Outside of Midgar in the more rural areas of the world people are beginning to question the purpose of the war entirely. If worded correctly they will believe that this training is a step towards ending the war sooner." Said Rufus.
"Does that ease your worry Reeve?" questioned the President.
"Oh, I'm not worried at all, merely giving voice to a potential issue." Said Reeve
"Humph a lot of fuss over nothing. They can scurry around in the dark, so what. To this point I've seen nothing to demonstrate their actual prowess as SOLDIERs." Said Hojo.
"That is because you see value only in what gives you battle data you'd like to see." Said Lazard.
"I greenlit the stealth approach as it was correctly pointed out that if they tried frontal assaults which is standard SOLDIER thinking they would have been cut to ribbons. More than half of the members of the 3rd Generation are previously military, they have a tactical mindset that is beyond your standard SOLDIER who simply wants to be a hero." Said Lazard.
The city of Xuson was supposed to be Wutai's counter to Midgar, unlike Midgar which had been a completely new city, Xuson would be a redesign on an old city that had fallen into disrepair. The city had been a relic of the old world, even its name being lost to time, that Wutai's government had finally decided to do something with. Unfortunately, before even the first shovel could break ground the war kicked off and the project was forcibly abandoned. The area had since then become the battleground that Wutai and Shinra's forces clashed over.
The city itself was almost three times the size of Midgar though had been built on the ground rather than suspended in the air. It had once been dominated by skyscrapers, but the vast majority of the buildings had seen major damage since that time and as such none of them were left undamaged. The group of SOLDIERs were currently looking at the edge of the city from about a quarter mile out and could already see some of the damage done to the city as none of the buildings appeared to be whole, entire chunks were missing from them and some of the buildings had collapsed partially or even entirely, though whether that was due to the ravages of time, or the current fighting was up in the air. From the Central Base they'd got a lift back to their vehicles and had made it to this point in just 30 minutes.
"So how are we doing this?" questioned Chloe
"This one's going to be a little harder considering we've got three targets and we're going to hit them simultaneously. We've already received the coordinates for the control points we need to hit so we'll use the Beacon to track the specific one for each group. The control points serve a second purpose as each of them has a device that allows access to the network. Until those devices are up and running there is no access to the network in the area and as such no way to contact Control or Insight, so we are now on our own." Said Madeleine inwardly wishing the helmets were off so she could see their expressions.
"Mac, Chloe and I will take the Eastern point while Kunsel, Nat and Del will handle the Western point. That leaves the central point to Zack and Cloud. We'll stick to the shadows as much as possible, we don't want them to know anything is happening until it's too late to do anything about it. If you come across any enemy patrols take them out hard and fast, from this point on we don't need to worry about stealth. We are weapons free; orders are to leave no survivors. Once your point is secure activate the device to connect to the network, call it in and you'll get further instructions from there." Said Tank.
With the instruction given each of them activated The Beacon, which was tracking software capable of sending a signal that tracked your location. Another usage that had come later was the ability to lock or pin a location with the system to make your way to that location. After locking in the locations of the control points they needed the group split up into their new teams, with each one making their own way into the sector of the city that they needed to enter. As they traversed the city on the way to their target location Chloe felt her confidence with the sword increase with each confrontation.
She'd been training with firearms for a few years already, so the confidence had already been there and had only grown during the nearly ten weeks they spent training. While she'd also known a little close quarters combat, that training had also been furthered. Swords, however, had been something she'd had no experience with and while the training, especially virtual training, had been extensive she'd still been unsure of how she would do real world situations, especially against other people.
What she'd forgotten was that she wasn't the same as she'd been prior to joining SOLDIER. Sure, she recognized that every time she looked in the mirror or took a shower. The Enhancement had absolutely transformed her, and it wasn't just the new pair of tits she'd come out of it with. Her body was absolutely covered in muscles, she was stronger, faster and more agile than she'd imagined she could be previously and while training had demonstrated that once again real-world experience was a completely different thing. As they came across patrols and engaged she found herself moving and cutting people down before guns could even be pointed in her direction. One person had thought to sneak up on her and she'd kicked them so hard they flew into the side of a building before crumpling to the ground.
When she remembered to actively channel chakra through her body her speed and strength increased anymore. Where before she'd been able to dodge bullets this increase allowed her to actually track them allowing her to deflect, cut them or even simply watch them go past her. She cut a shotgun in half in a single swing of her sword as if it were made of butter before dealing with the shooter with similar ease. Between their small skirmishes and rest time they took nearly an hour and 10 minutes to reach the place. The target location was a single large building, it was round and off on its own in the middle of what she guessed was a parking lot judging by the number of ruined cars they passed.
"I wonder what they needed such a big place for." Said Mac.
"Some form of entertainment I'm guessing." Said Tank.
"Definitely, but what kind of entertainment requires a building this big." Said Mac.
Chloe, while curious about that as well was more concerned with the fact that they were out in the open and thus exposed. Honestly the only thing that made it even a bit bearable was the fact that the lights surrounding them were all obviously out of order. That and the fact that she'd already taken out all three snipers on this side of the building before they even stepped into the lot. As they reached the building rather than take the obvious entrance they circled the building until they found a stairwell that led down. There was a locked door, but Tank picked it easily allowing them inside of the building.
Once through the door they found themselves within an underground parking lot with only the night vision in their helmets allowing them to see their surroundings. To the left was the main exit of the lot with a ramp that led to the public parking lot. Following the wall they soon came to another door which opened into a darkened hallway that they followed to the right until it branched out in three different directions. Warily they split with Chloe going to the left, Mac to the right and Tank continuing straight ahead.
Following her selected hallway Chloe soon had to stow her sword back into its place on her back as there just wasn't enough room to utilize it. The hall soon led her to a staircase that went forward and doubled back to the next level. She took the stairs slowly seeing that some of them were missing and some of the remaining ones were rusted.
She barely made it up before a mercenary turned the corner and entered the doorway. Before they could react she sprung forward with her right arm shooting upwards as she stabbed her hidden blade directly into their throat. Pivoting to her left the hidden blade carved a new smile into the throat before she brought her hand down and watched him fall forward over the edge to the floor below.
"…snipers are down. More than likely we've already been infiltrated. Gear up for a full assault..."
It took her a moment to realize the voice was coming over a speaker from a handheld radio that the mercenary dropped. Slowly she turned her own comm unit on but stayed silent as the voice over the radio issued assignments to the people occupying the building. The voice on the speaker didn't even slow until it was done issuing commands letting her know her most recent takedown had gone unnoticed.
"Good work, Chloe. We know what we're up against now." Came the hushed voice of Tank.
The enemy had split themselves into three groups, one on the inside center and the other two occupying the two sides of the building. It was a good, defensive strategy if they were dealing with regular Shinra forces. With this in mind Chloe made her way through the open doorway and immediately found herself within another hallway. As she moved down the hall she passed several doors on her left that led into private rooms that looked into the center of the building.
As she walked through the hall she silently peered into the rooms finding all of them empty, with only the center room possessing a sniper rifle aimed at the center section of the building. On the right side of the hall there was only a single doorway across from the last room that led to a small stairwell, one set going up and another down into a hall. Knowing what she needed to do she descended into the hall.
It took just under 30 minutes to reach the Western control point. This Kunsel mused was mostly due to the fact that they ran across a Shinra army patrol squad and were informed that there was a tunnel system that covered the entirety of the area they needed. At one point it had covered the entirety of the city, but several sections had collapsed since that time leaving only small portions intact.
They'd taken the side mission of restoring the cities power or at least the portion of it Shinra controlled. Apparently the enemy had taken the precaution of cutting power to the entire area which had taken out the Shinra automated forces and killed communications. They'd had no choice but to accept as they couldn't complete their own mission without power though thankfully the side mission wouldn't take them out of the way, in fact it was in the same place as the control point meaning they could do both simultaneously.
The tunnel let them out not far from their destination, which turned out to be an old three-story mansion, it was surrounded by trees and overgrown grass while the building itself was covered in thick vines even the roof which had a pointed tower like a castle. Kunsel knew instantly this had been some rich person's house, before whatever occurred that destroyed the old world.
"So what's so special about this place that it's considered a control point?" questioned Nat.
"And how is it this place can remotely tap into and control the power?" questioned Kunsel.
"According to intel this place has a direct connection to an old power substation. Apparently whoever owned this place had some kind of device that patched into it.
As they reached the front of the building near the entrance the door slammed open allowing a number of mercenaries to rush out.
"More mercenaries, great."
With no hesitation Kunsel used his fire materia to conjure a ball of flames and launched it at the doorway. As the fireball struck it exploded taking out those in the immediate vicinity both outside and inside the doors while those clear of the doorway were staggered by the force of the explosion. Not wasting a moment Madeleine and Nat leapt forward swords a blur as they cut into mercenaries before they had a chance to recover and in less than ten seconds all of the mercenaries had fallen.
"That was easier than I expected." Said Nat placing her sword back in its place on her back.
"You're SOLDIER. This is what the difference is in the real world." Said Kunsel.
"So why the fireball?" questioned Madeleine.
"Because I just want to get this over with. Unlike the regular forces members of SOLDIER don't have drawn out fights or battles, not unless there is a special circumstance." Said Kunsel
"Right, then let's get on with this." Said Madeleine
Entering the mansion they found themselves standing within a large entryway with a double stairway that had obviously seen better days. Three mercenaries stood at the top of the stairs, spread out to cover both stairways and the center. As the guns lifted to fire the three SOLDIERs slashed the air in the direction of each mercenary causing blades of energy to be launched at each one striking each in the chest and sending them flying back. Two slammed into the walls behind them while the third fell over the back of the center rail going through a table before finally hitting the ground
"Is that it?" questioned Nat.
"Seems like it. I'm guessing they didn't see this place as much of a priority." Said Madeleine.
"It doesn't matter. If there are more they are deeper inside and if there aren't even better. Let's just do what we came to do." Said Kunsel.
For Zack and Cloud their control point was 5.34 miles into the city from their starting position. Both of them realized that it probably wouldn't be that simple as that didn't account for things like dead ends in the calculations. It took an hour and thirteen minutes before they neared the location that was their target point, during which time they'd dispatched 11 separate patrol squads and twice they'd come across active battles between Shinra forces and Wutai that they stepped into. The knowledge that actual SOLDIERs were in the warzone bolstered the Shinra forces though they'd asked them not to spread the word just yet to more than their base commander who thankfully understood the reasoning without needing it spelled out for them.
At the moment the two of them were sitting at a rest stop on a bench taking a five-minute break as they only had about two blocks before they reached their destination. They already knew what their destination was, it was hard not as it towered over everything else and looked like it was the only intact place in the area. It was a dark building which gave it an extra feeling of foreboding, especially since they could tell that there were more than 50 floors to it. With the size of the building both thought it was a sure bet that there was a large force inside and as such elected to take a break before getting any closer.
"Man, I still can't believe people used to live in this place, there must have been like a million people." Said Zack causing Cloud to chuckle.
"In a place this big not even close. From what I learned as a kid, Old World cities had massive populations, the largest if I remember right was around 37 maybe 38 million." Said Cloud
"I wouldn't even know what to do living around that many people, Midgar already seems excessive, and it doesn't come anywhere even close to a third of that size." Said Zack.
"That's because the two of us are a pair of country boys from small villages where everyone knows everyone." Said Cloud.
"That's true. You know my mom wrote me talking about how everyone is really excited that I actually made it into SOLDIER." Said Zack.
"So, you finally got in contact then. How'd your dad handle it?"
"The first time, he called me and yelled at me for a while. I actually thought he was going to reach through the phone and strangle me. Mom told me he's actually really proud though, just really upset since I worried them running off like I did." Said Zack.
"So just like I told you."
"Pretty much, though now she keeps bringing up how I need to find a girl to marry. Shouldn't have told them about you." Said Zack causing Cloud to smirk.
"Alright enough of this mushy crap. Give me a minute and then we can get back to work."
With that said Zack stood and walked off into an alley not far from the bench they were on. Taking advantage of his moment alone Cloud took the time to open up the interface of the Edge System. Both his main mission and side mission were still active and more importantly showing that the destinations were the same, meaning both could be accomplished within the building.
He only achieved two of the bonuses for the Central Base, the first by retrieving the weapons and supplies for Sephiroth and Genesis and the second by avoiding detection. The third he'd missed as he'd needed to eliminate the mercenary leader himself, though Genesis ended up doing that. The bonuses hadn't been bad, as for the first he received a reputation increase with Sephiroth and Genesis while for the second his group received a reputation increase as a whole.
While the reputation increases may not seem like much of a reward in contract to something more tangible he knew that reputation is what really mattered. The reputation increases along with increasing skills over time would make the promotion to 1st Class easier. It would also make it easier to operate as a reputation both good or bad could determine a lot in the world especially how people acted towards you.
"Alright let's go fuck some people up." Said Zack making his way back over.
"What are you so excited for; you know what we have to do." Said Cloud.
"Well just like with monsters we get a bonus for every enemy we defeat. I plan on getting myself a Buster Sword like Angeal's." said Zack grinning.
"Not a bad choice, Angeal's needs some maintenance though. You think he would let me work on it?" questioned Cloud not able to hide his eagerness.
"Honestly I've never even seen him use it, but it wouldn't hurt to ask." Said Zack.
"Let's get this over with then." Said Cloud grabbing his helmet from beside him and placing it back on.
"Now who's excited." Said Zack though he still put his helmet back on.
It was at just that moment that the building lit up in a dark blue glow as the power seemed to kick in, consequently giving it a more dangerous feeling than before.
"Damn, it's bigger than I thought." Said Zack.
"Still no choice but to go forward." Said Cloud.
Mac cursed, instinctively shutting her eyes tightly as the building lights suddenly came on and hastily jumped back to put space between herself and the mercenaries even as she shut off both the thermal and night vision functions of her helmet. As her vision cleared she found she wasn't the only one that the sudden brightness had affected as none of her opponents had taken advantage of her momentary weakness, instead it seemed they were just as affected as she'd been. Taking a moment to do a quick count she found that there were only seven left, the rest of their number could be seen, or at least their broken bodies could be found littering the length of the corridor in every direction surrounding her.
This didn't seem to bother them in the slightest as they rushed her once more each of them brandishing a combat knife. As the first reached her she sidestepped to the left and brought her sword up with her right-hand thrusting through their midsection. As two more came at her in a pincer she jumped taking the body with her and spun flinging the body off her sword and into one of the approaching mercenaries throwing both into a wall. Another leapt up to meet her and she managed to move her head enough to evade the thrust of that knife before grabbing their thrusting arm with her left hand using it to swing and toss them behind her, there was a short scream that was abruptly cut off telling her they wouldn't be a problem.
She hit the ground in a crouch with another already rushing towards her bringing their knife down towards her head. Grabbing the descending arm she brought her sword up through the arm near the shoulder causing them to cry out even as blood gushed from the wound. Hearing footsteps rushing from behind her she spun once more bringing her sword back down through the neck of the one she disarmed even as she saw the one that was rushing her and smacked them in the head with the other end of the arm she'd been holding as if it was a club. Dropping the limb she stepped forward using her right leg to hit them with a thrust kick that launched them back off their feet to slam into a wall with force.
As another rushed her she sidestepped and used her blade to remove their left leg as they passed before spinning and bringing the blade down through the torso. As the next thrust at her she moved her left leg back allowing her to dodge before bringing her right elbow up and slamming it into the helmeted face. As they staggered back she changed her stance swinging her left leg forward and planting it down adding force to her forward thrust with the blade running them through the length of it.
Withdrawing the blade she turned in time to see one of them finally picking themselves up after pushing the body of the mercenary she threw at them off. At the sight a ball of flames materialized in her left hand before she sent it forward striking them in the torso. Looking towards the one she kicked into the wall she was satisfied finding that they were unmoving and a quick usage of her Asses materia informed her that they never would again since she'd apparently kicked them so hard one of the ribs punctured their heart.
"Clear on my end." Said Mac after a few moments.
On the other side of the building Chloe was in a similar situation in that it was her versus many. Unlike Mac who favored her brute strength Chloe found during her training that speed was her advantage, and she was utilizing it as best as she could. Blood and bodies littered her side of the corridor though she ignored it as she ran across the corridor and dropped into a kneeling slide using her blade to take off a leg with her left hand even as her right scooped up a discarded pistol that she brought forward and fired kneecapping a different mercenary. Flipping her blade into a reverse grip she spun cutting into the side of another while firing the pistol behind her hitting the legless mercenary in the head.
Dropping the pistol she spun grabbing the mercenary she just cut and pulling them in front of her using their body as a shield just in time to receive several shots from a pistol. Rather than releasing the body she lifted the right arm and squeezed the trigger of the shotgun held in its hand hitting the pistol wielder in the torso. Releasing the arm she pushed the body forward snagging a combat knife from the holster on its leg even as the body crashed into another mercenary. In an instant she flung the blade hitting the mercenary she kneecapped in the throat.
She noticed another rushing towards her even as the another group began forming up with machine guns. Stabbing her blade into the ground she grabbed the rushing mercenary by the arm and flung him at his comrades landing just in front of them. As they brought the guns up to fire she held her left hand up showing the grenade pin hanging from her index finger. Instinctively the group looked down just as the grenade went off taking all of them out. Panting she took a moment to catch her breath even as she looked around to make sure she didn't miss anyone.
"Clear on my end." Said Chloe retrieving her sword and securing it in its place on her back.
In the center of the building Tank was living up to his name walking through all challengers without slowing. His sword was held in a reverse grip in his right hand and the overgrown grass that covered the center of the building was now painted red with the blood of those who crossed his path. Around the center of the room there was ruined seating that covered all of the space save for the free areas for isles. While there were no bodies there one mercenary could be seen in one of the seats watching the action. As a mercenary came at him with a sword Tank used his left foot as a pivot to spin behind them before stabbing backwards impaling them from the back.
Striding forward he ducked under a flying punch and as the attacker landed kicked the back of their knee causing them to kneel and stabbing his blade through the back of the neck. Quickly he brought the blade back up just in time to block the swing of a machete. Spinning around his attacker he grabbed him by the back of the neck just long enough for the hidden blade to emerge and stab into them before he released allowing the body to topple forward. As the body fell the sound of clapping had him looking up to the lone mercenary who had now stood from their seat.
With his attention now on them they chose that moment to jump over the railing to land on the grass below it. As the mercenary approached Tank took a moment to look them over as this mercenary over, his armor was different from the rest, sleeker adding forearm and shoulder guards to the design as well as a sleeker that did away with the rebreather, most likely internalizing it. The armor and helmet were mostly black, with orange accents including the orange tint for the eyes.
As he readied himself for the fight Tank was surprised when instead of attacking the mercenary reached up and tapped the side of his helmet. Tank watched incredulously as the helmet opened and the man removed it revealing short cut black hair and dark eyes with a small mustache and goatee as he tossed his helmet aside.
"You know I didn't much care about coming here. Neither Shinra nor Wutai hold much interest to me you see." Said the man moving his head from side to side.
"You though, you've piqued my interest. You've got actual skills, I like that." Said the man combat knife from a thigh holster and tossing it aside before drawing a pistol.
"I've never really cared for using these either. Takes away the rush." Said the man tossing the gun aside.
"Squeezing a trigger, it's like ordering take out."
As he said this the man removed the sheath of a sword from his back and tossed it aside followed quickly by the armor that covered his torso. Rolling his shoulders he eyed Tank who remained silent watching him warily before holding up his empty hands palms outwards for a moment as he began approaching him slowly.
"This is where it's at. This is the pulse. This is what I do." Said the man.
Tank was silent for several long moments before lifting his blade and stabbing it into the grass and drawing his pistol and dropping that. Reaching up he removed his own helmet and placed it on top of the handle secure in the knowledge that both Mac and Chloe had handled things on their end.
In the next instant the fight was on as the mercenary didn't hesitate to open up with a trio of swift jabs that Tank weaved his way around before going for a grapple that Tank blocked before hitting a palm strike to the chest that sent the mercenary stumbling backwards.
"I heard SOLDIERs were stronger than that." Said the mercenary.
"True, but I don't get to test myself that way." Said Tank sinking into his stance.
The mercenary rushed forwards once more this time opening with a low kick that Tank backstepped from only for the mercenary to plant the leg down and use it for a jumping knee that Tank leaned away from which was followed quickly by a downwards right punch aimed at his head. Shifting his body Tank grabbed the extended arm before spinning and tossing him away. The mercenary hit the ground and rolled three times before managing to stop and push himself back to his feet.
As he came with his next trio of jabs Tank backstepped to avoid them and as he came with a right cross Tank leaned his head back to dodge it before grabbing the limb and pushing it down. Before he could capitalize a left cross came that he avoided grabbing that arm with his other hand to hold it in place then forcing the mercenaries right arm up into a bend released it leaving the open palm in front of the mercenaries face long enough for him to bring his own fist forward hitting the back of the mercenary's hand and causing him to hit himself with the open hand rocking his head back.
Standing back he watched the mercenary shake his head before coming back towards him. As he went for another punch Tank knocked it aside, punched him in the mouth with his right and unleashed a flurry of five short punches into the torso. The mercenary answered with a thrust kick which Tank dodged before hitting him across the chest with a clothesline.
As he stumbled back Tank stepped forward firing off a left hook to the side, a right hook to the opposite side, another left hook and an uppercut to the jaw that rocked his head back. At the sight Tank's left hand shot forward his hidden blade emerging and stabbing him in the center of the throat before retracting. As the body hit the ground Tank sighed before moving back and collecting his things.
"Clear on my end." Said Tank as soon as his helmet was secure.
Kunsel hit the bunk gratefully and released a long held in sigh. Thankfully after the initial battle at their assigned control point there hadn't been any other fighting needed. Instead after exploring the mansion and eventually restoring the power and getting the network device going they just had to wait for personnel to come and reestablish control over the place.
After that they were directed to the current headquarters of the Shinra military personnel which was a building that took up an entire block all on its own. Like many of the buildings they'd seen it was covered in thick vines and had grass in multiple areas including parts of its roof the front of which had a dome structure in the center like some sort of crown. This building had apparently once been the city hall, and all three SOLDIERs could understand why Shinra had occupied it as their main headquarters.
"So how do you think the others are doing?" questioned Nat removing her shoes.
"They'll be fine. You saw how easy it was for us to handle things." Said Kunsel not even bothering to open his eyes.
"Sure but we didn't face all that much resistance either. Besides I'm more worried about Cloud and Chloe, sure things have gone well so far but I'm more concerned about if things turn into a drawn-out fight." Said Nat.
"I wouldn't worry about Cloud in that circumstance." Said Madeleine breaking into the conversation.
"Cloud was made 2nd Class based purely on his combat ability. As for Chloe she's come a long way so I'm sure she'll be fine as well." Finished Madeleine.
The lobby of the control point, while not pristine had quickly been reduced to a sight of carnage as rubble was scattered all over the place while blood and broken bodies littered the room. Zack grunted as he kicked a mercenary before immediately kicking the one beside them sending them both flying and slamming into a wall. As his foot touched down he was forced to backpedal dodging the pointed end of a sword from a thrust along with the following two swings. As the blade came down again he sidestepped to the right, grabbed the extended arm with his left hand before his right shot forward the hidden blade emerging and plunging into his throat.
"Clear!" called Zack as the body crumbled.
On the other side of the room Cloud didn't respond. He stood still surrounded by bodies, the blood-soaked blade of his makeshift rope dart in hand, one end of the rope looped around his left hand while the rest slacked at his feet. Further back mercenaries eyed him warily. Initially they disregarded his rope dart, considering it a joke of a weapon but that assessment quickly proven foolish as they watched their comrades by quickly dispatched. Before anyone else could move the metal of the weapon shattered causing Cloud to frown.
Releasing his hold on the rope Cloud moved his left hand instead to the sheath of his sword withdrawing the sheath completely from his side. Before he could move to draw the blade one of the mercenaries in front of him rushed forward their own swords raised to attack. As he bore down on him Cloud moved his sword emerging quick as a flash as the mercenary stumbled past him.
As he stumbled to a stop and turned back to face him the mercenary's chest armor fell apart just before blood gushed forth from a diagonal cut across his torso. Seeing this the rest of the mercenaries rushed forward as one and as they neared and bore down on him Cloud forced himself into a spin. As he completed the spin the mercenaries stood frozen for several long moments before the blades of their swords fell off followed swiftly by their armor falling apart and them crumpling over.
Zack whistled impressed at the sight, once again marveling at Cloud's ability with a blade. As he neared the bodies Zack realized exactly what happened as both the broken swords and armor showed signs of being melted.
"Okay, how'd you do it, I didn't see any fire." Said Zack.
"That's because I don't engulf my entire sword with fire. While I could, I don't need to be that flashy. Instead when I channel the magic I focus it solely on the edge. I get a superheated edge but no billowing flames which is all I needed." Said Cloud.
"I didn't even know you could do that with materia." Said Zack.
"Just a little trick I picked up." Said Cloud shrugging.
Looking at the clock on the wall Zack saw the fight lasted around 10 minutes from start to finish which wasn't bad considering the number of enemies they'd dealt with.
"DAMN IT AGAIN!"
Zacks frustrated cry didn't surprise Cloud in the slightest. After the physical fighting was over with they found themselves fighting a new battle, this one with the building itself. First it was the elevator not working forcing them to take the stairs, then they came across portions of the stairway missing or even inaccessible due to debris forcing them to find other ways to continue forward. They'd just come to another dead end on their path which meant that they would have to double back and find another way up. As Zack spun around to double back Cloud paused to bring up the Edge System causing everything around him to slow to a crawl.
Immediately he found that it had been 30 minutes and thus he had 1 hour and 47 minutes left to complete the side mission Knowledge is Power. The system was showing that he had to travel further up the building, specifically to the roof, while they only had to get to the 24th floor for the completion of the main mission. Considering the summary for Knowledge is Power he was betting that he would find more enemies upon arriving there. The problem, however, was still getting there in the first place, the stairwell was obviously out, and the elevators were magnetically sealed meaning they couldn't force the doors open to go up the shaft.
'How the hell did they even lose this base in the first place? There's no way Wutai actually fought their way through. Every base had its…"
"I'm an idiot." Said Cloud dismissing the Edge System
"What'd you say?" questioned Zack.
"I just had an idea. I need to check something."
Without a word he rushed past him, back out of the stairwell with Zack following after him quickly.
"What's going on?" questioned Zack.
"How did they get control of the building Zack? There were 300 people based in this building alone, we only fought 100 down there. More than that they didn't fight any Shinra's forces directly when they took the bases so why would this one be different?"
As he finished speaking Cloud came to a door and pushed it open though he didn't step through. Looking past the doorway revealed that the floor had given way as had the ceiling. The wall on the other side had multiple large holes and beams and poles were exposed throughout the area.
"This is how Wutai got control of the building." Said Cloud stepping aside so Zack could take a look.
"We avoided this part of the building because we knew it was destroyed and inaccessible. The thing is it's not, if you have the correct skill set. Stay here, I'll get the elevator going so you can make your way up." Said Cloud
Before Zack could argue he leapt to the wall to his right using his chakra in order to cling to it. Climbing up the wall about six feet he looked over his shoulder at the room before leaping turning in midair and grabbing a pole which he used to swing twice before vaulting to a horizontal beam and grabbing hold before pulling himself up. Walking across the beam to the left he leapt again grabbing hold of a vertical beam and climbed up through a hole in the ceiling.
The next floor he found was in a bit better condition but more importantly he could see a an open door leading to a small balcony to his right. Pushing off from the beam he landed lightly on his feet and moved quickly through the balcony door. The balcony he found was more like a small ledge, just enough room to stand and get some air but not much else. Looking around he found a platform suspended several floors above him and about five balconies over, considering the cables he could see holding it up that was more than likely how Wutai got into the building. Leaving the platform suspended like that was a nice touch since they probably figured without that no one else would be able to follow their path.
'Luckily I don't need something like that." Thought Cloud smirking behind his helmet.
Turning to his right he placed his left hand on the railing before jumping over and using his grip to swing forward hitting the wall feet first. With chakra active in his feet he clung to the wall easily and after releasing the rail began to run up the surface of the wall. Despite the fact that as he ascended he noticed holes within the wall he was able to make his way to the roof quickly and slowed as he neared it. He waited just below it for several long moments and after hearing no sounds peered over the finding no one was outside.
Grabbing the ledge he pulled himself up onto what he quickly realized was a helicopter pad before he received quick alerts from the Edge System. Checking he found one that stated to restore power to the elevator and a second that stated to avoid detection. From the helicopter pad he followed the path to his left across a walkway towards the main part of the roof. He could just barely make out a door for the building on the main roof and also spotted a power box built into the wall on a walkway just below the main roof one of which he guessed would restore power to the elevator. Before he could move to check it out he froze as he heard voices.
"…believe they just mowed through our guys like that." Said one voice he quickly identified as female.
"They were SOLDIER. That fight was over before it started, though that rope weapon was new." Said another voice, this one male.
"You think they'll actually make it further up?" questioned the first.
"Without the elevator? It will take a while with all the damage to the building. Besides they initially only had access to the first 24 floors. We're on 74, by the time they can get up this far we'll be long gone." Said the second voice.
"Jayce, Raena, I'm not getting any responses. Looks like Shinra hit every base we were occupying tonight." Said a new voice, this one also male.
"So just like you thought." Said Raena.
"I never expected them not to hit back quickly. This job was doomed from the start that's why I told Sloan to bring more men." Said Jayce.
"So what do we do?" questioned the third person.
"We get what we came for and get the hell out of dodge." Said Jayce.
"How sure are you about this place?" questioned the new voice.
"About 70%. The guy who owned this company was part of Operation Rebirth. I don't know what project he had but I know he was a project leader. I'm hoping he kept at least a backup of his information here. Either way we'll know in a few hours once we can get through the encryption on the security system." Said Jayce.
"You heard him, Myles. We still have a while to wait, let's try to get a bit more rest before we have to get up." Said Raena.
Cloud waited and listened as the footsteps moved away from him. Deciding to give it some time before going to the power box he slowly proceeded further along the walkway towards the door. Upon reaching the door he found it wasn't all the way closed and as such he was able to open it enough for him to slip through. Upon stepping inside he found himself inside of a small hallway, to his right was a set of three ascending stairs while to his left was a doorway.
Going up the stairs Cloud found himself within a bedroom which boasted only a bed, nightstand, a small closet and a small bathroom with a standing shower stall. Leaving the bedroom he made his way down the stairwell and quickly to the doorway. Slowly he opened it and found himself stepping into an office with a part of the wall being used to form the door. The office itself was pretty large with a wooden desk near the hidden doorway and sitting in front of large windows. On the other side of the room was what he thought was a meeting area as it had two couches facing each other and a small table between them.
Turning towards the desk he found it was clean, nothing on top of it but a small box, or rather a cube that was black with silver edges the top of which was blinking with a soft blue light. Warily he touched the top of it with his hidden blade only for nothing to happen. Frowning he tried again this time using a finger of his left hand and hurriedly pulling it away. That small touch however was enough as the light solidified before a holographic figure shot out for from it in the form of a man in a black suit.
"If you are seeing this message, whomever you are that means firstly that Operation Rebirth was at least partially successful, and the human race has managed to survive. My name is Desmond Peters. I am the Head of Lucent Entertainment and one of the financers and minds behind Operation Rebirth. I lead a subdivision of Operation Rebirth known as Project Enlightenment specifically the Entertainment division. This device, this toolbox, is a backup I have left behind in case something went wrong, and our knowledge has not been passed on. This box contains but a small portion of what I have gathered together and more importantly the locations of each bunker dedicated to Operation Rebirth and basic information on each project."
At this the image of the man was replaced with a map showing more continents than Cloud thought had ever existed and a red dot to indicate the bunkers. Suddenly the map was replaced with the man now holding a disc in hand, very similar to the ones he'd inherited from his father. He held it for several long moments before sitting it down and picking up the toolbox.
"The information is stored on Knowledge Keys similar in appearance to this one. Unfortunately we have no way of knowing what the world will look like after this calamity. Projections indicate that the planet may not be capable of supporting human life for hundreds, maybe even a few thousand years. Because of this each of us have installed functions that will give updated locations of the bunkers. The nearest bunker is the one I am in charge of and this box is capable of activating a tracking beacon to give its current location and will act as the key allowing entrance to the bunker should that function be activated by pressing in here and holding for five seconds. It is our hope that you who come so long after us will not repeat the mistakes we made, perhaps this will even be our redemption."
With that the message shut off with the light dying down with the box not even showing the blinking from before. Picking up the box he stashed it in his inventory along with the docking station it had been sitting on. Immediately he got an alert from the Edge System which he checked showing that Knowledge is Power had been updated with the next step showing Go to the Bunker with a time limit of three days. Turning back the way he came Cloud made his way through the hidden doorway making sure it was firmly shut behind him and doing the same for the door on the roof which quickly blended into the wall.
Instead of going back across the walkway he followed the roof to a stairway taking it down to a walkway and following that to the power box. Thankfully the box had directions inside of it which helped him realize that the power was actually on but was on a maintenance hold. For that all he had to do was press a button to release the hold which he did before silently going back up the walkway to the foot of the stairway.
"Zack you there?" questioned Cloud softly over his comm unit.
"I'm here where are you?" came the quick question and answer.
"On the roof. The power box for the elevator was up here. I've got it turned on. I just have to make my way back down." Said Cloud.
"Alright. I'll head up to finish this off and meet you back in front of the building." Said Zack.
"Got it." Said Cloud.
Within thirty minutes of Zack securing the control point he and Cloud arrived at the Shinra military headquarters, both with their helmets in hand, where the rest of the group could already be seen standing outside. This was accomplished thanks to the network being up and running allowing them to learn about the tunnels that would take them were they needed to go and as such cut down on travel time. They were immediately directed into the back of a transport truck which gave them a ride outside of the city to the spot where they left the motorcycles they'd borrowed from the Central base.
From there they rode back to the Western base were the bikes were collected before taking the tunnels to the base of the mountain were a small boat was already waiting for them. As such it was a tired group that pulled themselves up the ladder onto the Hercules where a three people greeted them one of whom was a man in a captain's uniform. The captain himself was impressed though trying not to show it, this group had after all accomplished their mission in less than six hours, clearing five bases and three control points within the combat zone.
"Welcome aboard The Hercules, my name is Captain Charles Hoffman. Congratulations on the completion of your mission. Private Anderson will guide you to the SOLDIER quarters so you can rest."
Cloud by this point had already retrieved Commander Hogan's workstation from his inventory and held it out which the man accepted with a nod. From there they followed Private Anderson to the upper deck where each of them were directed to a door for a cabin. Inside they found only a bed, a storage chest and a small bathroom but it was enough. Once the door was closed behind him Cloud make quick work of ridding himself of his boots before collapsing on the bed.
Mission: Counterpunch - Complete
Side Mission: Commander Hogan's Workstation - Complete
Side Mission: Knowledge is Power - Active - Go to the bunker - Time Remaining: 72 hours
AN: That's it, the chapter is done. I thought about extended the combat scene for Cloud and Zack but I didn't want it to seem like they were trying to hard so kept it as it is. Also considering the setting I thought it would be fun to throw in some one off characters and thus Delta Squad and FitzSimmons made appearances. Anyway that's all I've got for now so thanks for reading and please review. Until next time, LATER.