It is an instinct for many creatures to gather into social groups for survival. It often emerges as a response to environmental stimuli such as predation, need for mating, and resource availability. From such simple places, complex behavior and hierarchy emerge. Parallels can be drawn between this behavioral pattern and the aggregation of basic cells into colonies during the early stages of multicellular life, providing insights into the emergence of complex organisms.
The aggregation of single cells into colonies represents an evolutionary milestone in transitioning from unicellular to multicellular organisms. Early cell colonies likely formed when individual cells began to cluster in response to environmental pressures. These cell clusters evolved into greater, even essential codependence eventually giving rise to multi-cell organisms, animals, and plants.
Specimen J cells exhibit similar behavior, but we still have not determined the external
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XXIX. Unfinished Business
Fuck fuck fuck fuck.
Reno didn't know anything about what was going on anymore. Gun had her weapon pointed at Rufus. Rude stared back with a look of betrayal. And in the middle of this twisted old fashioned standoff, a man in a fucking cape appears out of fucking nowhere, somehow sneaking past tight security.
Dark Nation hissed at the figure, its ears tucked back, and the fur at the scruff of its neck stood on end. Rude looked between them before slowly raising his fists.
Ahead of them, the helicopter was still preparing to take off, and a mix of machine gun fire and monster howls filled the night, blending into a haunting chorus that now accompanied them.
Rufus looked at them all, hands deceptively lax at his side. His prized shotgun was holstered just under his jacket. With a silent leap that made him seem like he was floating, the caped man joined them on the helipad.
"Rufus Shinra," he said, voice deep and almost rusty. It was cold and tense like anger being tightly held back, "You have something I need." He raised his right arm and pointed his pistol calmly in a stance not dissimilar to Gun's. Dark Nation growled but stayed at Rufus's side.
"Oh?" Rufus replied coldly, "Make an appointment." He punctuated the end of his sentence with two shots from his shotgun. They hit the space where red fabric lingered only moments before.
He clicked his tongue, and that was the only cue needed. Reno raised his weapon in defense as Dark Nation lunged at the command. He didn't have a chance to check what Gun was up to as Electrorod was met with a flurry of teeth. Bullets whizzed by as Tseng intercepted the red-cloaked man. On the other side of the helideck, Rude fought Rufus's guards. Rufus looked on from where he stood, eyes cold and shotgun cocked.
With a yell, Reno channeled energy into his weapon. Sparks lit up its length. Dark Nation dropped the other end. On the other side, Gun dodged behind a barricade as Rufus unleashed a barrage of bullets her way.
More shots rang out. Each burst of light illuminated the mysterious man's face, smooth and half-hidden behind his cowl. Two shots. Two troopers were bleeding, their rifles clattering uselessly to the floor. If he wanted it, Tseng would have been dead.
Reno lost the plot somewhere around there. Dark Nation was a menace, and he needed to survive first.
Tseng dodged Gun's attack, pressing closer. At range, Gun was deadly, which meant he needed to close in. It was something Veld always said. A tactic he honed against his old partner and passed on to Turks who specialized in close-quarter combat.
Tseng was careful not to overextend, though. Veld taught Turks who took up ranged weapons even more tricks.
"Tseng, listen to me," Gun said, "Rufus had his father killed. What are you swearing loyalty to?"
Tseng slammed his fist into the ground where Gun had been. She leaped back to put distance between them, but Tseng was already dashing forward.
He didn't know the answer himself anymore.
Tseng believed in the Promised Land. And since he came to power, Rufus had done as promised while leaving Aerith alone despite that pursuit. That was enough for Tseng. Now, Rufus was betrayed by Hojo and he would willingly forsake Midgar in crisis to chase him down. Tseng thought…he thought a lot of things.
"Have you forgotten your oath?" Tseng responded instead. He almost caught Gun wrongfooted, but she was ready with her counter. Tseng sprung out of the way of the spell cast his way. Gun didn't capitalize. Instead, her eyes widened as she dropped down to the floor.
Bullet fire flew overhead, followed by red flapping fabric. Tseng looked over his shoulder to see Rufus already casting. He rolled out of the way as the massive ball of fire flew toward them. It slammed into the side of the building, leaving a dark scorch mark that blackened the crimson Shinra logo emblazoned atop the wall.
"It's good to see you back in one piece," Angeal said, a hand on Zack's shoulder as the sound of fighting died around them. Around the tower's base, they had cleared an area covering several city blocks. Soldiers and troopers fanned out further into the central district to clear out the rest, while others led a group upwards to comb the floors.
Zack grinned back, his face streaked with sweat and blood.
"So much happened, 'Geal, wait 'til I fill you in."
Angeal chuffed, "Ha, you took the words right out of my mouth."
Zack raised a brow meaningfully at the two blurs still fighting. Silver and black blended with blue and gold as the two slashed their way through a wide swath of the monster swarm. There was a wordless poetry of two people who perfectly knew where the other would be. They fought like Angeal and Genesis fought, in sync and covering for each other's openings.
Finally, a fireball sent the last monsters scrambling away to be picked off by the surrounding forces, and the dance ended. Genesis swished his rapier, flicking off the accumulated blood and gore.
"Situation report?" Sephiroth asked as he and Cloud picked their way around corpses and walked back toward the rest of the group.
"Just peachy. You didn't like the welcome party?" Genesis quipped. Angeal snorted, then gestured toward the glass front doors, still miraculously intact. "I'll take you to the command center."
The front lobby was silent, and the silence was amplified when the doors slid closed behind them. Other than a few resting Soldiers and more being tended to, the lobby looked like it always did. As they reached the top of the stairs that brought them to the central elevator bank, the elevator doors opened to reveal a familiar goateed man.
"Cloud!" Reeve said, "You're back!"
The Shinra executive had dark bags under his eyes. His normally neatly slicked-back hair was ruffled and greasy, and his beard had grown ragged.
"What's the damage?" Cloud asked. Reeve looked pained. His brows furrowed even more deeply.
"We've moved everyone we could to more defensible evacuation points. Shinra outposts, military annexes, that sort of thing. Even out of Midgar if we had to. Shinra outposts, military annexes, that sort of thing. And cleaning up in the Tower."
"Evacuation," Cloud repeated in shock. "And…Ruvie?" The name sounded unfamiliar to Angeal but elicited a response from Reeve, who let out a loud sigh, running a hand through his hair as his eyes tightened.
"I tried calling. I haven't heard anything in hours."
"We'll go-" Cloud started to offer, only for Reeve to cut him off.
"No, I…As much as I want to be out there, there's a bigger problem here," he started walking back toward the elevator. "Your…friend is here. He's fighting with the Turks on the top floor." Cloud stopped so abruptly that Angeal, walking closely behind, almost bowed him over.
"Vincent?" Angel saw Sephiroth raise a brow at the name, and Zack started. "At the tower?"
Reeve sighed, "I don't know. He was with Veld. There was an explosion in Deepground, and now monsters are pouring out of Sector Six. I left Cait Sith upstairs, but he can't access the systems to shut anything down-"
"Where's Lazard?" Sephiroth asked urgently, apropos to nothing. Reeve must have thought so, too. He blinked owlishly.
"He hasn't been back since Rufus ordered his house arrest," Reeve said. Sephiroth ran a hand through his hair.
"Zack, go with Angeal to clear a path to Sector Six," Sephiroth commanded, "Genesis-"
"Look for Lazard. Yeah, I know."
Then Sephiroth turned to Reeve, expression serious. "Cloud and I will go with you to find this…Vincent." Cloud started shaking his head.
"Vincent can handle himself. Ruvie-"
Sephiroth shook his head, "Trust me on this. We need you here. Please." Angeal watched Sephiroth and Cloud share an undecipherable look. Finally, Cloud deflated and nodded while Reeve just looked defeated.
Genesis opened his mouth to protest, but Angeal touched his lover's shoulder.
"I think Sephiroth and Cloud will be able to handle anything they find here," Angeal nudged gently, "Midgar needs us more out there, Gen." Finally, Genesis deflated too, a petulant look still on his face.
He turned to Reeve instead.
"We'll look for her, too."
"There are three fronts," the tired-looking trooper reported. "The monster incursion was worst in Sector Six via the sewer system. However, they also found their way to Sector Seven. We're reinforcing the Sector Five slums to the south and clearing up the Sector Seven plate now, but the entirety of Sector Six is in danger of being overrun."
"We split up," Genesis decided after looking at the map of Midgar. "I'll work my way through Sector Seven plate side with a Soldier squad. That's where the employee apartments are. Zack and Angeal, look for a way down into the slums."
"Stay safe," Angeal said seriously. Genesis snorted.
"That's what I say to you."
He watched Angeal's retreating back for a moment then turned to the trooper.
"We're taking the truck," he said. The trooper nodded and gestured toward one, its headlights already on. Sebastian climbed into the driver's seat without prompting while Genesis climbed into the passenger side, and Essai and a few troopers clambered into the back.
"The nearest command post is at the Seven-Six annex on the plate," the trooper explained outside the open driver's side window, "Most refugees would have gathered there."
"Sir, prepared for take off." Tseng didn't need the pilot to tell him that, though. He heard the whirring blades pick up speed as outwash clawed at his hair and clothes.
"Sir-"
But Rufus wasn't paying attention. The president had a dark look on his face as he calmly aimed his shotgun and fired. Again. And again. And again.
Tseng bit the inside of his mouth until it hurt because his team was on the other side of Rufus's hateful glare.
Something that sounded like a bullet ricocheted against the helicopter's side. In response, one of the troopers turned to the machinegun port and let out a burst of bullets at their assailants, causing the cloaked man (the biggest threat) to disengage and keep the rest of the team pinned to the other side of the deck.
Tseng's team.
"Shit, stop fi-" the deafening sound of the machine gun drowned out Tseng's voice.
Around them and the raging battle, flying monsters continued to stream by. Meanwhile, the helicopter lingered behind him.
Get him out, and they'll disengage. Just get him out, Tseng thought.
Rufus whistled at Dark Nation as it made a lunge again. Tseng's heart was in his throat when he saw Reno on the ground. At Rufus's second whistle, the hound halted. Then it twitched. Its eyes glowed red as it let out a bloodthirsty howl.
Its entire body began to pulse red as it ballooned in size. Tseng knew Rufus's loyal pet was more than a guard hound. It was one of the more successful Shinra experiments on chimerization. Stronger, faster, and more intelligent than any hound, wolf, or couerl. Now, his own eyes confirmed Dark Nation was something else entirely.
"Sir," he shouted at Rufus, "You need to get on now!"
"But-" he glanced at Dark Nation, now as big as a behemoth and taking aggrieved, powerful swipes at the assembled group. Rufus shot at their attackers a few more times before backing away.
Tseng covered Rufus's retreat as he watched Dark Nation charge again. As it did, its shape continued to morph. As it grew, the single tendril down its back lengthened and multiplied. Its multiple tentacles fanned out, giving it the appearance of a mane. It roared as its tentacles flailed, knocking aside troopers, denting railings, and leaving deep rents in the metal deck under its paws.
Rude managed to pull Reno out of the way and was now helping his partner stand. The redhead had a hand over his shoulder as crimson spread across his white shirt. The red-cloaked man, moving faster than Tseng could see, was fighting Dark Nation head-on, keeping it distracted. Tseng grimaced as he watched them engage, then turned, unable to watch anymore.
He waited for Rufus to board and grabbed the handle. The door slid. Rufus's hand gripped the door frame, stopping him from slamming it closed.
"You…aren't getting on?"
Tseng closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, he saw Rufus's crestfallen face.
"I'm sorry, sir," he bowed deeply, "This is as far as I can accompany you. I wish you the best."
Rufus let out a choked laugh. "Even you…" Tseng heard the helicopter door sliding closed by itself before he straightened. Rufus's eyes, icy on an impassive face, stared back. He said something inaudible. Tseng slowly backed away as the helicopter began to inch off the deck. He closed his eyes and let the sound of pulsing blades wash over him.
Beyond the tower, from across the city, screams, explosions, and terror echoed upward. He tightened his fists.
Gun put both of her hands back on her firearm and aimed. She stared down her sight at the helicopter between the fighting. Inhale. Exhale. Stop. Squeeze.
The bullet shot out with a loud pop that was drowned out by the sound of the helicopter. It bounced harmlessly off thick reinforced glass. Gun gritted her teeth and aimed at the rotor instead, firing off more shots. They bounced right off. She cursed as the machine gun lit up with return fire as she rolled behind unloaded crates.
She looked over one shoulder to see the hail of bullets seeking a soft target. She looked over the other shoulder, and her heart almost thundered out of her chest.
"Shit, warn a person."
Next to her was the red-clad man, also sheltering behind the crates on the sparse deck. Gun hadn't even heard him approach. Red eyes glanced over.
"You are mad," he said. Gun bared her teeth.
"You don't know shit," she bit out as she reloaded her weapon. The other man looked out from the crates and then turned back to her.
"You can be mad later. We need Shinra alive."
Gun growled, "After what he's done?"
"More people will die if we don't stop the helicopter right now -"
A familiar voice let out a pained yelp.
Gun cursed again and peeked out. Her eyes widened when she saw Reno writhe on the ground, crutching his shoulder as Dark Nation towered above him. Fucking experiment. With a curse, she squeezed the trigger. The shot went wide.
Breath in. Breath out.
She squeezed again, and the shot slammed into the creature's head. It barely phased it, but it bought enough time for Rude to pull Reno out of danger, healing materia already glowing. The monster growled as it turned toward her. Before her eyes, the bullet wound stitched back together, pushing a flattened bit of lead out. It dropped to the ground with a soft clank, but Dark Nation was already charging toward them.
"Find a bigger gun," the man said, "And ground the bird." He rushed forward in a blur of crimson. Two bodies slammed into each other. More bursts of gunfire lit up from a swirling cloak, and Dark Nation swiped back with claws and flailing tentacles. Gun looked around.
She rolled past the body of a trooper and grabbed the rifle that had fallen uselessly by his body. It was a higher caliber model, meant for taking down monsters, but with a short barrel, it wasn't built for accuracy. She came to a stop behind another pile of crates just in time for machine gunfire to spray her way, hitting the dead body with sickening thuds and sending splinters flying as it grazed the crates. She popped the cartridge open.
Half full. But she could make every shot count.
Gunfire abruptly stopped, and Gun heard the characteristic click of an empty chamber.
Now!
She stepped out of her cover and aimed down the sight of the rifle. Tseng was backing away as the helicopter slowly lifted from the platform. The outwash made it hard for Gun to open her eyes.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Squeeze—a burst of fire.
Gun grimaced at the recoil. Trooper rifles were cheaply made, optimizing more for power than accuracy. The kickback was expected but still jarring. But the bullets found their target.
At the back of the helicopter, the machine gun port was open to allow the gun barrel to slip through. The gunner went down without a sound, unable to complete reloading. Threat removed, Gun turned her sights on the rotor.
The President's helicopter was heavily reinforced. Simple gunfire wouldn't ground it easily. But every aircraft needed its rotors to fly. Her sights were trained on the vulnerable tail rotor gearbox. Take it out, and the aircraft will spin directionlessly in the sky. If the pilot were half as good as Reno or Rude, he would perform a controlled crash at the nearest safe landing site, back on the helideck on top of the tower.
Breathe in. Breathe out-
"Out of the way!" Reno's voice rang out. Gun didn't even think. She jumped as Dark Nation barreled past her in the nick of time. She lost the angle on her shot as the helicopter rose ever higher.
To her astonishment, Dark Nation paused at the edge of the deck. It whined like a puppy upon seeing Rufus abandon it. As if unaware of its size, it leaped forward. Tentacles shot out, and one wrapped around the helicopter's landing skid. The aircraft jerked and tilted as it was arrested in mid-air.
"Shit," Gun cursed as she looked down the sight again. But she didn't know what to aim for. It finally rested on the long tentacle.
Behind her, she heard footsteps as the others ran to join her. Tseng also ran toward her and was intercepted by Rude. A cloak fluttered in her peripheral vision.
"Vengeance won't set you free," the stranger said but stood idly, making no move to stop her.
"No," Gun said gruffly, trying to hold back tears, "But it sure as hell would make me feel better."
Ahead of them, the helicopter swayed in the sky like a toy kite. A second tentacle joined the first. Inside the aircraft, a trooper squeezed past his dead comrade at the machine gun only to find it already spent.
Gun finally squeezed the trigger. Dark Nation let out a pained cry as the bullet wounded one tentacle. It slipped free, and the helicopter jerked. Dark Nation reared up in pain, and the aircraft unwillingly attached to it shuddered, almost stalling in mid-air.
Gun breathed deeply. One. Two.
Dark Nation's mane flared, and more tentacles reached for the beleaguered helicopter. When they stopped short, it raised its rump, about to pounce.
"Fire," Tseng shouted as Dark Nation lunged forward. The command almost made Gun reflexively pull the trigger.
She took another deep breath, her aim steady on the monster as it leaped.
Clack. Clack.
The bullets wounds didn't deter Dark Nation.
The adrenaline made everything slow down. The monster flew ever closer to the helicopter. To Rufus. The trigger slowly pulled back under Gun's finger. Then she sighed. Her finger relaxed on the trigger. Letting out another deep breath, she let the rifle barrel drop. Time sped up.
"What are you-" Tseng reached for the rifle, but it was too late.
The monster completed its leap. Its flailing tendrils connected, wrapping tightly around the horizontal landing skid, causing the entire aircraft to lurch. The last thing Gun saw was the look of terror on the trooper's face as the helicopter dipped below the deck. They ran to the edge.
The aircraft was knocked out over the side of the building but continued to struggle with the heavy weight dangling beneath. It wobbled as it tried to right itself, flying out over the rooftops of Midgar's central business district.
The machine gun finally came back to life, shooting rounds uselessly into the sky. The helicopter swerved valiantly, but Dark Nation's mutated form was too much. It spun out into the night, rapidly losing altitude as the rotors gave out.
Finally, it crashed into a neighboring highrise.
Unwilling to keep watching, Gun turned. She saw Tseng. Rude. Unreadable looks on their faces as they watched disaster happen. But the red-clad stranger was watching her instead. At her gaze, his eyes met hers. His face was momentarily lit again by a blaze as the dull roar of an engine explosion sounded. Gun could almost feel the heat at her back.
The light reflected in his eyes, making his irises glow orange.
"They're in fate's hands now." He looked back toward the Tower instead.
Gun closed her eyes as she heard screeching in the night, tightened her grip on her rifle, and headed inside.
Lazard shot again, the sound ringing in his ear well after the bullet was fired. Next to him, another man was reloading his rifle, also retrieved from the body of a dead man.
The Shinra complex was almost empty when they got the survivors here as its various mechs and units were deployed elsewhere. The skeleton crew there held off the monsters long enough to wave the people in, and now, anyone able-bodied was defending their last bastion of safety. But a steel door did nothing against creatures in the air. Flying monsters picked them off as ominous sounds continued at the gate from countless rammings. Slowly but surely, the metal was giving way. With each thud, the metal groaned. A crack was forming where the blast doors met, showing the locking mechanism that normally held it tight.
"Damn it, what're they feeding these things," the older man asked as he finished reloading and propped the rifled back on top of the makeshift barricade they erected inside the compound, "I've never seen anything like this. You think they're trying to get at the reactor?"
The annex was not only a military depot in Shinras employee district, it also formed one of the checkpoints into Reactor Seven. Most of the employees housed in the district worked at the reactor. Lazard thought about the reports that once came across his desk (it felt like a lifetime ago) and the different locations for monster sightings.
There had been an uptick around Midgar, but he had never imagined this volume.
"They're sensitive to mako," Lazard said, "But I've never seen them go after the reactors like this."
The older man looked at him for a moment.
"What are ya, one of the scientists?" he asked.
Lazard demurred, "Only a paper pusher." The other man laughed.
"Guess only us old guys are left to hold down the fort. We should get comfortable," he stuck a hand out, "Rowan Raspberry. Off-duty reactor supervisor, but now I'm just trying to keep the family safe."
Lazard took his hand.
"Call me Laz."
"Need some help?" Zack asked as he struck down the snake-like mutation. Clay looked disgruntled as he lowered his rifle.
"Took ya long enough," he groused, "Leavin' us do the heavy lifting. Typical."
Zack grinned. "Getting down here was no joke, ya know," he said, waving at the wreckage around them, "Angeal vetoed the parachute idea."
As if on cue, a monster shrieked overhead. A familiar grunt interrupted their banter as Angeal finished off the drake. Next to Clay, another man about Zack's age stood up from where he was crouched behind a low wall.
Angeal also walked up to them, voice serious but unwinded as he asked, "Sit rep?"
Clay's face tightened while Zack and the other man straightened at the tone.
Heh, Angeal's still got it.
"We pushed as far in as we could," Clay said, "Think some of your boys are still fighting inside the sector. Ya better go help 'em while we handle things here." Zack nodded gratefully and followed Angeal past the gates into Wall Market. Beyond, poorly built shacks had collapsed in on themselves. Twisted metal lined what used to be a bustling area filled with perpetual activity. Fires burned where fuel lines were cut, and electricity sparked from hanging wires.
Up the hill, the formerly ostentatious Corneo manor was engulfed in flames. Nearby, gunfire and magic flashed through the night.
"They're fighting near the weapons shop," Zack said as his pace sped up into a sprint. Wall Market was small enough that they reached the battle quickly. Zack dashed forward without hesitation. Kunsel didn't miss a beat, using his sword to launch him into the air. Zack came crashing down on top of the humanoid experiment.
"Thanks for the assist," Kunsel called, "But we already did the hard work.". Beneath the bluster, Zack could tell he was flagging.
"There's honor in being the clean-up crew, too," Zack teased back.
"My hero," Kunsel cooed mockingly.
Cloud could see evidence of fighting their entire way up: bullet hole-ridden walls, blood on the carpet. The worst was over, though; security was tight across the building, and troopers manned all the exits, straightening to attention when they saw Sephiroth pass.
Reeve granted them access to floor sixty-three and then sprinted for his office, hurriedly explaining that Cait Sith would have to get them through the rest of the way.
Cloud looked to Sephiroth, who nodded back, and they both headed again for the elevator bank. Reeve (or rather, Cait) came through moments later as the car appeared with a soft ding.
"The entire place is on lockdown, but the labs are on a separate system," a new voice said via the intercom as the glass doors slid closed behind them. "Once you get to the sixty-seventh floor, go through the lab. You'll find another elevator on the other side, which I can operate for you."
With another soft ding, the elevator slowed. Floor sixty-seven came into view, the open blast doors leading to the labs. Cloud didn't wait for the doors to completely open before he shot out, beelining toward the lab.
The first level was eerily silent. There were corpses of scientists intermixed with monsters. Cloud slowed to examine one. Gunshot wounds littered the bodies. Someone indiscriminately shot humans and beasts alike. Around them, mako containment tanks stood empty. Liquid levels were half drained, and the specimens were gone.
Sephiroth tapped on the terminal next to the elevator.
"Access granted."
Cloud reluctantly followed after taking another scan of the unsettling scene.
The industrial elevator doors dropped down with a screech, then they watched the heavy steel doors close, and the elevator slowly ascend.
"Cloud, there's something-"
The elevator shuddered and then lurched to a stop. As the outer hatch opened, a klaxon, muffled by heavy doors, grew deafening. The sharp scent of mako flooded the elevator, making Cloud's nose twitch. Bodies of soldiers in mako-lined suits were scattered around the area. Beyond, a monster roared as it rampaged among already smashed specimen tubes. Around it were crablike creatures that resembled walking eyeballs.
Cloud groaned.
"Why does the science department always keep these things here," he asked rhetorically as he reached for his sword again. The monster was a grotesque amalgamation of parts. One side was made of a great maul and tentacles that formed its arm. The other was an armored, club-like appendage it used to smash great dents into reinforced steel and glass.
As if to punctuate the situation, the elevator let out a cheerful buzz as the cagelike inner doors slowly slid open, drawing the monster's attention.
"Oh, Odin's-"
Cloud didn't get to say anything about Odin's nether regions before the monster charged at the elevator. Cloud and Sephiroth leaped separate ways just as the doors opened, and the monster smashed right into the metal box where they were seconds ago.
"Warning. Elevator malfunction. Warning. Elevator-"
Hojo's experiment roared, and a loud smashing sound silenced the elevator.
Cloud had no time to think before dodging a spell from one of the eye-like spawns the specimen was shedding as it lumbered toward them again. Cloud cast fire at it, but it didn't react. Blizzard did nothing, either.
"It's resistant to magic!" Cloud said, then aimed at one of the spawns. It screeched as it burned.
Sephiroth raised his blade at the monster.
"Take out the little ones before they swarm us," he said before launching a flurry of slashes at the larger monster. It raised its armored claw as the Masamune flashed, but too late. Sephiroth severed one tentacle from its limb. Meanwhile, Cloud concentrated as he channeled, recalling the Abzu.
I need to clear the area.
Magic from his core obliged almost eagerly, dancing at his fingertips as a spell's name fell from his mouth of a materia he didn't carry.
"Tornado."
Wind swept around the lab as the magic took hold. It whipped Cloud's hair around but didn't otherwise affect him. It brushed through Sephiroth's hair like a caress. Against Cloud's enemies, though, the wind turned violent in its vengeance. The gusts buffeted the smaller monsters, throwing them against walls and each other forcefully. The larger monster groaned on the other side of the lab as objects carried by the wind pummeled it, bringing it to its knees.
Sephiroth didn't miss a beat. With the monster rendered immobile, Masamune made quick work of it, slicing off each limb that rose to defend itself. The monster stubbornly fought, its tentacles reaching forward, and its mawl shot out hot streams of acid that burned anything it touched.
"On me," Sephiroth grunted. Cloud raised his sword, and in sync, he and Sephiroth swung. The monster slumped down, finally silent.
Cloud wiped his cheek. His glove came away with purple gore, and Cloud grimaced. Sephiroth watched Cloud wipe his cheek again, then raised his hand.
"May I?"
Cloud froze as Sephiroth's palm gently cupped his face. His thumb brushed an arc from the corner of his mouth to his cheekbone. When Sephiroth's hand left again, glove stained. Cloud could feel the rest of his face heat up to his ears.
No now. Cloud tipped his chin at the final elevator bank.
"Time to go," Cloud said instead.
Sephiroth turned without a word, and they climbed aboard.
Another monster crawled out from the tunnel, a smaller version of the thing they were fighting. When it caught sight of them, it growled with vocal cords that might have been human.
"Fuck, where did these things come from?" Biggs asked as he shot at the monster. It jumped nimbly out of the way, only for another to pop up from the open manhole cover. Clay just grunted.
Knowing Shinra, who knows how many other hidey-holes and labs they have secreted away underground?
Clay spent most of his time in the army fighting in Wutai, but that didn't mean he never heard the scuttlebutt. He never expected to have it confirmed this way.
A monster raced at Clay. Instead of stepping back, Clay emptied his clip into it. The monsters slumped and fell on Clay. Using its corpse as a shield, Clay shot at its companion. When both were down, Clay let go of the monster and let it flop to the floor. He turned toward his companion and then sprung into action.
"Watch out!" Bigg's eyes widened as Clay pushed him out of the incoming swipe.
"Clay!"
By the time Genesis arrived with the Soldier squad, monsters had already breached the main compound. There was a pile of scrapped mech in front of the gates, where the guard house used to be. Scattered were trooper corpses, some too dismembered to recognize. Blood - red and purple, human and monster- mixed together, smeared along the defensive walls. The mountain of monster corpses piled at the open gates clued Genesis into just how much fighting occurred.
Past the gate, the battle was raging. A ragtag mix of civilian and military still held the monsters at bay. Children and the injured watched on with horror in the hangers now emptied of mechs.
At the center, a behemoth was howling. Genesis grinned, bloodthirsty. The rapier rose to meet the occasion as he lept. He landed, and the sword struck true, shattering a horn and taking out an eye. Genesis danced out of the way of the answering swipe.
"Attack the blind side!" Sebastian and Essai didn't need to be told twice. Twin spells slammed into the monster. Fire and water met, fogging up the battlefield, and the two rushed forward in the confusion, swords swinging. The troopers and civilians fighting left the behemoth to swarm the smaller monsters alongside it. Genesis joined the fray, methodically injuring it limb by limb.
Finally, the behemoth crashed to its knees.
"Take cover!" Genesis ordered as it cast. Humans heeded the order where the swarming fiends did not. The showering boulders from the behemoth's last spell crushed down indiscriminately. In the aftermath, few monsters lingered, their packs decimated.
His troops made quick work after that. Genesis looked around the annex as Sebastian took the lead, directing the milling civilians and troopers slowly coming out from behind their makeshift barricades.
"Is this all the survivors?" he asked a passing man. The man sighed.
"Near as we can tell."
"Have you seen a blond man wearing glasses? Or an older woman in her sixties?" The man shrugged.
"Anyone who was injured or can't fight is in hangers or the mechanic building," the man said, pointing to a squat hanger toward the back of the complex, "Sorry to break it to you, but we gave anyone able-bodied a gun. If he's not here, he might not have made it." Genesis thanked the man and rushed toward the building he directed.
Inside, the maintenance bay had been repurposed as a medical facility. The sight gave Genesis flashbacks of Wutai. Everywhere that would fit, there were bodies in stages between dead and dying. The few materia were being passed around, but civilians couldn't cast the way Soldiers could.
"Get the squad, anyone you can find with a Cure," Genesis commanded. Essai ran back out without a word. Genesis continued walking along the rows of makeshift stretchers, scanning for a familiar head of hair. Then, along the wall, he saw an old woman bent over the form of an older man.
Genesis walked over.
"Excuse me-" The woman looked up. The resemblance was unmistakable, "Ruvie Tuesti?" The woman looked surprised.
"Yes, that's me."
"Reeve sent me to look for you," Genesis said, "Will you come with me?" Ruvie sighed.
"Oh, thank goodness he's safe," she said. Then her face fell, "Thank you for letting me know, but I can't leave the people here. Least of all, the man that saved me." Her eyes fell toward the stretcher, and Genesis followed her gaze.
He gasped audibly.
Under the grey hair and crinkly skin was a face Genesis was very familiar with. The square glasses were gone, and a bandage was wrapped around his torso. Blood so dark it looked black was slowly seeping through wound cloth.
"Lazard?"
At his name, blue eyes fluttered open. Lazard's wizen face smiled wanly at Genesis.
"Welcome back, commander," he said. His dry lips cracked as he spoke, "I'm sorry I couldn't be there to celebrate the end of the war with you."
"What- how did you get into this state?" Lazard coughed when he tried to laugh. Ruvie tutted and brought over a glass of water. He gratefully took a sip. When Ruvie pulled the glass away, he smiled sweetly at her.
"Could I please get a blanket? It's starting to feel chilly here." Genesis and Ruvie shared a concerned look. Though it was winter, the hanger was uncomfortably warm. There was a stink of human suffering mingled with sweat from so many bodies still clinging to life. Ruvie acquiesced with a soft sigh.
"Keep an eye on him for me," she said, leaving without waiting for Genesis's reply.
Lazard watched her go, then laid back down, his gaze far away.
"I wanted to make a difference. I thought Hollander would help me." Genesis was hit with a spark of understanding.
"You let him experiment on you. And now you're degrading." Lazard chuckled again, self-depreciatingly. Each rush of breath from his lungs made something in his chest rattle.
"Is that what it's called? Yes, that sounds right."
Genesis turned. "Medic!" he called desperately, "Medical pack, now!" When he looked at Lazard again, the former director was shaking his head.
"Save it. I'm too far gone," Lazard said. With each word, his skin pulled and flaked. Genesis made a noise of frustration.
"Don't give up," Genesis said, "There's a way-" Running feet interrupted him.
Essai gasped. "Di-di-director!" When Essai reached out, Lazard grabbed his forearm weakly. With the sudden motion, it was as if his fingertips were disintegrating, leaving ash on Essai's dark purple uniform. His gaze, however, was locked on Genesis.
"Tell me, am I a hero?" Genesis sighed.
"Of course, Lazard," he said, his exasperated tone masking the deeper turbulence underneath. "Kept us out of trouble, didn't you? Best director Soldier could have had." Lazard let out a sigh, then no more. Before Genesis's eyes, his skin crumbled until all that was left was clothes, dust, and a gaunt corpse.
A soft chime announced their arrival on the sixty-ninth floor. The elevator opened to an ostentatious red-carpeted reception hall decked in black marble. Cloud didn't take any of it in as his field of vision narrowed only to the wide staircase. He ascended the steps two at a time, and at the top, he took a sudden breath.
The presidential suite was empty. But a battle raged out the expansive windows behind the high-backed chair and heavy desk. From behind the glass, they could hear no sound. The heavy panes were designed for storm-force winds. It felt like like watching a movie with the volume muted. Cloud immediately walked toward the door, intent on offering help. Sephiroth grabbed his shoulder, halting him mid-step. When Cloud turned, he shook his head.
"I need you here."
From behind the desk, a familiar formed popped up. It waved a paw at the two of them.
"Over here!"
Cloud and Sephiroth circled the desk, no longer facing the fighting. From this vantage point, Cloud saw that Cait had pulled off the desk panels, exposing the internal wiring.
"You found a way in…cat?" Sephiroth asked. Cait looked up.
"It's Cait!" then he shook his head, "Nyow's not the time. I passed some lockdowns, but we need Shinra's authorization for the last step."
On the screen, red flashed.
"Access denied. Authorization required."
"For what?" Cloud asked at the same time Sephiroth spoke.
"What kind?"
Cait looked between them and chose to answer Cloud first. "Yer friend figured out Rufus locked the building out to keep Hojo from interfurin'"
"Hojo…?" Cloud asked. Cait turned to him.
"Fill ya' in later. Lockdown also locked out Deepground's containment overrides."
Cait pointed at the screen. It seemed somewhere below ground. Thick steel gates hung above a gaping pit. Monsters trickled out, covered in plaster and dust.
"What do you need," Sephiroth asked again, more urgently this time. Cait's ears drooped.
"Reeve's splicin' into the mainframe. The fastest way'd be biometrics," Cait said, shaking his head. "Rufus's blood, I mean. They use it for the big guns, like mako cannon big. It's keyed to Shinra. Yer friend's tryin' to keep 'im from gettin' away."
As Cait said this, the helicopter carrying Rufus pulled away. A monster Cloud didn't recognize lunged at it. Cloud cursed. Sephiroth held on to Cloud's shoulder again, keeping him still.
"There may be another option. It's worth a try. Otherwise, we will lose more lives," he said, "Put your thumb on the sensor."
"Me?" Cloud asked incredulously but did as Sephiroth asked, removing his glove. His hand hovered over the exposed apparatus on the desk. It looked awfully familiar. Things began to line up in Cloud's mind.
He looked at Sephiroth again. Is this a fever dream? But the other man's face was serious, and at Cloud's doubtful look, he nodded. Cloud put this hand on the sensor, and there was a whirring sound. A soft prick startled him, and when he pulled his hand off, a drop of blood beaded on his finger. The screen changed.
"Analyzing…Welcome back, President Shinra."
"What-" Gun halted at the door leading from the heliport, her rifle still brandished, "Cloud?" Behind her, a crimson shadow also appeared.
"You are…," Sephiroth said, eyes narrowing as he straightened by Cloud's side, surreptitiously stepping between them, Masamune in his hand.
"Sephiroth," Vincent greeted cooly even as he approached them from the open door.
"Vincent," Cloud half warned, half greeted. Chaos was no fan of Sephiroth's, and they couldn't afford a fight breaking out here. Gun seemed to follow Cloud's train of thought. She rolled her eyes as she relaxed the grip on her rifle.
"Quit the pissing contest," she said. "Aren't we all here for the same thing?"
Cait Sith raised his paws reflexively at the pointed weapons and nodded his head energetically. "Aye, don't we all wanna live?"
"Get to it, then," Sephiroth commanded. Cait tapped a few buttons on the screen, and the confirmation appeared.
"Initiating countdown sequence. All personnel to evacuate the area." On-screen, the metal doors shudder to life as yellow lights flashed.
"How did that work? How did you know that would work?" Cloud asked, staring at Sephiroth.
Sephiroth tilted his head ruefully.
"I suspected…"
Cloud jumped to the worst conclusion. "Am I…was I an experiment all along…"
Sephiroth's eyes widened.
"NO! No."
Vincent walked closer to the desk.
"Cloud-"
"Claudia Strife was a Shinra," Sephiroth finally explained. Gun gasped audibly.
"She's what?"
"I suspected. Ever since I met Claudia at the manor."
Cloud shook his head, still unable to piece it together. Was he always…?
"Cloud's not Rufus, though. How does that work?" Gun asked.
"I suspected it before…before. The authorization was keyed to Shinra's blood, not to Rufus specifically. Have you noticed? Shinra Senior never confirmed Rufus as heir. Yet Rufus authorized the mako cannon anyway."
"That's-" Vincent began.
"-a gamble. I know." Sephiroth turned to Cloud, who was still frozen in shock. "If it hadn't worked, we would find another option. A slower option."
Gun snorted. "And I thought I was the one for long shots."
"Five." The countdown continued.
The gears in Cloud's head began to turn. The Shinra Manor and the first mako reactor were all located in Nibelheim. Midgar, named after an old Nibel story. The Midgardsormr, the world serpent, named after a creature that brought about the end in the Nibel old stories.
"Shinra is from Nibelheim," Cloud said out loud.
Gun sighed. "I'm going to help the others." She left without waiting for confirmation. Before she stepped through the threshold, she turned to look at Cloud. "For what it's worth, I think you'll be better than the last one."
Cloud's eyes widened.
"What..?" he looked at Vincent for an explanation. In true Vincent fashion, the man simply shrugged and crossed his arms, eyes never leaving Sephiroth.
"One."
On the terminal screen, the gates slowly closed on the gaping maws of still more monsters crawling out of the abyss. Though the video was silent, Cloud could almost hear their howls.
"Loss of containment lockdown complete."
"Well, that's that for nyow," Cait said, clapping his paws together as though brushing dust from them. "Though I wouldn't envy the cleanup. The gates sure come down fast, then let ye open them individually. Decent design, doozy to manage."
Cloud heard him and could barely process. His brain was overloading. The ground was spinning. I'm a Shinra. I'm a Shinra? I'm a Shinra?
His hand rose to his chest, and the pendant, now resting just under his collarbone, was warmed by his body heat. His mother's necklace.
"Is that why she had that necklace," he wondered out loud.
Sephiroth's gaze snapped back to him. "Necklace?"
"Yeah, I-"
A clattering sound drew their attention, then the soft chime that announced an elevator arriving on the floor below.
"Expecting company?" Cait asked before bounding off the desk back onto the ground with a soft thud. Cloud shook his head and walked toward the stairs. Soft footsteps ascended the carpeted steps.
Rayleigh's familiar form appeared, her knees bloody and her glasses cracked. She paused when she saw Cloud. Her face contorted, and as Cloud rushed down to her, she collapsed on her knees on the stairs. Her shoulders shook. When Cloud laid a hand on her shoulder, she wailed.
Vincent is so fun to write. Other people see him as this mysterious guy and meanwhile, he acts like an angsty, stunted twenty-something-year-old in his head with Chaos.
Last chapter until next year! I am taking a longer break between chapters than usual. See you sometime mid Jan!
Happy holidays!