After another search of the warehouse perimeter, Vincent had almost given up trying to find another way in when he heard voices coming off the cliff side below. He peered down from the roof, atop the far western edge of the remains of ShinRa's long abandoned Modeoheim operations. Something he'd missed in his short reconnaissance the day before stared up at him from a rocky ledge. A cave leading into the mountain, straight under the 'derelict' warehouse. He climbed down the rocky cliff and perched alongside the mouth of the cave, well hidden in the shadows to listen and watch.
"You get that working yet?" A voice, deep and gruff, said.
"Easy, Jace. ShinRa never taught me how to fix one of their copters. We're just lucky I knew a thing or two from working with that Highwind before—"
"Don't care, Cav," Jace said with a growl. "Just get it working again so we can get the fuck back."
Vincent edged closer inside the cave entrance in time to see Jace edging through a makeshift doorway deeper into the mountain. The cave was larger than he expected. So large, it doubled as a hidden loading bay the rogues could slip in and out, no need to travel to nearby towns to enter this ghost town. The other man, another SOLDIER, tinkered with an old ShinRa helicopter parked in the cave's center, elbows deep in the engine at the back of the fuselage. Vincent noticed the inner door was not secured. Likely, they believed no one could enter into their hideout from this side of the mountain. The sheer drop beneath the cave was a cold, wet and rocky death for any human who would dare to try.
All the light in the cave was at the center. Vincent easily masked his presence in the shadows as he crept toward the still open door. Still, he wished he could morph into a bird. It would make his progress quicker and less likely to cause alarm if he was seen. He peered through the door and, after seeing no one in a short corridor, glanced over his shoulder before contenting himself the mechanic continued his work oblivious to Vincent's intrusion, then slid through the entrance.
The corridor descended further into the mountain. Vincent discovered an unexpected 'closet' in a tight crevice to the right, just before the ramp opened into a larger room. He sucked in all his breath and eased through the small opening, thankful for his natural slenderness, certain the bulkier SOLDIERs could never fit to explore this tiny tunnel, and found himself luckier when he ended up on a tiny ledge peering down into a laboratory.
Though it came as no surprise, the sight and smell still stunned him. The hard evidence of continued experimentation filled the fully working lab. Many cages appeared uninhabited, though he spied evidence of biological waste on the floor of each. Animals suffered in those cages and upon the gleaming steel tables erected under large overhead lamps. The insides of some cages, large ones along the southern wall, were obscured by curtains. He heard rustling and movement coming from the hidden cages, but could not identify the form of creature, human or beast. Maybe both. The occasional moan echoed in the cave, but Vincent couldn't discern if the sounds were from pangs of agony or hunger or despair.
Even through the darkness, his eyes allowed him to see experiments he'd not witnessed in decades. His breath stuttered, and he swallowed in disbelief. Not at the sight he once again beheld, but that it shocked him like it had years ago. Experiments he'd once believed the scientists had collectively deemed a waste of their time had clearly been reinstated by the one who had started them. Brukho never gave up. The cages were filled with bodies, desiccated and foul in their putrid states of corruption, bodies subjected to Mako injections from the waste of the Lifestream.
Vincent choked back the bile and quickly exited through his tunnel, still unnoticed by the SOLDIER/mechanic working on the antique ShinRa helicopter. He returned to the camp during the Turk's watch, feeling the blood leeched from his face and energy waned from horrors he had not seen since he'd been a Turk.
"What's it look like?"
Vincent shook his head. "Six men, one scientist and cages full of something."
"Something?"
The sun still hid, hours from dawning by the time they broke camp. Somehow, the cold air made the night darker, but they opted not to use flashlights and potentially risk their exposure to those they hunted.
Cloud bristled at the orders set out in their pre-dawn brief with mouth bunched against his irritation. Not that he wanted to go sightseeing with the former Turk, but Vincent should have let them know he went out scouting after commanding the camp to close up tents and sleep. He watched Tifa fuss at Vincent's cape for only a second, turning away when his old friend cupped her cheek and bent his head toward hers.
"They seem cozy. Eh, First Class?"
Cloud scowled. "Stay focused on the mission, Turk."
"Hard to focus at the scent of her." Reno inhaled and closed his eyes. "She's primed and ready for a tryst in the snow, I'd say."
"Any more questions?" Vincent said, drawing near and interrupting a very violent intent crossing Cloud's mind. When no one answered, Vincent nodded at the Turks, then toward Pete. "Let's head out."
Cloud followed Pete as their group headed toward the warehouse. The trek to the entrance wasn't far from camp. Each SOLDIER took up their position in Pete's arranged pincer formation, Cloud and Tifa making up the rear for anything unexpected. Nothing stirred from inside the warehouse as Pete's team settled in for the wait. Cloud crouched with Tifa behind a small shed that was dilapidated to such disrepair it could offer no shelter.
Though no one had spoken since leaving camp, Pete held up a hand to signal silence. Not three seconds later, the warehouse door whirred as it lifted into an awning of sorts. Two rogue SOLDIERs filed out, neither speaking as they each walked their post in opposite directions, the only sound the soft crunch of snow under their boots.
Tifa lowered herself further as one passed their position, though for no reason. Brukho's SOLDIERs had become too complacent. They didn't even glance in Pete's direction as he relayed calls over the comms.
Pete—Sentries marching, one headed west, and one north. We're in position.
His voice only carried through Cloud's earpiece, so much was any echo absorbed by the winter blanket. Cloud let a spiteful smile laze on his face. The laziness of these 'sentries' would be their undoing.
Vincent—We're at the clifftop.
Pete—Copy that.
Next to him, Tifa let out a loud sigh. She glanced at him, giving a friendly smile she hadn't tossed his way in a while. "Show time," she said.
He smiled back and answered with a single nod before turning his head back to the warehouse. The plan was simple. When the sentries appeared again, Pete would signal, and their group would converge after the warehouse door was accessed. That's when Vincent and his Turks would press in from the cave side. No one gets out except to hop on ShinRa's helo, which would deliver them all back to the WRO, Brukho and his cohorts in cuffs.
Pete looked over his shoulder and signaled them to ready. The SOLDIER sentries were headed back to the door from their opposing directions.
The warehouse had been built precariously close to the cliffside. From his vantage, Vincent imagined that the earth stretched further out to sea when ShinRa had built these facilities decades ago. Likely their endeavors on the northern continent hastened the mountain's fall into the ocean and this warehouse had once been many meters from the water. Time had revealed the cave Brukho now hid inside, where his own time would soon meet its end.
The ledge below the warehouse and along the face of the cliff only allowed enough room for one. Vincent glanced up at Rude and Reno, dangling by rope above his head, the wind strong enough to sway the red head in its strength. Meeting their eyes, Vincent pointed inside the cave, then flattened his hand toward the wall. The Turks nodded.
Pete—Access opening. Let's go, boys.
Vincent slid inside the cave, hugging the wall face enveloped in shadows as he heard the Turks sliding down their ropes above him. A moment later, he felt their presence at his back and all three scanned the cave for any human presence.
Reno crouched, ducking his head to check under the helo sitting center. "Ain't no one here, boss," he said, voice barely a whisper.
Vincent silently agreed and strode toward the door, which thankfully had no secure device to obstruct their entry. As he reached for the handle, a low whistle echoed through the cave. He turned to see Reno running a gloved hand over the helo.
"Would ya look at this fossil?" He glanced at Vincent. "This beauty ain't been produced in my lifetime, yo. Bet it even predates your honeymoon with the old boss, boss."
Vincent waited for Reno to finally join him at the door before prying it open a crack. Seeing no one in the tunnel, he eased it shut again and spoke low. "I'll signal you over comms. Then follow me in. There's a small staircase ten feet in. The labs are below. Be ready for anything."
"You know how we work, boss," Reno said as Rude nodded and adjusted his gloves.
Vincent slid into the passage, casting one last look at the Turks before slinking to the little alcove he'd discovered mere hours earlier. Low lights shined over the lab, its patron not yet awake to perform his deeds and wake his victims. Moans and growls hissed low from the shadowed cages. Vincent had counted twenty, but knew not what each held for certain.
Pete—Two outside napping. Sweeping interior.
"Reno. Rude," Vincent said through his comm.
Reno—Comin through, bitches.
Vincent hopped over his perch and stayed out of the dim night lights spread throughout the labs. The set up seemed more sophisticated than he first surmised. He passed cage after cage, too dark on the inside for even his enhanced vision to determine the creature sleeping within.
"Ain't seen shit like this in a while," Reno's voice echoed from above. "Or smelled it."
"Get down here," Vincent said as his eyes trained to a door on the south side of the lab. A slight movement caught the light, barely visible in the opened crack. Vincent motioned to the Turks, and they slid themselves flush against the wall around the door. He nodded to Rude, who tapped the latch with a gloved hand to reopen the door a second before Vincent nudged it open further with a boot.
The interior was dark, as expected. Vincent felt no need to charge inside. He knew who was beyond the threshold.
"Come out," Vincent said.
A man's voice, a little aged from the last time Vincent had heard it, answered him from the dark. "You wouldn't shoot an old colleague. Would you, Vincent?"
Reno clicked his magrod, then shined it into the room. Corrupted cells hummed in his chest with Vincent's recognition of the pale face looking back at them. He pressed a finger into his palm, his gauntlet covered hand pointing his gun at the man they'd been searching for these last months.
"Come out," Vincent repeated. "You're coming with us."
"Ah, about that," Brukho said, smiling as he raised his hands in mock surrender. One hand held a small device. A remote control. His grin widened as two SOLDIERs appeared from the darkened corners to flank him, then he pressed a button. Dozens of metallic clicks reverberated off the walls of the cave lab.
"Uh, boss," Reno said, turning to look behind Vincent. "The cages are open."
"Ephren and Sam didn't check in."
The voice startled Tifa. She heard a man's reply come very close, just around the corner of the aisle of crates she hid behind. "Probably shootin the shit. I'll give 'em a jingle."
She waited, her breath catching in her throat involuntarily as the man's footsteps halted.
"Sam, Eph. Status."
Turning her head, she saw Cloud creeping up behind her, his sword gripped in both hands. He nodded to the top of the crates before kneeling and lowering his weapon to the ground. Cupping his hands into a makeshift stir-up, he glanced up and waited for her to move. Tifa stepped into his hands and placed a steadying grip on his shoulder, tightening every muscle in her legs as he hoisted her up so she could see over the crates.
Two SOLDIERs faced each other as they stood over an obvious hatch embedded into the floor, both pressing a finger into their ears, likely in an attempt to better hear the listening devices they had synced with the sentries Pete had knocked out only a minute prior. The larger of the two looked familiar to Tifa. She studied his face and sandy blond hair only a moment before she recalled the incident with Luxiere at the bar.
"Sam! Ephren!" The big SOLDIER shook his head. "No answer. Hopefully just their comms unsynced. Let's get a visual on their dumb asses. It's too fucking early and cold for this shit."
As the two SOLDIERs headed down another aisle toward the entrance access, Tifa bent her knees, indicating to Cloud to lower her. She motioned with her fingers before whispering into her own comm. "Two headed your way, Pete. One is the big SOLDIER called Jace." Cloud remained silent as his eyes bored into hers with an intense anger.
Pete—Fuck. Any more? What about the hatch?
"We found it. It's toward the back of the warehouse. No one else is here. Any others must be in the lab. Just…be ready when you come in. The smell in here is like death."
Pete—Copy. We'll be right behind you after Jace and his friend go night night.
"Let's head down," Cloud said and sidestepped around her.
"What do you think is inside these crates?" she asked, trying to peek between the boards to see inside one.
"That's for the WRO to figure out later. Let's get this bastard and get back," he said, hands gripping the hatch.
It opened with no resistance. She followed Cloud down a ladder, sliding down only a few feet before clinching her hands and thighs to slow her descent. The tunnel plunged further than she had first assumed. She spotted a light below, illuminating the ends of Cloud's striking blond hair as it cast him in shadow. He reached the bottom with an abrupt landing on his combat boots and held up hands to help catch her.
"Thanks," she said, finding her feet as he let go of her waist. A small flashlight attached to Cloud's hip lit the small space. Only a single door lined the opposite wall from the ladder. "Looks like this is it."
He nodded, holding his sword with both hands as he kicked the latch to open the door. Another corridor, lit only with aged security lights, led downward along a ramp. The smell of mildew, stale cave air, and pungent mako assailed her. "Well, that smells familiar," she said.
Cloud cocked his head and held up a hand to halt her. "You hear that?"
"Hear what?" she asked, then a second later caught the faint sounds of electricity crackling before a loud pop echoed up to them. "Vincent!"
She trailed Cloud at a sprint and spoke hastily in her comm device. "Vincent! Are you alright?"
Pete—Four SOLDIERs down. Dan's babysitting. We're headed your way.
Tifa didn't mistake the sounds continuing to echo through the hallway as she and Cloud continued their descent. Gun shots rang, swords clinked, and lightning crackled along with the increasing volume of shouts of alarm and disbelief. All evidence of a battle the Turks were handling on their own.
"Vincent!" she yelled again into the comms. "He's not answering."
"Pete, make it fast. We're catching up to the Turks. Things are hot."
Pete—Affirmative. Opening the hatch now.
As Tifa heard the sound of their SOLDIER friends entering the tunnel behind, Cloud reached the door and kicked it open, stopping in his tracks as they took in the sights of the secret lab. Tifa stifled the scream threatening to erupt from her throat.
"My gods," she said and curled her fingers to ready herself.
"Stay behind me," Cloud said as he entered the lab, no hesitation as he swung his sword at the first creature to lunge itself toward them.
Tifa spent only another second gathering her wits at the swarm in front of them and began punching and kicking at everything launching itself at her and Cloud. "What are these things?!"
"Worry about that later," Cloud said as he sliced off the head of what used to be a man.
"Great Shiva!" Tifa glanced over her shoulder, relieved to see Pete and Frank had made the descent in mere seconds. He ran up next to her and plunged his sword into the shoulder of a four-legged mountain lion that had been modified, a scorpion stinger attached to the end of its tail. "Miss me?" Pete asked.
"More than you know," Tifa answered as she watched the lion back away. She didn't have time to calculate how long it would take the poor creature to die as tens of other things took its place and snarled and clawed at them.
"Are these…zombies?" Frank asked as he drove his sword lengthwise down a wolf standing on its hind legs.
Tifa couldn't be sure, but the creatures definitely showed signs of…death. The swarm was unlike anything she'd seen in Hojo's labs. Every fiend that launched itself at them suffered from dessication on some part of its body. And the smell. Acrid, pungent. And rot.
She desperately searched beyond the horde for Vincent or either Turk, knowing they must be fighting the same monsters on the opposite side of the lab.
Her earpiece crackled faintly.
Reno—Where you goin—crackle—
Vincent—Reno, catch him before—
A distant rumble echoed through the lab, so loud it reminded her of riding the deck of Cid's airship, the wind and powerful engine the only sounds possible to hear.
Rude—Thought you said they'd never get this thing working.
Reno—Just get in there, partner! Before the asshole gets her airborne!
"Vincent!" Tifa shouted into the comms, desperate for him to hear her. She couldn't shake the feeling of dread. Worry that he might lose control again and slump into a weakened state, wholly vulnerable to the scientist's creations. She was sure Reno and Rude would try to help him. But they were no SOLDIERs.
Vincent—I hear you. Meet us outside the warehouse. We're getting a ride.
A figure creeped into Tifa's peripheral vision. One of its limbs undulated as though it had no bones. Cloud threw up his sword as it spit a foul stream of liquid at her. Tifa dove out of its range.
"What is that?!" She kicked, sending it sprawling onto the ground where Cloud easily severed the head.
Another moved from the same direction, slowly coming into view as a foul stench permeated the air. They both recoiled and Tifa gasped, lowering her fists as Cloud swiped at it, removing a human head from something no longer human. She wanted to puke at the sight. "Is that…a snake in its arm?"
"No." Cloud said, staring down at the abomination. "The snake…is…its arm." His face morphed into horror. "Behind you!"
She kicked backward without looking as the hybrid lion reappeared and snapped at her with teeth jutting from oozing gums. The creature propelled backward from the force of her kick, but as it fell, its scorpion tail whipped, catching Tifa off guard as it plunged its stinger into her forearm.
She'd been stabbed before, poisoned and inflicted with viruses created by nature and men, even caught the swiping edge of Sephiroth's crazed swing once. But nothing prepared her for the wave of heat the stinger pumped into her flesh. She screamed as a fire seemed to engulf her arm from within. She felt it scissoring through her veins and panicked as the first wave of nausea hit her stomach like a brick. Gripping her arm as though the act could stem the flow, she doubled over. The morning's meager breakfast blasted out of her mouth and tears welled in her eyes at the pain of it.
She screamed when Cloud yanked the poisoned stinger from her and ripped it from the lion's body. The doomed creature roared its own pain, hissing at Cloud when his sword lashed at its face and hacked again and again until only dozens of gory pieces remained of the fused monster on the ground.
Tifa tried to stand, still clutching at her forearm. But her vision blurred and a second wave of nausea ripped through her. Her legs wouldn't cooperate and she could only manage to hold herself up by the elbow of her uninjured arm.
Cloud glanced down at Tifa as she unfurled on the ground vomiting, her injured arm cradled close to her stomach. His hand slid under her good arm, and she groaned as he helped her up. "Sorry, Tifa. But we gotta move!"
He turned at a moan and saw three more of the creatures advancing. He released her, and she dropped to her knees, able to do nothing more than vomit again. With a wary eye on Tifa's position, Cloud swung in a frenzy until human heads, snake heads and stingers and claws scattered around them in bloody heaps.
The groaning grew louder as the swarm increased. Cloud hacked and sliced, looking over his shoulder to ensure Tifa had gotten away to safety. His sword clashed suddenly with another, and Pete grinned at him over the steel. "Watch where you're swinging that thing, buddy. I'm not dead yet! Let's finish up here."
Cloud grunted as he lowered his sword. "Hope you're not speaking too soon, Pete." He swung again and decapitated what was once a guard hound. "Would hate to consider that a premonition."
A wide smile spread over Pete's face. Behind him, Frank batted at the creatures closing in on them, managing to keep a ring of safety around Tifa. "Here," Pete said as he poured an antidote into her wound, then held the bottle to her lips. She swatted the medicine away. "Come on, girl. Drink it."
"Did you see Vincent?" Cloud asked, lunging outward to help Frank when a white-furred rabbit with dreadwyrm wings lunged at them.
Pete shook his head as Tifa coughed and splattered him with the antidote. "Heard him over comms. Let's get back to Dan and meet up. No need to clear this lab just now."
Cloud couldn't agree more. Tifa showed no sign of recovery after downing Pete's antidote. He spent no further time thinking it over before lifting her into his arms.
"No," she said, her voice sounding sickly. She cradled her injured arm and rested her head against chest.
"If you need to, just hurl right on me," Cloud said, sick himself with worry. The only time he'd witnessed a poison act so fast and strong was when he'd been bitten by the hybrid Heg in West Village weeks prior.
He merged his back with Pete's, did his best to hoist Tifa against his chest and shoulder with one hand as he fought with a one-handed grip on his sword.
He backed up into the tunnel, eventually. Pete and Frank managed to slam the door the lab shut, barricading them inside against the swarm still frenzied inside the lab.
Cloud led the way up up the ladder with Tifa tucked within the safety of his arms as he helped her climb. He opened the hatch, feeling a sense of relief to be out of the labs and back into the clear mountain air.
But as soon as he alighted from the hatch, moans and snarls sounded from all directions. Cloud's shock lasted on a second as he realized the warehouse swarmed with corrupted fiends. None had yet noticed him. They wandered about with heads drooped, unseeing. Cloud noticed a thick white film over their eyes, something oozing.
He pulled Tifa up the rest of the way into the warehouse. She immediately crumpled onto the floor, again heaving though nothing was left in her stomach to empty. "Come on, Teef." he whispered as he lifted her again, concern growing when she didn't even have the strength to groan this time. With a free hand, he pressed into his earpiece. "More up top. Follow me."
"Fuck," Pete said as he climbed.
Frank followed close behind, eyes widened as he took in the swarm. "Where the fuck did all these come from?" he asked as they retreated as a group between aisles of crates near the north wall.
Cloud nodded to several broken crates, ones they'd previously believed to be empty. Frank shook his head. "Shoulda known it wasn't that easy."
"Look alive," Pete answered, sword held in front of him as they moved with careful, silent footsteps.
"Heh. Very funny."
Cloud stopped, looked over his shoulder when Pete placed a hand on his arm. "What is it?" he asked, softly.
"Why aren't they attacking?"
Cloud shrugged. "These can't see us. Did you see their eyes? I think they're blind."
"That makes sense," Frank said. "But are they deaf, too?"
"We're not exactly banging pots here. But they don't seem to see or hear us. Let's not get into a fight we can avoid. We have our target and need to get Tifa out. I'll take point," Pete said and moved in front of Cloud before gesturing them to silence.
An eerie quiet descended on the warehouse as they tiptoed through the aisles, the only sound a muffled shuffling of the creatures and the occasional crash of debris from broken crates that must have held them. Hackles rose along Cloud's spine. The scene fought against what he knew should be true of ShinRa's monsters. The zombies walked and groaned, nothing more. He turned his body to avoid one meandering in his path. Cloud flinched, teeth grinding as it bumped into him. But even that elicited no reaction from the creature other than to change its original direction.
Once they made it to the entrance, Pete pressed the release button on the panel inside the warehouse and the hatch rose. Bright snow blinded them briefly as they made their way outside, the sun high in the sky and reflecting off the icy ground.
"Dan," Pete said into his earpiece.
Dan—Loud and clear.
The SOLDIER appeared a short distance away, waving at them from a dilapidated shed before he dragged his former colleagues behind him.
"Any trouble?" Pete asked.
"Nah," Dan said as he dropped his prisoners at Pete's feet. "They woke up once or twice. So, I gave 'em a kiss with the end of my sword."
"Nice work."
Cloud bent over Tifa and tapped gently at her cheeks. "Tifa?"
To his relief, she stirred, then groaned again as she curled into herself. "I…can't—" Her words cut off as she heaved again. Dan neared her and fished a remedy from his pocket. Tifa held a hand at him. "N…no."
"Believe me. We tried that," Pete said.
Cloud felt helpless. He knew there was nothing he could do to lessen Tifa's pain at this moment. They'd used every healing method at their disposal and still she heaved and turned greener by the minute. He hoped the poison was merely something that would take time to wear off, but when he looked again at the arm she cradled close to her belly, he knew with a sickening dread that she didn't have much time.
A distant sound crawled over the treetops, jerking their heads high to look toward the western cliffs. The sound grew in intensity until Cloud recognized it as the sound of helicopter rotors. He searched the skies, hoping it was Turks for the first time in his life.
"There," Pete said, pointing.
From over the warehouse, they spotted the mechanical bird high up in the air and trailing…something from its landing skids. Cloud squinted, not sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing.
"Is that…?" Frank asked as they all looked up in cautious wonder.
"Get ready," Pete grit out. "Looks like they've got some stowaways."
Cloud would've laughed at the sight, the corrupted creatures dangling from the helicopter like a string of ants caught in the wind, except the unwanted cargo started to fall. He dove to cover Tifa's body with his own when two of the creatures crash landed mere feet from her. Frank brought his sword down to sever their heads with a pair of quick swipes of his sword.
The helicopter circled above them, swinging the creatures around and around, some unable to hold on until the force slung them into the trees or nearby buildings. Reno's cackling laugh buzzed through the earpiece.
Reno—Look alive down there! Ha! Haaa!
Vincent—Circle tight. We need to lose the rest before we land.
Reno—Like a bumblebee, boss.
The chopper's circling reduced its radius, causing its string of corruptions to wind below it in a steadier rotation. Cloud only wondered a second at Vincent's play before the man appeared at the opening of the cargo door. He brought out his firearm and aimed true, blowing off the head of the creature holding on to the landing skids. Every fiend relying on its grip tumbled from the sky and littered the small clearing outside warehouse in heaps of limbs. As the corrupted fiends tried to extricate themselves, because of course they survived the fall, Cloud glanced up at Vincent, who watched them only a moment before his eyes found Tifa. Cloud could see the moment he realized something amiss was with her. Not a second later, he dove from the helicopter, not waiting for Reno to land.
Vincent leveled Cloud with an accusing stare as he knelt next to her and gathered her in his arms. "Tifa?" She covered her mouth and doubled-over again. Vincent lifted her. "Take care of the fiends," he said and sprinted away with her.
Cloud turned toward the zombie heap to help Pete and his team kill the fiends still groaning and wrestling each other to stand. One managed to peak its head over the rest and let out a demonic shriek that had Cloud covering his ears against the piercing sound.
Pete looked over at him. "That didn't sound natural."
The other creatures joined the call, because Cloud realized that's exactly what it was, and their shrieks echoed through the mountain like wolves calling to each other from across miles.
"We got more!" Frank yelled and lunged toward the warehouse door as the previously dormant corrupted wakened from their walking slumber. They swarmed the entrance as Frank hacked and sliced as many as he could. Cloud rushed to help him as Pete and Dan dispatched the last remaining in the pile of bodies that had fallen from the helicopter. The swarm in the warehouse pressed Frank backward as Cloud joined him. "Shoulda known they weren't dead-dead."
The creatures no longer moved with slow, plodding steps. They surrounded them, almost in a coordinated effort. Cloud twisted his body and spun his sword to remove the head of at least five that had lunged at him. He didn't stop to count the number. There were too many advancing too fast to worry about a body count.
Sparks flew further away, and more bodies heaped onto the ground. "Need more Turks to help you out, First Class?"
Reno ducked as his partner silently kicked out and downed another. The redhead smiled at Cloud's scowl. "Me and Rude got it, yo." He jabbed outward with his magrod and zapped a distorted creature in the face.
The former SOLDIERs and Turks worked together for what seemed like hours to Cloud as they hacked, sliced, and bludgeoned. The swarms number dwindled, allowing Cloud an opening to break away to find Tifa. He found the couple several yards away behind a tree by the sound of retching. Tifa was doubled over in Vincent's arms, face green and eyes watering.
"Here. Try again," Vincent said, handing her an antidote. Her hand shook as she took it from his grasp. He helped her lift it to her lips, then looked to Cloud. "You get them all?"
Cloud nodded as he watched Tifa sip at the medicine. "Pete's finishing up the rest."
Vincent turned back to Tifa. "Come on. All at once." Vincent tipped the bottle as she tried to drink again. She choked on the liquid, unable to keep much down as she coughed and covered her mouth. The antidote dribbled down her neck, and she gasped and pulled away from Vincent to vomit again.
"Let me try." Cloud reached for his green materia in a cargo pocket, putting a hand on Tifa's injured forearm.
If anything, the spell worsened her condition as her face turned greener and she spit up the last of the antidote with a fair amount of stomach acid. Rude came running up as Tifa launched into another heave. "I have a remedy, too."
As Rude reached into his pocket, Tifa held up a hand to them all. "No." She coughed again and clutched at her stomach. "Stop, please. I can't take anymore." Vincent caught her as she finally fainted again on the spot.
Vincent turned to Rude with a desperate look in his eyes. "The remedy." He held out a hand, keeping Tifa tucked into the crook of his arm, as the Turk fumbled in his jacket. Rude handed the bottle to Vincent. "Let's get to back to your chopper in Modeoheim. The old helo is too slow. We need to get her back. Now!"
The forearm she clutched to her midriff was a color Cloud had never seen before, but the putrid, dessicated look of the skin was unmistakable.
Vincent gently rose with Tifa in his arms. Cloud thought he saw the man waver a moment, like his legs might give out. He didn't miss the shaking in Vincent's arms, though. The man struggled to carry her. "Let me," Cloud said, trying to reach for her as Vincent moved toward the chopper.
"No time," Vincent said with a snarl.
The forest echoed with the sounds of battle as Pete, Frank and Dan fought off fiends still trying to close in. But they kept the monsters at bay as Cloud followed Vincent to the small helicopter the Turks had commandeered. Reno smiled at them, arms spread wide as he stood in front of the oldest helicopter Cloud had ever seen. "Taxi at your service," Reno said. His eyes dropped to Tifa, still lying unconscious in Vincent's arms. "What the hell happened to her?"
No one answered him as Vincent strapped Tifa onto a gurney that pulled down from between the seats. "Get Brukho secured. Let's head back to your helo."
Cloud looked around and saw the scientist glaring up at them as he lay on the ground, his hands zip-tied to the landing skids. He struck out with his sword to sever the plastic ties, getting a pleasured satisfaction at the man's scream. Cloud grabbed the man by the scruff and hauled him up. Brukho groaned at the manhandling but managed to grin in Cloud's face. "And who might you be?" he asked. "You seem a little short for a SOLDIER."
Cloud tossed him into the cabin as Reno fired up the engine. "What about these two?" Cloud asked, motioning to the two SOLDIERs crumpled nearby as unconscious as Tifa and notable streaks across their skin from over use of a magrod. There wasn't enough room on the small helicopter for all of them, but Cloud didn't have a problem dangling their prisoners from the skids until they could get back to the Turk's bigger chopper.
"Rude, strap him in," Vincent said, gesturing at Brukho with his chin.
Cloud wasn't sure what he saw next. Sometimes, Vincent moved so fast, even his enhanced eyes didn't pick up all the movements. But the man did reach into his cape, did plunge a…something…into his thigh. Vincent glanced up. Cloud thought his eyes looked…exhausted. "Go help Pete. We'll circle back for you."
Cloud nodded, withholding his questions for another time, and waved them off as the old helo lifted from the ground and flew above the trees. He turned back toward the warehouse and entered the fray as Pete, Frank and Dan continued to slash at Brukho's abominations.
An age seemed to pass before they heard another thwump—thwump—thwump whispering through the trees. And as Dan sliced the last hybrid monster in two, the Turks lowered their newer model helicopter to the ground. Vincent screamed at them to load the prisoners, holding aloft a bag filled with liquid that dripped slowly into Tifa's arm via an IV. Pete chained his former colleagues to the cabin floor, right next to their cohort scientist, before reaching into the cockpit and tapping Rude's headset. The Turk gave a short salute, then Reno guided the helo above the trees and over the mountain, heading straight for the WRO back in Edge as Vincent yelled into their ears to fly at full speed.
