CHAPTER 29
The large laboratory had grown darkened, its overhead lights flickering rapidly, unable to stay on. A series of red and blue emergency lights kept the room illuminated. As it was, though, no one paid any attention to the current lighting conditions. Zack stood toe-to-toe with the clawed man, who was protecting Hojo while everyone else simply watched the standoff for the time being.
"Cloud, Jessie, get Aeris outta here!" Zack commanded. Assuming they were doing so, he turned back to Hojo and the stranger. "What the hell are you, anyway?"
"His name is James Howlette, but you may call him Serval. This unfortunate soul has the ability to heal even the gravest injuries in mere seconds," the oily haired scientist explained gloatingly. "In addition to that, he has hyper-accelerated sensory perception, a skeleton laced in Adamant: --the strongest metal in the world-- and thanks to memory implantation and brainwashing, has over 100 years in fighting experience. The question here is not if he can kill you, but how many seconds it will take!"
"Talk is cheap!" Zack retorted, holding out his gigantic sword defensively.
"Yeah, and ya know what," The feral, metal-clawed man growled, "Fightin's free!" And with that, he leapt at his opponent like a predatory cat would its prey, his claws pointed forward and gleaming menacingly in the flickering light.
Zack responded by slashing out to parry the claws, taking off a good chunk of the flesh on his opponent's forearm and forcing the specimen to fly off to the right. "Serval" rolled as he hit the ground, and leapt right back up. He hid his pain well, even as his arm began bleeding profusely all over the floor. But this did not last. Just as Hojo had promised, the wound began to close before Zack's very eyes. The wise-cracking AVALANCHE newbie wasn't sure what to find more sickening: the wound itself when it was open, or what it looked like as it closed up, scarred over, and then practically melted back to normal.
Zack pushed what he thought might be a momentary advantage, but unfortunately, he played right into the monstrosity's hands, or claws as it were. He swung horizontally to the left, but was surprised and amazed when Serval BLOCKED the gigantic blade with his arm. His skin was pierced, but even Zack's strength could not cut through the Adamant-covered bones. The feral man struck out with his free arm, and just barely slashed Zack's left cheek, drawing blood and causing the former SOLDIER to pause in momentary shock. It was all Serval needed.
Pulling his injured arm away, the monstrosity slashed again, piercing Zack's shoulder-pad armor with a stab, but was still too far away to cause much damage, only just causing a small set of surface wounds. Regardless, he pulled the embedded claws up and away, then moved in and cut downwards with his right set of claws, spilling blood and sending Zack down.
Several bullets then came, most of them bouncing off Serval's skeleton, though a few had found their way through unprotected tissue, the force of the assault sending the beast down. As the hairy mutant hit the cold metal floor, his claws retracted back into his hands.
Dyne held his gun arm steady as he walked closer to Serval's unmoving form. "Zack, you okay?" he said after he was sure the enemy was -SNIKT!-
The AVALANCHE leader's eyes went wide as he was not only punched below the ribs hard enough to knock the wind out of him, but also at the realization that he was being run completely through by the deadly specimen's claws. The lights seemed to flicker with greater intensity and frequency as Dyne began to panic, trying to think of some way to defend himself. He didn't get the chance to do any such thing though as he found himself hoisted up into the air, over Serval's head and thrown like a rag doll hard into the side of the glass tube in the middle of the lab. His body had left a trail of blood in the air momentarily, almost showing his "flight path" before it eventually splattered down upon the floor. Dyne bounced off of the container with a thud, shaking it, and rolled across the floor, holding himself where he was stabbed while his body started to go into shock.
Resisting the urge to yell out to her leader, Tifa decided to intervene next with a flying jump-kick. Unfortunately, as fast and stealthy as she was, Serval's enhanced senses let him hear and smell her coming, allowing him to twist around, grab her ankle, and throw her into the near-by wall. However, she managed to spin in mid-air, catch the wall with her feet and recoil back towards her target with a determined yell.
She managed to slash Serval in the face with her clawed gloves, and tried to follow up with a palm to his jaw... and connected: "OW!" she yelled out more in surprise than pain. The ninja felt like she had just smashed her hand into a brick wall. Or a metal one, take your pick.
Serval beamed Tifa a wicked smile and pointed at his head, "Adamant-covered skeleton, remember?" he teased as the cuts on his face shrank away. He brought his arm back to strike, when suddenly movement caught his attention. Glancing to the side, he barely managed to step away as Zack's sword sliced through the air, allowing him to escape with a small cut across his side and not a gaping wound.
Zack must have felt better than he looked, because even though his face, shoulder and gut were bleeding, he still moved as quickly and with as much strength as ever. He jumped up in the air, and brought his blade down with as much force as his own strength combined with gravity would allow. The former SOLDIER wasn't able to cut too far into Serval due to his skeleton, but the force of the blow was more than enough to send the beast flying back. He skid across the floor, leaving a path of crimson in his wake. He eventually came to a stop and lay still for a moment. Zack breathed a sigh of relief, but that was short lived as the mutant began to rise once more.
"Yer gonna regret that, kid!" the feral mutant growled threateningly.
Zack remained uncharacteristically silent, simply staring down his opponent in response. His eyes flashed as Serval made a jump... but not towards him. Dyne had been lying nearby, trying to not bleed to death by applying pressure to his grave wounds when Serval jumped right on top of him! He swung his claws down, but was interrupted in his attack when Tifa kicked him away. Tifa made a few more rapid-fire round-house kicks at her opponent's jaw, but her foot was eventually caught.
The ninja glared at Serval as he held her foot. Then, somewhat unexpectedly, she jumped into the air and tried to kick at the monster with her free foot... but before she could do that, she was thrown down hard on her back into the ground. Tifa managed to roll with the impact by somersaulting backwards, but it did little to help as pain rippled through her entire body from the blow.
Zack charged and slashed out just as Serval had disposed of Tifa, slicing his enemy in the arm. Serval swiveled away, planted his foot, and braced himself to jump. But then Zack attacked again, catching the feral man by surprise and creating a sizable gash across his gut. Serval took a sharp breath as again he found that Zack was continuing to go on the offensive, swinging left and right, hitting and drawing blood with each subsequent blow.
Convinced he had managed to stun his opponent, Zack held his blade over his head and swung it down towards Serval's face. Serval responded by crossing his claws in front of himself and catching the blade with them. Zack tried to force his weapon down further, but to no avail, as his target managed to push the blade off himself and spin out of the way.
It was Serval's turn to attack, and he took full advantage of it. He swung madly, Zack barely able to dodge or parry the flurry of claws that came his way. If there was anything going for Zack at the moment, it was that Serval was concentrating on a full frontal assault, and not trying to get around Zack's defenses. Finally, Serval simply grabbed the Buster Sword's blade, the edge cutting into his hands, and slammed the dull end into Zack's face! The former SOLDIER backpedaled in an off-balanced fashion, blood flowing freely from his broken nose like water out of a faucet. Spots blinked rapidly in front of his eyes as his sense of balance started to wane.
Serval was about to push his advantage when a series of claws raked down his back, the impact throwing him to the ground. He snarled and turned, only to see that "Red XIII" was awake and had assumed his animal form, which was something between a cat and a dog in build and posture. Serval was about to attack, but realized half a second too late that Zack had begun to regain his bearings and was himself in the process of attacking. A downward blur of chrome sliced in the monstrosity's general direction, causing him to retreat back a step. Then the other specimen flew by, clawing at Serval's open side and landing behind him.
The feral monstrosity tried to swipe down at the tattooed creature, but only hit air as Red XIII dexterously swung his body away. Serval then quickly turned to Zack and blocked an incoming downward slash with his claws like he had before. He pushed the blade away with little resistance while trying to drive his claws into Zack, when a set of sharp canine teeth imbedded themselves in his left calf. Retching up in pain, Serval tore his leg away, spun and attacked Red again in one fluid motion, but missed.
The former SOLDIER tried his luck with another attack while his opponent was momentarily distracted, this time a horizontal swing to his right. His sword hit his opponent's back and cut the skin, but bounced off the metal-covered shoulder-blades, sending an almost musical-sounding CLAAAANNNNG vibrating through the air.
"Oh, I get it now," Zack remarked. "You're just a big tuning fork!"
Serval was about to respond when the ground beneath him began to quake, sending small amounts of debris flying up at his person and causing him to become momentarily stunned. Shaking his head, he glared over at Tifa, who had regained her bearings and was changing her strategy of attack. She cast another Quake spell, which only served to throw Serval off-balance for a moment, but that was all that was needed. A force then from behind came and knocked the metal clawed specimen to the cold metal ground while the flickering lights seemed to visually applaud. The orangish-red lion-like creature clawed as deep as he could into Serval's skin before very wisely jumping away and out of range of the mutant's reach.
Red XIII then looked to Zack, "You have Materia, use it! I'll distract him!"
Zack then freaked out, "You can talk?! That's f.. GAH!" he tried to respond, but then instinctively cut himself off to stop Serval's claws from doing the same to his head. As the raven-haired fighter pushed his opponent's claws away, it was just then that he realized that the same specimen that attacked Aeris now seemed to be helping him. He couldn't put much more thought into it other than that as Serval attacked again, forcing Zack to dodge away.
Red leapt out next to Serval and clawed ferociously, distracting him long enough for Zack to concentrate on his Bolt materia.... but nothing happened. He came to the dreadful realization that he was tapped out from when he short circuited the force field. Realizing that his new ally was going to be in severe trouble, Zack charged forward, sword raised and ready to strike.
Serval saw him coming and kicked out at the other creature, distracting it long enough so he could face Zack and dodge his attack. A slender black boot then came and caught him on the side of the face, sending him stumbling to the side. Tifa had abandoned using magic and joined in the melee, and did her best to push the advantage by smacking Serval with an open palm right in the ear.
The fierce mutant retreated in pain as air pressure popped his ear drum, and slashed out madly in response. Tifa ducked under the blow, knocked his hand up away and then proceeded to kick him as hard as she could in the gut. The attack connected, causing her target to buckle over and inadvertently duck under Zack's blade as it came across. Zack went with the momentum and swung his sword all the way around, and prepared for an overhead/downward slash. Serval blocked, but when he was bitten again in the leg by the red-furred specimen, he lost his balance and fell back.
Falling to his hands, Serval flipped backwards, landed on his good leg, and faced all three of his opponents with an enraged scowl, the blinking lights bouncing off his bloodied skin and making him appear even more fearsome. Everyone was tired and hurt, though the only major difference was that the feral man's injuries were healing by the second. Zack had already lost a good amount of blood and didn't know how much longer he could even stand, let alone fight. But he had to end this as soon as possible: Dyne hadn't moved since he was stabbed. He still seemed to be alive, but for how much longer was anyone's guess. It was obvious he needed medical attention, as was the fact that Serval was not about to let any of his three opponents wander off to heal an ally while he had anything to say about it.
So the former SOLDIER charged with a yell, sword poised to strike, Tifa and Red following his lead. The attack was actually somewhat clumsy and not really aimed anywhere, allowing Serval to side-step, deflect the blade and kick Zack away. Tifa tried a volley of pressure-point jabs while her opponent was open, but he quickly covered up and slashed short, tearing the ninja's Gi open, revealing some light chain mesh armor underneath. The prospect of seeing her naked chest through the chain links distracted Serval for a brief second, though it wasn't brief enough. The red lion-creature jumped into an aerial spin, raking Serval's side with both his front and rear claws, causing what looked like too much blood to spurt out. The feral man yelled out in pain and retreated a step.
The hairy monstrosity stabbed down blindly just as Red landed, his claws piecing Red's body right between the ribs on both sides. A look of shock went into the creatures single yellow eye, which began to slowly close as his form melted away and reverted once again to its more human-like state. Serval retracted his claws briefly and kicked the near-limp, now-humanoid body away, and turned just in time to block both Tifa and Zack's simultaneously timed attacks. He pushed Zack's blade off of and away from his arm and recoiled, punching Tifa in the face and sending her sprawling back. He turned right back to Zack, popped out his claws again and attacked, piercing the Kelvar armor and slicing into Zack's gut.
Serval kept a wild look in his eye as Zack slowly went down. He twisted his fist up slightly, causing Zack to arch back in pain and let out a slight whine. The former SOLDIER kept his hands on his weapon, but as the blood drained from his body, so did his strength and will...
Aeris... I'm sorry...
Tifa let out a loud yell and jump-kicked at Serval hard enough to knock him away. She landed and started to punch him in the face in rapid-fire succession, his metal skull threatening to break her hands if she hit too hard, though she didn't quite care. The bastard was going to suffer for hurting her friends, and so help her if any of them died; he'd have hell to pay. The ninja followed up with a backwards aerial summersault-snap kick to Serval's jaw, causing him to bite his tongue. This wasn't enough, however, and before Tifa could follow up with another attack, Serval grabbed her and slammed her into the nearby wall, pinning her there.
Tifa turned to her left a bit, and swept her right arm in a circular motion to get her opponent's arms off her. He let go willingly and grabbed her wrist, and smashed it into the wall over her head. Holding back a scream, she gambled a straight-on punch with her left, but again her arm was caught and subsequently pinned to the wall. Serval held both her arms in place with just one hand, and raised his other fist, the claws gleaming in the limited, flickering light and dripping with Red XIII and Zack's blood, threatening to add Tifa's own to the mix.
Tifa instantly moved to knee the creature's exposed groin, which she had regretfully noticed had swelled in excitement. Her leg was stopped as Serval blocked it with his own, then stepped on her foot to keep it in place. Before she could try again with her other leg, Serval swung down, tearing apart her armor but little else. A frightening realization came upon Tifa as the beastly man completely tore open her armored top and pressed himself against her to prevent any further movement. Her scream was short-lived and turned into a repressed muffle as Serval covered her mouth with his own, shoving his bloodied tongue practically down her throat...
Tifa lost the will to fight as her mind began blocking out current events and flashing back to a similar, though much more horrible experience from some time ago...
While all this was happening, Cloud and Jessie had retreated with Aeris down the hallway, awaiting their friends. Aeris seemed a bit catatonic; The effects of the drugs, the stun beam, and recent happenings were just too much for her mind and body to take. The trio had elected to stay put and let those who actually COULD fight handle the threat... But after several tense minutes, and finally hearing Tifa's scream, Cloud's patience ran out.
"Where're you going?!" Jessie protested as Cloud handed Aeris over to her in a bit of a rush.
A determined look covered Cloud's face. "I have a promise to keep..." And with that, he drew the Hardedge and charged down the white hallway, back in the direction they had come. "Stay here!" he shouted out as an afterthought before turning the corner.
The lab was too large and dark to see everything immediately, though he did see a bit too much blood for his liking splattered across the floor. He then saw the bodies of Dyne and the creature that was in the containment thingie with Aeris on the floor. Eventually Zack came into focus, too, and right near him, against the wall was the "Howlett" specimen... but there as something between him and the wall... Tifa. She was struggling against the monstrous fiend as he rubbed against her, holding both her arms in place with one hand over her head and caressing her roughly with the other.
The rage, anger, and hatred that instantly filled Cloud was so far beyond description that, well, this is all you get. Cloud charge-walked forward, knowing that the odds were against him. Everyone else had been incapacitated, hell, maybe killed for all he knew. His body shook with nervousness as he positioned his weapon in his hands more like one would a bat...
Serval pushed himself into Tifa ferociously, his animal-like instincts taking over without opposition. Tifa found herself lifted up, mostly by Serval's one arm, but also by his swollen groin as he pushed it up between her still-clothed legs. This seemed problematic to him, so he grabbed her pants and pulled down on -CLANG!-
Serval blinked as a somewhat painful impact caused his head to jerk away from Tifa's. He glanced to his right in annoyance, only to see the side of the Hardedge as it smacked into his face. With a growl, he glanced back and forth between Tifa -who was half out of it and still seemed to be thinking that something was going on- and his new opponent. He punched the female hard in the head, causing it to collide with the wall and knocking her out cold. "Stay put babe, I'll be riiiight back."
Cloud swung again and connected, the rapidly blinking lights visually exaggerating the force of Cloud's attack. He tried once more, but this time Serval caught the weapon like it was nothing. He gave Cloud a despondent look. "Can't ya see I'm a bit busy here?" he asked in a rough -yet still calm- voice. The blond-haired ex-soldier didn't dignify that with a verbal response, but instead pulled his sword away, retreated back a few steps and held the Hardedge out in front of him. While it looked like he was poising for an attack, he was really just trying to block his view of Serval's erect genitalia. He had little time to think as the fiend popped out his claws and strut towards him.
"CARBUNCLE, GO!" Cloud shouted, concentrating on the scarlet-colored materia in his possession. In a flash of multi-colored light, a small, teal-colored creature appeared, and jumped in front of Serval, who had stopped in his tracks. Its head extended into three points, which were accentuated by a red, diamond-shaped mark on its face which stood between its purple, marble-like eyes. The small summon stood on two rabbit-like legs, and had a pointed tail which was about half the size of his plastic-looking body. It looked up at Serval and blinked cutely.
"Uhm... attack?" Cloud requested dumbfoundedly. Carbuncle just turned back towards its apparent master and cocked its head, giving what could only be read as a confused look. Closing its eyes and letting out a soft, yet high-pitched "FWEEE!!", it let a serene glow emanate from its body. The glow erected tendrils which swirled briefly around Cloud and then seemed to disappear. Carbuncle then vanished, as well.
"That was cheap..." Cloud muttered, not realizing that his opponent was closing in. Serval struck out, but his claws bounced off an impenetrable barrier of energy that appeared in front of the blonde just before he was able to make contact. Cloud still felt like his chest had been raked, but there was no injury to show for it. The former soldier swung his weapon, but missed.
Serval slashed madly, giving Cloud "the ol' one-two" as a boxing coach would call it, his deadly claws bouncing off the field of protective energy. Each blow still affected the smaller man, but he did not let that stop him. He attacked again, this time glancing Serval's cheek. Serval glared at Cloud and sniffed at him a few times. Then his lips curled up into a wickedly confidant smile.
"Bub, you better get outta here while ya still can," the hairy, naked man insisted. "Cuz you're nuttin' more than a range o' color. Yer green: ya don't know how to fight, ya don't know how to kill. Yer yellow: ya don't have the guts to do what's needed to stop me. I got a metal skeleton and a super-keen healing factor. Ya wanna put me down? 'For the count' won't do it, ya gotta kill me. Yer too inexperienced, weak, and cowardly to do it. And soon, yer gonna be black, blue, and red all over, 'soon as that blasted force field of yours fades off."
Cloud narrowed his eyes in anger and charged, swinging his weapon madly. His aim was true, and each blow was a direct hit, but Serval was barely fazed. He even had the gall to stand up straight and put his hands to his hips, his mouth displaying an almost charming smile as the Hardedge smacked his head back and forth.
"Donchya get it, kid?! Metal bones! Fast healing! Ya can't hit me hard enough to gimme a bruise, fer cryin' out loud! You can't even cut me with that... whatever the hell that pathetic excuse for a weapon in yer paws is."
The blonde remained silent, and pulled the Poison Materia out of his pocket. He griped it hard, and concentrated on it with all of his will. Emerald-colored energy rippled out from his feet, and holding out his arm, Cloud cast a Bio spell on his opponent. A sickly-looking substance which resembled Mako grew out of thin air and enveloped Serval, trying to get into his lungs and flood his system with all sorts of diseases. He simply shrugged it off though. "Hyper-immune system too, bub," he cockily explained. "Not t' mention I ain't hurt much by magic t' begin with... So, you done yet?"
Cloud bowed his head in defeat, and began to fiddle with the Hardedge. It couldn't end like this. Zack, Tifa, they were depending on him. And he was not about to let this... this bully win. There had to be a way to stop him.. but how?! He was impervious to any major injury -thanks to his metallic bones- and any surface damage he did take was healed in seconds. Magic didn't seem to do squat. Tifa, Zack, and Dyne, all experienced fighters, had fallen before this monstrosity. What chance did Cloud, a little weakling from a backwater town, have against a thoroughbred killing machine?
No... I'm not going to give up... I'm not going to run away... Okay, think... there's more ways to die than just being sliced and shot. And only his BONES are covered in metal... And I'm sure that things that don't heal to begin with would still take even him time to recover from... Hmm, I wonder...
"I've been going about this all wrong," Cloud admitted, concentrating on his Wind Materia, nervousness creeping in. "But so have you... You think I can't or won't kill you? Well, I'd say I'm about to teach you a lesson, but dead people don't learn anything. AERO!"
Wind picked up around Serval, who rolled his eyes as his hair was whipped all around harmlessly. "Oh please," he cracked snidely. "You th-think thu.. that.. ug.. guh.. whu?!?!"
The wind around the monstrous specimen began to tighten and focus on his chest. The force of high winds wound up compacted into his lungs, sucking away all the air and drying the sponge-like organs out! Serval instantly realized what was happening, and tried to leap at his resourceful opponent, but his body was becoming so oxygen-deprived that his legs buckled beneath him instead of jumping forward. He knew the kid couldn't keep this up forever, definitely not long enough to kill him. He struggled to stay on his knees and not collapse, which soon became easier as Cloud stopped his spell and made a break towards where Zack lay struggling to stay alive.
Cloud removed his Wind Materia from the Hardedge, tossed the weapon aside and took the Buster Sword awkwardly into his hands. He replaced Zack's Bolt Materia with his own magical orb of choice, and turned to face Serval again. He held the obscenely large blade down and let it rest on the ground, as he realized he'd have a hard time balancing it in front of himself as it should be wielded.
Serval leapt at him weakly, still groggy from the oxygen-deprivation attack, but instead of dodging, Cloud took the hit and fell to his back, causing his barrier to finally dissipate. Shit, Cloud thought to himself as Serval crouched over his young prey, held out both sets of claws, and drove them straight down towards the blond-haired twit. He would not be given the satisfaction of feeling blood splatter against his hands though, but instead felt his claws get stuck in the solid metal floor as Cloud again cast Aero, but this time at himself, shooting him under and then behind the beastly man.
Cloud twisted, stood, and jumped, holding the Buster Sword over his head as his Aero spell propelled him upwards. He then aimed it down at the base of Serval's neck, the blade perpendicular to his opponent's exposed spine, and thrust downward, utilizing gravity, his own strength, and the added power of a downward wind, plunging the sword right through Serval's neck and jamming the blade into the floor with an overly loud SHATANG!
James Howlett's eyes went wide, his pupils shrinking as suddenly all he could feel was blood escaping from his head, cold metal running all through where his neck was supposed to be. Just before he died, he heard his body -which he could no longer feel- go limp and collapse behind him as his head slowly slid down the side of the Buster Sword and finally plopped off and fell, rolling forward across the floor.
Cloud looked around at the carnage, and began to panic slightly. "JAMIE!" he called out, "We're all clear, GET IN HERE! Get those elixirs out!"
"Jessie!" the hacker corrected, a bit of resentment in her voice. Though the negative feelings faded when she saw her friends' bodies strewn all over the place. "Ohmigod!"
Aeris was walking alongside Jessie, apparently feeling much better. She took in the horror of the slightly darkened, blood-filled room in total shock.
"Aeris!" Cloud cried out, "Remember that... wind thing you did in Sector Seven?! Do it again!" he insisted desperately.
"I... I can't," the slightly older woman responded sadly. "I'm all tapped out, and far too weak. Did my mother give you guys the elixirs?"
Jessie charged forward and looked around. "I... I only have two of 'em left... who do I use 'em on?!"
"Tifa!" Cloud instantly responded.
The hacker went to the ninja and looked her over. "Hey, she doesn't look that bad... where's she wounded?"
"I.... I dunno... I..." Cloud stammered.
The flower girl then came over, and put a hand to Tifa's head. After a moment, she looked back at her two allies. "She's okay, just unconscious. Zack, Dyne and Red are in worse condition."
"Who's 'Red'?" Jessie inquired.
Aeris remained silent as she got up, and walked over to where the humanoid boy lay. "Use those last two elixirs on Dyne and Zack, they're losing blood by the second!" she all but ordered.
Jessie handed an elixir to Cloud while she went over to use one on Dyne, who was crouched up in the fetal position in a pool of blood, his good arm -which was soaked in the crimson fluid- covering his upper abdomen protectively. She concentrated on the Materia, causing it to disappear, only to be replaced by a plethora of multi-colored lights which surrounded her leader, who instantly opened his eyes and sat up with something of a confused look on his face. The Materia had lived up to its reputation. All of Dyne's injuries were as though they never existed. Even all of his blood had been restored, and he felt so rejuvenated that he was forced to wonder if he had been cured, or if he just had a really long, satisfying nap.
Cloud looked between Tifa and Zack, becoming torn. On one side of him lay a former and current crush, to whom he made a promise of saving whenever she was in trouble; On the other side lay his best friend, who stayed with him through thick and thin, even when he was a hindrance. Zack never let him down or left him behind. The flower girl had a point, Zack was DYING... and Tifa was ONLY just unconscious... but... what if she had a concussion? Zack was still alive and might be able to pull through, but Tifa might never wake up again. However, Zack's chances of survival dwindled by the second, and Tifa might regain consciousness any second on her own... but what if she didn't, and never would again unless she received help NOW?!
Cloud repressed a tear... and concentrated the Materia on Tifa.
Well, he tried, but Tifa's hand instantly shot up and grabbed the elixir before Cloud could use it. "As much as I hate him sometimes..." Tifa muttered weakly, her eyes still closed, "I think he needs this more than I do."
Cloud nodded and without hesitation turned and targeted Zack with the one-use curative Materia. Several lights blinked on and off all around him, resetting his bones, closing his injuries and restoring his strength. The process visually resembled what one would see in a movie with a very low special effects budget: as oppose to a gradual, almost graceful computer-generated-looking sequence, it actually more resembled amateur stop-motion claymation. As the healing lights flashed and dissipated, Zack groaned, blinked, then instantly shot up!
"SERVAL!" he called out, "ZACK IS BACK AND READY FOR ROUND... two? Huh?!" Zack finally noticed Serval's dead, decapitated body, the Buster Sword sword sticking up out of the ground at the base of his neck, and his head a few feet away.
"Tifa, you okay?" Cloud asked worriedly, ignoring Zack for the moment.
Tifa didn't respond much, and concentrated on trying to stand while keeping her head down and her eyes closed. She looked down at her tattered Gi for a moment, and slowly proceeded to try to wrap it back around herself, repressing a stream of tears that tried to burst from her eyes. It wasn't so much because of what had just happened, but because what it had reminded her of. A time when more than just her body had been violated... Shaking her head, she pushed those dreadful thoughts from her head, and tried to be thankful that she was okay.
Aeris was by the Red XIII specimen, looking at him gravely. "If you can hear me... try and transform again."
"It... hurts... can't... it only hurts more..." the boy complained, a tear in his eye.
"If you can change shape, you can negate the open wounds, right?" Aeris pressed.
"I... I am not sure... if that'll.. work..." Red responded, his voice growing raspy.
"Do it. Try," the flower girl prodded, "If not for yourself, then for your grandfather."
"My... how..?"
"Shh, just concentrate..."
And with that, the specimen shook and began to glow a bit. He screamed as his body hair became thicker, his face became elongated, his body contorting into the shape of an animal... an animal that was not wounded.
"It... worked!" Red exclaimed with a bit of surprise. He breathed deep and reverted back to his humanoid self, which also wound up good as new. He got up and looked at his some-what savior, "I apologize for my behavior... I was..."
"..Acting to throw Hojo off-guard?" Aeris interrupted a bit cockily.
"Yes... how did you know that is what I was about to say? No, forget that... how do you know about my grandfather?"
Aeris smiled sweetly, got up and turned away, walking towards the others with Red XIII following, his flame-tipped tail swinging loosely behind him, "I promise I'll tell you later, but we don't have time now."
"Cloud... What happened here?!" Zack wondered aloud. "Did... did you do this?!"
"He had a skeleton laced with Adamant, the hardest metal known to man," Dyne said, walking up to the body. He then looked to Cloud. "How in the world did you manage to cut off his head?!"
"His bones may've been covered in metal," Cloud started to explain, "but not the cartilage in-between the vertebrae."
Zack just looked at Cloud dumbfoundedly, while the others beamed the blonde a look that echoed nothing but respect. So of course, Zack found it necessary to express himself verbally. "Dude..."
"I know," Cloud answered half-irritated, knowing where THIS was going.
"No, I mean, DUDE!"
"... 'dude'," Cloud responded in disinterest.
"DUDE!"
"Dude,"
"DUUUUDE!"
"DU.. er, I mean, hey, stop that!" Cloud said, almost smiling.
"Okay, seriously, is everyone okay?" Zack finally asked, looking around. That's when he saw Red XIII standing next to Aeris. "Uhhmm... Hi?"
"Formal greetings," the boy replied, raising his hand. "If you are leaving, I would wish to accompany you."
Zack looked over to Dyne and blinked. "You're the leader, whaddya say? He helped out in that last fight, I think we can trust him."
The AVALANCHE leader gave this a bit of thought. "I suppose..." he remarked a bit hesitantly, looking at the newcomer skeptically. "What's your name?"
"I am Nanaki, of Cosmo Canyon," the redhead declared.
"Hey there, I'm Zack, Na.. Nakan.. Nikki... Nana.." Zack stammered, "Uhm, mind if I just call you 'Red'?"
"Only if I may call you 'lunch'," Nanaki half-threatened, lowering his eyelid.
"Deal!" Zack replied without missing a beat and smiling.
"I have known you for five seconds and you already irritate me..."
"That's nothing, I've known him for over five years," Cloud lamented.
"I commend you on maintaining your sanity, then..."
"..Cloud," the blonde responded, realizing that the half-human was waiting for him to fill his name in.
As introductions continued to be made, Jessie took notice of a yellow Materia orb in one of Serval's arm straps and snatched it up, assuming quite logically that he wouldn't be needing it anymore.
"Okay, we got the girl back," Cloud noted, not noticing "the girl" Aeris giving him a dirty look, "Let's get outta here."
The seven companions started towards other end of the laboratory where the exit hallway was. Aeris led her friends to a storage room where she was able to retrieve her jacket and Materia, as well as a blue jumpsuit for Nanaki. He protested lightly at the thought of wearing clothes at first, but put the jumpsuit on eventually as he realized he was making the others uncomfortable.
"We gotta get out ASAP," Zack noted, "Hojo took off to who knows where and prob'ly activated an alarm by now. We can take the tube elevators, that'll get us back to ground level the fastest."
"Right," Dyne agreed. "Though..."
"Though nothing," Tifa interrupted. "I know what you're thinking, Dyne. We're THIS close to Shinra... but we all almost just died and I don't want to see what else Hojo has locked up around here. We'll get the fat pig later, but for right now, we HAVE to go, or else we might've ended up going through all this for nothing."
The AVALANCHE leader looked at his top lieutenant with a disappointed glare, but he knew she was right. As the team entered the elevators, he looked up towards the top couple of floors through the lift's opaque tube. "One day, Shinra..." he vowed angrily, shaking his gun arm up at Shinra's 70th floor office.
The elevator was very large, in fact there was room for twice as many people as the seven who currently occupied it. It had a lush, gray carpet at the base, and the top and bottom of the elevator was lined in silver. It had completely glass walls, allowing whoever was inside to see half of Midgar. Jessie flipped and rushed up against Zack, closing her eyes.
"Uhm you okay?" Zack asked, pressing "1" on the elevator's keypad. The elevator began to move, though it was equipped with inertial dampeners, not letting you feel the up or down motions usually associated with riding an elevator.
"I... I'm afraid of heights," Jessie mumbled, almost trembling.
"Have you always been that way?"
"Erm, no, I just found that out just now..." she replied as she dared to look over Zack's shoulder and towards the city. "Eeep!" She squealed, ducking her head into Zack's shoulder.
"Waitasec," Cloud suddenly blurted, looking out the window. "Zack, you hit 'ONE', right?!"
"Yeah.."
"So why're we going up?!"
"What?!" Red asked, echoing everyone else's thoughts and looking out. Indeed, the city far below was fading further downwards.
"It's a trap!" Dyne observed hastily, loading his Gun-arm
"No shit, Admiral Fish-head," Zack quipped. "But look on the bright side, looks like you'll have your chance to get a piece of Shinra after all! Well, it's more likely that he'll have a contingent of guards waiting for us, but uh... Yeah..."
And with that, everyone got into fighting positions and looked towards the door, readying their weapons while Nanaki stripped down and morphed into his animal form.
The elevator dinged ominously, and the doors slowly slid open....