Shinra Reborn Chapter 4
By Dan Schmidt
"Well, we sure accomplished a lot there," Barret said as him, Cloud, and Tifa left the Shinra building.
"Well, we did find out why Midgar is suddenly so lively," Tifa said. They started to climb down the maze of debris that led back down to Wall Market.
"They’ll be searching for us, you know," Barret commented.
"He’s right," Tifa said in agreement. Cloud didn’t say anything. Shinra didn’t have Reeve, he was pretty sure of that. But then who did? And what were they going to do now that Shinra is back in charge of Midgar. Cloud was sure Shinra would return to it’s regular, planet life-sucking ways.
"Hey Cloud, you still with us," Barret asked.
"Huh?" Cloud shook his head and looked up. "I’m alright. Just thinking about…well…things."
"Well, get back in reality, before I go and smack your spiky head!" Barret always had an unusual way of cheering people up.
Finally, the team got back down into Wall Market. The place was deserted.
"Uh oh," Barret said, "What happened here?" They walked past Corneo’s mansion and down to the gym.
"There they are!" a voice called out. The team turned around and saw a legion of Shinra troops right behind them. There were atleast thirty troops.
"That’s too many to fight by ourselves," Barret stated. Without another word, the three of them took off running.
"Where are we running too?" Cloud yelled to Barret as they ran out of Wall Market. The Shinra troops were pursuing them.
"Um…let’s go to Elmyra’s place!" he replied. They ran past the Sector 5 playground. Then, Tifa tripped. She fell and landed hard on her elbow. She heard a nasty snap, and knew she had broken something. Cloud stopped and helped her up. Barret opened fire on the Shinra troops that were closing in. They scattered and hid.
"C’mon, let’s move," Barret said. They took off toward the Sector 5 slums. By the time they reaching Elmyra’s house, they were completing out of breath. Tifa’s arm was swelling up. The bone was definitely broken. Barret pounded on the door. Elmyra answered.
"Good heavens! Barret, Cloud, Tifa, what are you doing here?"
"No time to explain," Barret said, "Just let us in and lock the door." She did just that. Once they were inside, Elmyra looked at Tifa’s arm.
"Yes, it’s broken, but you’re in luck. I have some cure materia here somewhere. I think it’s upstairs. I’ll go get it. You three can make yourselves at home." With that, she headed upstairs. Tifa immediately went over to the refrigerator and got some ice for her arm. Barret looked for cups to get some water, but couldn’t find any. Finally, he gave up his search, and just stuck his whole head under the kitchen faucet.
"Ahh…" he said, "That’s feels good." Cloud opened up the dishwasher and found some cups. He picked one up, showed it off to Barret, and then filled it with water. Elmyra then came back downstairs with the cure materia. Cloud took the materia from her, and concentrated on it. It glowed a bright green, and Tifa’s arm was healed.
"Now, what are we gonna do about getting out of Midgar?" Cloud asked.
"Well, you’re not going out the way you came in," Elmyra said, "Shinra has posted guards at the Sector 5 entrance. I saw them there about thirty minutes ago."
"Great," Barret said, "Now we can’t get out!"
"I have an idea," Tifa asked.
"What?" Barret and Cloud both asked in unison.
"Well, if we can’t walk out of here, how about we fly out? Let’s call Cid!"
"Good idea!" Barret exclaimed, "Cloud, use the PHS." Cloud pulled out the PHS and called Cid. It took a few moments for Cid to answer. When he did, Cloud heard the loud roar of what sounded like a jet engine.
"Hello?" Cid answered.
"Cid, this is Cloud. Turn down your TV, or whatever that noise is."
"I can’t. What you hear the Highwind’s engines! Me and Shera are on our way to beautiful downtown Costa Del Sol!"
"Well," Cloud said, "We need your help. Could you pick us up in Midgar? We seemed to be a little trapped. We’re at Elmyra’s house. Hurry, Cid. Shinra patrols are all over the place."
"Shinra? What the heck is Shinra doing in control of Midgar?"
"I’ll explain later. Hurry, Cid."
"Alright, see ya." Cid hung up. Cloud turned back to his friends. Barret was sitting in his chair, looking at his glass of water. Tifa was testing out her newly healed elbow.
"Cid is on his way," Cloud said. Neither one of them looked up. Barret took a sip of his water and then spoke.
"How’s he gonna get past Shinra’s Air Defense Zone?" Barret asked.
"Good question," Cloud replied, "Maybe if we are lucky, Shinra hasn’t gotten around to rebuilding that yet. My guess is that they haven’t done that yet.."
"Well," Barret said, "I guess we should get going."
"Going?" Cloud asked, "Where?"
"Up top. We’re under the plate, remember? Cid can’t fly his ship under the plate."
"Good point. Tifa, Barret, let’s go!" They said good-bye and thanks to Elmyra, and then headed back towards Wall Market. They would get picked up right in front of the Shinra building. With the Shinra army still in the process of rebuilding, there were not many guards around the Shinra building.. Cloud guessed that the Shinra army numbered only in the hundreds right now. Finally, they reached Wall Market. Cloud headed right for the wire, but Barret stopped.
"Lights are on in Corneo’s mansion," he said.
"Who would be in there? Corneo’s dead." Cloud stated.
"Let’s check it out!" Barret said as he ran into the mansion. Cloud and Tifa followed. Barret went up to the door and tried to open it. It was locked. Cloud motioned for Barret to stand back. Cloud unsheathed his sword, and sliced into the middle of the door. He carefully cut out the lock on the other side. Then, he kicked the doors open. The room they had just entered was empty, but the lights were on. Silently, the three of them snuck up to Corneo’s old office. They heard voices inside.
"Waylon wants to know how our status in Wall Market is coming," one voice said
"Well, he’ll be happy with the results. Our spies have infiltrated the Shinra building. We have atleast six men inside it, and all of them are giving great reports of Shinra’s activities. Also, Avalanche just now attacked the Shinra building, looking for Reeve. Looks like everything is going according to plan."
"Excellent work, Ryham. Waylon will be very pleased with your progress," the first man said.
"Thank you, sir!" the second replied. Cloud motioned for his friends to follow him. They left Corneo’s mansion, and headed towards the wire.
"What was that all about!?" Barret asked.
"I dunno," Cloud said, "But they were talking about Reeve. So it is true that Shinra doesn’t have them."
"This looks like some kind of organization," Tifa added, "My guess is that this Waylon guy is their leader, or a high ranking person."
"Yeah, that’s what I think too," Cloud said, "But we still don’t know where they’ve hidden Reeve." They continue to walk towards the wire. Before long, the "Shiny Golden Wire of Hope" was in front of them. Cloud began to climb the wire. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret reached the swinging bar before Barret stopped. He sniffed the air.
"Cloud, you wearing cologne?" Barret asked. Cloud sniffed the air himself.
"That’s not me. Smells like some like of expensive stuff," Cloud said.
"It is pretty expensive." Cloud looked up and saw Reno standing over him. He was holding his nightstick, and had his usual smirk on his face.
"Reno, not you again."
"Yes Cloudy, look like we meet again." Reno suddenly raised his nightstick.
"Too bad it will be our last meeting." He smacked Cloud with his nightstick. Cloud fell back, and off the debris. He managed to grab a hold of the swinging wire. Reno swung at him with his stick, but Cloud dodged. Finally, Tifa and Barret reached the battle. Barret said nothing, but open fire on Reno. Reno jumped out of the way, but lost his balance. He fell back, and grabbed onto the wire. Reno tried to swat Cloud off the wire, but couldn’t get much on his swings. Finally, he reared back, and swung hard at Cloud. Cloud dodged, and grabbed the nightstick. He jerked it wildly, and Reno lost his grip. Reno fell off the wire, and landed onto some debris below them. He moaned, and then passed out.
"Let’s get moving," Cloud said. When they reached the top, they saw Elena and Rude standing there.
"Hey," Elena called, "Where’s Reno!?"
"He took a nasty fall," Cloud said. Without a word, both parties spread into a battle formation. Rude tried to focus his attacks on Barret, but Barret avoided him. Rude tried to stay away from Cloud, whose sword was no match for his fists. Suddenly, Elena reached into her pocket, and pulled out a revolver. She fired at Avalanche, and they took cover behind a crate. Twice Barret tried to fire off a few rounds. But every time he peeked over the crate, he was met by very accurate shots from Elena. Finally, Cloud decided he would create a diversion, while Barret attacked. Cloud snuck out from behind the crate, yelled an insult at the Turks, and then ran to look for more cover. He only got Rude and Elena attention for a second, but that was all that Barret needed. He slammed his gun into Rude’s head, while Tifa sweep-kicked Elena. Elena gun flew from her hand, and she scrambled after it.. Tifa tried to grab her, but Elena slipped away. Elena was running towards the gun on the ground. Tifa ran after her, and leaped, coming down hard on Elena’s back. Elena’s head smacked right against the gun, and she was knocked out cold. Rude was slowly getting to his feet, but another smack from Barret sent him sprawling again. They heard an engine roar, and then seconds later the Highwind came into view. A ladder came down, and Cloud, Tifa, and Barret climbed up. In the cockpit, they saw Cid and Shera.
"Sorry we had to cut your vacation short," Cloud said.
"Short?" Cid replied, "We hadn’t even started it yet! But, who cares. I’m not the vacation type of guy. I’d rather be kicking the crap out of Shinra. Oh yeah, what did you say about Shinra?"
"Shinra is back in control of Midgar. Heidegger is alive," Cloud informed him.
"Heidegger? That fat piece of crap? How’s he still alive?"
"He apparently escaped from the Proud Clod before it exploded. He’s running Shinra now. We also heard about the guys who kidnapped Reeve. Their leader seems to be a guy named Waylon. I don’t know who he is."
"Maybe we should ask around about him," Cid suggested.
"I’ve got a better idea," Cloud said, "Let’s go to Cosmo Canyon. They’ve got a lot of old records there. Maybe we can find out more about this guy there."
"Okay then," Cid announced, "To Cosmo Canyon!"
.