Chapter 14
The elevator up from lower Junon was just a simple platform with faded striped tape around its edges and the painted word 'caution,' just in case you didn't realize that you could fall if you stepped over the edge. The shaft was dark, lit only by a narrow beam at the platform's edge. All in all, it was pretty bare bones. The Shinra certainly weren't expecting anyone of importance like Yuffie Kisaragi to come up through here.
The call from Cait Sith had come mid-morning, as Yuffie tried to eat breakfast and answer Priscilla's incessant questions about Cloud at the same time. She'd jumped at the chance to go, though not so much at donning her disguise. Now she and Vincent stood side-by-side in matching Shinra uniforms, their height difference still making them cut an odd pair. Vincent had removed enough of the casing on his claw to pull the sleeve down and hide his hands in gloves, and Yuffie kept glancing at his arm, wondering if it still worked okay like that.
They reached the upper level, and the doors opened onto panic. Red lights flashed, and a voice over the intercom called frantically for all hands to report to the cannons to fight Weapon, interrupted only by details of Weapon's current position. It set her on edge, and she found herself reaching for the familiar grip of her shuriken, which she'd had to leave behind.
Yuffie soon realized, however, that the halls here were empty. The elevator came up near the barracks, and the hall to their left led to the streets of Junon. All, or at least most, of the soldiers had already gone to the harbor. A few doors and lockers had been left open, and some civilian clothes lay on the floor, cast off by off-duty troopers in a hurry to report to their stations. It left little doubt that this Weapon really was a serious threat to Junon.
From one of the open arms lockers, Vincent retrieved a pair of rifles, the kind most Shinra troops carried, and handed one to her. Their disguises were now complete. "Know how to use it?" he asked her.
"Yeah," she answered, though she had never held one before.
He seemed to infer that somehow and sighed. He took a few minutes to show her how it worked, to their mutual annoyance, but she guessed it was necessary. If she didn't have a clue, someone might notice.
"All right," he said finally, deciding that they were ready. "Let's go."
Vincent, although he hadn't been with them when they'd passed through Junon before, seemed to know his way around. He led the way down the hall, gun resting against his shoulder, and Yuffie kept pace at his side, mimicking him. A thought occurred to her then.
"Hey, Vinny--did upper Junon even exist thirty years ago?"
"No."
"Then how come you know your way around so well?"
"Cait Sith went over its layout with me."
"Oh." Yuffie pondered this for a moment. "You must have a really good memory," she concluded.
After several turns, they started seeing more people in the halls, and open rooms with technicians working frantically to 'reroute power' to the base's different defenses. No one they passed spared them more than a glance, and they came to what seemed to be a main junction without incident. The way ahead led onward to the airfield, and the door to their left was marked 'Press Room.' To their right, a set of stairs led up.
"Are you ready?" Vincent asked her quietly.
"For what?" She thought they had gotten themselves ready earlier, and wasn't sure what they had paused here for.
He gave a slight shake of his head as though he wasn't sure either. "The main control room is up these stairs. Rufus will likely be there with Scarlet and Heidegger."
"And we have to pass through there to get to the prison block...?"
Vincent nodded.
Yuffie took a deep breath and let it out. "Okay. I'm ready."
If Rufus and the others were as distracted as their subordinates, maybe they wouldn't even notice two soldiers sneaking by with their prisoners.
They went up the stairs, past a few stationed soldiers, and into a huge room of computers lit by the daylight pouring in from the window stretching across the entire far wall. Rufus stood before it overlooking the ocean and the fight that must have been raging there between Weapon and his men. Sure enough, Scarlet and Heidegger stood behind him, silent for once while the emergency lights went on flashing and the intercom continued its hurried reports.
Yuffie swallowed her curiosity about this Weapon thing and followed Vincent into a side room on the right. They entered unnoticed to find a hall lined with doors, all with the red indicator light above them.
A single guard was posted just inside, but he only gave them a once over and said nothing. Yuffie had no idea which of these cells her friends were in, and unless by some miracle Vincent did, then they were going to look suspicious fast. She hung back a little as Vincent strode slowly down the hall. He seemed to be listening for something, though she didn't know what he could possibly hear above the incessant chatter of the intercom. Maybe it was one of those weird Vincent things.
He stopped in front of a door, stood still for a moment, and then carefully punched a code on the keypad--with his flesh hand, she noticed. The door slid open. Vincent walked on inside, and Yuffie picked up her pace to join him.
It was definitely the right door, although it was pretty large for a cell. Maybe, Yuffie considered, this hadn't always been a prison block. Barret stood near the windows, and he turned towards them warily. Slowly, he began backing up towards Tifa, who lay motionless on one of the two beds in the room, as though to defend her.
Vincent pressed a button to shut the door behind them. He then pulled off his mask, and Yuffie eagerly did the same. Before Barret could make any loud outbursts, the ex-Turk held a finger to his lips.
"We have to go, now," Vincent said quietly. "We will escort you, as guards escorting prisoners."
"Awright."
"Is Tifa still out?" Yuffie asked.
Barret nodded, frowning. "Yeah. She woke up earlier, but she couldn't handle it, not knowin' 'bout Cloud."
"I will carry her then," Vincent stated, starting towards her bed.
Barret blinked and seemed about to protest, but just shook his head. "What about the others? Are they here?"
"No." It was Vincent who answered. "Aeris and Nanaki were taken as well, but Shinra isn't holding them here."
"How do you know?" Yuffie had to ask. She was beginning to believe he just magically knew everything.
The ex-Turk glanced at her. "I can neither hear them, nor smell them."
Definitely one of those weird Vincent things. His reluctance to answer made her kind of sorry she'd asked, but she didn't apologize. Instead she just nodded and tried to act like he'd offered a perfectly normal explanation.
He put his mask back on, lifted Tifa up over one shoulder, and nodded to her. Yuffie put her mask on, too, and waited for Vincent to take the lead. He went to the door, opened it, and stepped out into the hall without the slightest hesitation. Yuffie motioned Barret to go next and brought up the rear of the little procession, aiming her gun at Barret and hoping she looked like she was serious about shooting.
The guard at the end of the hall straightened as they approached. "What are you doing?"
"Transferring the prisoners to a more secure location," Vincent answered brusquely. "Turks' orders."
"Oh," the soldier said, sounding a bit taken aback by both Vincent's confident tone and the apparent origin of these orders. "I guess they don't want them escaping at a time like this, huh?"
Vincent nodded, and the guard let them by without another word of protest. They made it halfway across the control room before Scarlet noticed them and alerted Rufus. They halted while the President of Shinra approached. "What do you think you're doing?" he demanded.
Yuffie held her breath. They couldn't possibly talk their way out of this one. Rufus was a jerk, but he wasn't stupid or gullible, and he'd probably recognize their voices right off the bat. With a glance at Vincent, she checked herself. With how little he spoke, maybe they had a chance. She kept her mouth shut, sure she wouldn't know what to say anyhow.
"Reno of the Turks authorized a transfer," Vincent replied, sounding no less confident for who he was speaking to.
"Reno? What for?"
"I didn't question the order, sir."
"Prob'ly lookin' for payback," Barret spat. "Son of a bitch--!"
Yuffie looked at him in surprise that he had said something to play along, and quickly prodded him hard with the muzzle of her gun, as though in rebuke. He twisted to glare at her.
Rufus was still suspicious. "I've heard nothing of this, and he should know better than to move them at a time like this. Take the prisoners back to their cells and--"
"President Rufus!" came a young soldier's voice. The man ran in, gave a hurried salute, and continued. "Sir! The Sister Ray missed, and Weapon's increased speed! What do we do?"
Rufus cursed under his breath, turning from Vincent to bark orders at his staff. Scarlet, too, became distracted, and with the Shinra executives focusing on more important matters, the group quietly made for the door.
They had just made it down the stairs when the voice over the intercom interrupted itself with a new alert: the Avalanche prisoners had escaped. Vincent broke into a run, and the other two followed, Yuffie mentally cursing her companions' height.
The soldiers they now came across moved to stop them, though with the crisis at hand, most men were diverted to the harbor, leaving the path to the airfield clear. Vincent returned fire, downing many of them before they could properly aim. Yuffie did her best to act as a rear guard, though she had never used a gun before and the rifle's kickback made her aim wild. She wished she had her shuriken. Then she could have taken care of these guys no problem, because she was Yuffie Kisaragi, and she knew how to use a shuriken.
But she'd left it behind because it wasn't a Shinra weapon and would have given her away in an instant.
Several SOLDIERs appeared as they reached the door out onto the airfield. At first she felt relief; the SOLDIERs would have to close with them to attack with their swords.
A bolt spell struck her, making her cry out and lose her footing, nearly dropping her rifle. Barret grabbed her arm, dragged her through the door, and slammed the heavy thing shut behind them. The Highwind wasn't far away, and Vincent had already picked off several of the soldiers between them and the airship, though there were still plenty behind.
Barret took Tifa from Vincent, and he and Yuffie made a run for the airship, Vincent taking over as their rear guard. They reached the lift well ahead of him, and Barret hesitated only an instant before slamming the button to take the lift up without Vincent.
Cid met them at the bottom of the Highwind's ladder, having just come down. "You two get inside," he instructed. "I'm gonna go give Vince a hand." He ran past them and back down the lift, spear in hand.
Yuffie exchanged glances with Barret. Then she shook her head, tossed off the stupid helmet, and motioned for Barret to go up ahead of her so she could help with Tifa if need be.
Cait Sith was waiting for them on deck. "Are you guys okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," Yuffie answered.
Barret grunted.
Cait nodded. "I'll go tell 'em to take off," he said, bouncing off towards the bridge.
"What about--?"
"They'll make it," Barret interrupted.
He had set Tifa down carefully against the railing and stood watching the scene below. Yuffie joined him. The two had just made it back onto the lift. Vincent looked like he was limping, but once they were up, the Shinra couldn't follow for at least fifteen seconds.
The lift reached the top and they broke into a run, Vincent lagging behind. Cid caught the ladder and started up, and Vincent reached it as the Shinra soldiers came up on the lift. Gunfire and elemental spells followed Cid and Vincent up the ladder, but the Highwind was taking off. They were home free.
"Great to have you guys back," Cid said to Barret when he reached the top again, "but I gotta run up to the bridge." Without another word, he dashed back inside.
Barret shook his head at the pilot, gathered Tifa back up, and turned to Yuffie. "Thanks for the rescue, kid."
Kid was better than brat, she guessed. "Any time."
With a nod, he carried Tifa inside at a considerably less hurried pace.
Yuffie remained where she was. She never went inside anyway, and someone had to wait for Vincent.
He reached the top, finally pulled off his mask, and leaned against the railing.
"Are you okay, Vinny?" she asked uncertainly, her eyes going to the spreading bloodstain on his calf. It looked like he bled red just like anyone else.
He nodded silently without looking at her.
"...that looks pretty bad," she said, deciding now was one of those rare instances where she needed to ignore Vincent's opinion. "Let's go inside and see if we've got any Restore materia left. At the very least, I'll bandage it up for you."
"Why so concerned?" he asked quietly.
Yuffie looked at him askance. "You take a blow to the head, Vinny? You're my friend. You're hurt. I don't care if you've been through worse, that doesn't mean you just stand there and bleed."
He returned her gaze, looking almost surprised. "When did you decide we were friends?"
"This morning. Remember?" Her stomach turned as the ship made a turn, and she grimaced. Gods, this was a bad time for her to start feeling queasy. And she couldn't even curse the ship, now that it'd enabled them to escape. She swallowed hard and tugged on Vincent's arm. "Now come on. Or can you not walk now?"
"I can walk."
Yuffie helped him inside the airship, reflecting that for all that was going on, at least her status with this group seemed to be improving. Even Vincent seemed to like her all right.
Cid set the airship down some miles outside of Kalm. He would have liked to actually go into the town and sleep in a real inn for once, but Barret had assured him Kalm was too much of a Shinra town these days for them to risk it. So this was as close to Midgar as they were going to get until they had a plan to tackle the place.
Turning from the controls, Cid looked over his companions scattered around the bridge. All told, they hadn't fared too badly in that Junon rescue. Only Vincent had suffered any serious injury, and he still seemed to be managing all right. Unfortunately Aeris and Nanaki had been in charge of healing magic, so they'd lost their Restore materia along with them. Now all they could do was bandage their wounds and let them heal the old-fashioned way.
"Well," he said at length, "let's all get some rest."
Vincent hung back behind the others as they headed from the deck to the ship's sleeping quarters, and Cid didn't notice him stop until Yuffie glanced over her shoulder and hesitated.
Cid followed her gaze to find the ex-Turk standing outside the Operations room door, frowning.
"What's up, Vince?"
Instead of answering, Vincent opened the door. His frown deepened.
"I was wondering when you'd notice me."
Cid recognized the voice. It was Reno of the Turks.