There wasn't anything Barret liked better than to be defending the Planet. Every time he fired at an enemy, the sound of gunfire echoed in his mind as a calm voice. "It's all right, Marlene. Papa'll make them all go away, an' keep you safe." Because, somehow, Marlene and the Planet were essentially the same thing to Barret, and it was his life's work to protect them both. Didn't make sense to protect one and not the other, anyways. What good would it be to save the Planet, if Marlene wasn't alive to enjoy it? And what good would it be if Marlene was safe, if there was no Planet for her to live on? So, even though he knew that the Planet had spawned this weapon against them, he treated the situation like one of Marlene's temper tantrums. Hey, you jes' calm yo'self down, now, he chided the Planet in his mind, We're gonna fix y'all up, but ya gotta hold still and be patient!.
Onyx Weapon certainly wasn't being patient. As soon as Cid had climbed the rope ladder down to the ground, it sped towards him, red eyes full of hunger for retribution. Within seconds, the Weapon was in range, and Barret rattled off an entire round of bullets into the creature's flesh. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Elena was firing too, at first wildly, but then she began to calm down a little and pick her targets more carefully. Soon the monster was right below them, and Cid was dashing back and forth, feinting and thrusting, looking almost nimble for a man of his age. Barret and Elena were far enough away that the Weapon couldn't reach them, but close enough to be able to aim without fear of hitting Cid. The Weapon seemed not to notice its aerial attackers, however, and Barret wondered if their shots were effective. It seemed content for the moment to swipe at Cid and bare its fangs, but Barret got the feeling it was capable of much, much more.
With an impossibly high leap that almost put the Weapon on the same level with Barret, the creature pounced on Cid, foot-long claws emerging out of its metallic paw and piercing the man's side in three different places. Elena screamed as blood seeped out of Cid's side and ran over the grass of the hillside. Just as the creature lowered its head, for what beastly purposed Barret dared not imagine, Barret leapt out of the airship with a terrible battle cry, landing on the beast's shoulders. Putting his gun against the Weapon's head, he shot at point-blank range.
"You let him go, foo'! I'm the one you gotta worry 'bout, now!" With a feral roar, the beast let go of Cid and tried to brush Barret off. Crouching as low as he could for someone of his stature and dodging to the side when he could, Barret evaded swing after swing, all the while pumping bullets into the creature as if he was a doctor administering a vaccine. He gripped the creature with his legs and his good arm as it bucked and tossed, trying to throw him off.
His bullets didn't seem to be hurting it at all, even though they should have struck the creature's brain thousands of times by now. It seemed the creature did not have a brain, at least not one in its head. Thinking back on the other Weapons they had fought, Barret remembered they were similar, in that the only way to defeat them was through a patient, drawn-out battle full of unceasing pounding with every possible attack.
He thought he detected the Weapon moving with slightly less energy as a result of his attack, so he kept it up. Ain't no point in wastin' a good opportunity. Unfortunately, his balancing act on top of the beast had come to an end. With an almost feline growl, the monster flung itself backwards, hoping to crush that unscratchable flea between its shoulder blades. Barret flung himself to the side, but his leg was caught underneath the massive weight of the Weapon crashing down. As the creature got up, Barret tried to scramble away, but his leg gave way beneath him, and he knew he was not fast enough.
Calling upon his Comet materia, he watched as heavy spheres of brimstone pummeled Onyx Weapon. It slowed the creature's approach slightly, but not completely. It settled on its back haunches, and Barret knew that if he did not do something immediately, the next attack would be the end of him.
Pulling together his strength, Barret called forth Neo Bahamut. Suddenly, it was as if he was transported up beyond the atmosphere, where he watched through Neo Bahamut's eyes as clouds and darkness gave way beneath him. With a roar, Barret felt Neo Bahamut stretch his wings out, and then belch forth a flaring pillar of light so bright that he was almost blinded. Returning to himself with a gasp, Barret felt the pain in his leg anew. As he watched the Weapon recover from his last attack, Barret wondered if Elena and Cid were all right. Time to come get off your lazy butts and give me a hand! were his last thoughts before Weapon pounced on him, and he slipped away into the shadowy underworld of unconsciousness.
Their surprise attack had worked fairly well. Between Cloud's Knights of the Round summon, and Tifa's and Rude's flailing fists and feet, they were making pretty good progress against Garnet Weapon. The two hand-to-hand fighters had been working together and had managed to break the right foreleg of the amphibious creature. However, it still spewed forth noxious flames and swiped at them with its good front leg. Despite Cloud's repeated summoning of their most powerful ally, the Weapon wasn't bleeding from any of the numerous cuts and gashes that decorated its skin. Still, though, Cloud could tell that the creature was wearing out, and the end of the battle was not too far off.
He felt a little light-headed from the huge drain the summons placed on him, so he took out his sword instead of attempting further magic. With a flurry of sword swinging and jumping, he attacked Garnet Weapon mercilessly, hoping to sever its other front leg from its body. Bringing down the blade of Apocalypse with all his might, he felt it pierce the creature's skin, and with a little resistance, he continued the downward slice until he had cut the leg clean through.
To Cloud's surprise, however, the Weapon did not fall on its face. Instead, it reared up on its hind legs and tail, and, though it made no sound, in its eyes was an unmistakable calm malice. If it had appeared fierce before, it was hellishly so now. Garnet Weapon reared its head back, and from its nostrils flames danced and chased like dragons. From its mouth it spewed a sickly green wave of smoking liquid that devoured the grasses on the ground between the three warriors and the Weapon.
Cloud could only watch the dual wave of fire and acid approach -- it traveled so quickly there was no time to even think of fleeing. The acidic wave hit first, eating away the lower half of his pants in an instant, flesh burning and stinging, and then the flames hit. Cloud closed his eyes instinctively, and thus he felt rather than saw the blisters forming on his skin, and smelled his hair smouldering under the fire.
Just as quickly as it had come, the wave receded, and Cloud straightened painfully. Cloud was worried about Tifa -- being shorter, the acid would have affected more of her body. Looking around, he caught sight of her, and she seemed unhurt. Only then did he notice Rude falling to the ground in front of her, his clothes half-burned off, his characteristic sunglasses nowhere in sight, and his face a mask of stoic endurance. He lay on his side, left arm pinned awkwardly beneath him, motionless. That should have been me! Cloud shouted to himself, eyes hardening, jealous of the other man's martyrdom even as he pitied his pain.
"Rude . . . ," Tifa whispered, one hand covering her mouth as if to hold her face together. Before she could even step towards him, however, the Weapon raced towards them, clearly intent on attacking them, although Cloud wondered how the creature would make a physical attack without the use of either of its arms. He soon found out.
The Weapon charged forward, its high velocity belying the fact that it was missing half of its legs, and when it had almost reached them, it suddenly jumped and twisted in mid-air. Its serpentine tail arced up, and then cracked to the side like a whip, aiming for Tifa's head.
"NO!," Cloud roared instinctively, and, with the aid of his Cover materia, managed to place himself in the tail's path in front of Tifa. It caught him just under his chin, and his feet grazed Tifa's ducked head as the Weapon flung him aside.
"Cloud, you idiot!" she yelled at him, and he wondered if those were tears in her eyes. For a moment, as he was flying through the air, Cloud felt a certain sense of fulfillment. I couldn't protect Aeris, but at least I did what I could for Tifa . . . Then he hit the ground, and thought no more.
Destroy.
Annihilate.
Return all to the Planet.
There was only one warrior left of the pitiful band that had attempted to hinder its progress. A futile attempt, doomed from its inception. One might as well try to stop the waves of the sea, or the winds of the air. Though it had let them think they were being successful, in reality it was just as powerful as it had been when their battle began.
It charged at the remaining warrior. She dodged, long brown hair trailing to the side, and suddenly her face changed. If Garnet Weapon understood such emotions as determination, hope, sacrifice, and friendship, it might have changed its tactics. Instead it let loose its tail again -- it was so close now there was no way for her to dodge -- and expected to feel the satisfying smack of bruising flesh. It certainly did not expect the flurry of attacks that followed her impossibly high jump.
From every side, it seemed, it was set upon by her kicks and punches, and though it tried to dodge, she kept moving out of the Weapon's line of sight. It had never known such pain. It was as if every blow came with the strength of three warriors at once.
As suddenly as it had begun, her onslaught stopped, and she jumped away. Weapon could tell she was breathing hard from the exertion of her attack. Snarling, and gathering its strength to breathe acid fire one more time, it reared back its head, only to be interrupted by a final attack from the relentless human.
She shouted aloud some words -- they sounded like names, but the Weapon didn't worry about things like that -- and then, gathering in a huge ball of energy, she launched her whole body into a punch that struck the Weapon as if with the force of the Planet behind it.
It could not withstand such a blow.
Failure, was its last thought, as it crumpled to the ground, and returned with a sigh to the Planet that gave it birth.
As they approached Reactor 8, the twin demons of fear and tension whispered perniciously into Nanaki's ear. He didn't have any concrete worries, of course, but still doubt nagged at him. They landed near the entrance, and everything seemed fairly normal. The sun was beginning to set, and the absence of electric lighting made the city give off a natural, humble glow. It almost looked like a place someone could call "home".
There were no guards, and, as they entered, the reactor seemed calm enough, too calm for a machine that was sucking the lifeblood of the Planet out like a leech. Nanaki could almost hear the Planet groaning, yearning for release from the parasitic torment it had endured for so long. He suddenly realized that this was not the last Mako reactor left.
"Cait?," he asked quietly, waiting for the moogle to turn around before he continued, "What about the reactors at Corel and Nibelheim? Won't the Weapons try to head there once we've shut this one down?" The cheery cat nodded.
"If there's any Weapons left after our friends are through with them. But, you're right -- after we all get back together, we'll need to shut those down, too. I'll confess, though, that I'm mostly worried about Midgar. The reactors at Nibelheim and Corel are a lot further from the towns. There's also the Underwater reactor at Junon, and the one at Gongaga - I'm not sure how functional that one is anymore, but we should check them all out to make sure." Red XIII nodded, a little relieved, and they continued on to the control room.
It was almost routine, now -- Cait Sith hopped over to the administrative panel and nonchalantly pushed the buttons that would deactivate the reactor. Red waited for the lights to go off, indicating the loss of power, but nothing happened. Standing on his hind legs to get a better view of the screen, he saw a message flash on the screen.
- ERROR: Unable to contact host. -
"It's not working?," Nanaki asked.
"No, I keep getting this error message," Cait Sith replied.
"Here, let me see," Shera asked abruptly, and she pushed the Diagnostics button. It appeared to run some tests, and then after a few minutes, came up with a Results screen.
"Hmmm," she muttered, tracing the text with her finger. "It appears that everything's working fine, but it can't contact the equipment in the room that physically controls the reactor."
"Maybe there's a loose connection somewhere," Nanaki suggested, and she nodded thoughtfully.
"I wouldn't be surprised - that sort of thing happens all the time. With what this city's been through, I guess it's surprising that we haven't encountered something like this earlier." The three stared at the screen for a moment in silence, until Red spoke up,
"What shall we do now, then?" Shera answered him,
"Well, we can either try finding the loose connection somewhere in the millions of feet of wires running through the walls, or we can go directly to the physical equipment and control it manually from there."
"Something tells me you prefer the latter," Red remarked, and Shera smiled.
"Correct." She turned back to the console and pressed a few buttons. "Right now I'm looking for a map, so we can find out where this equipment is located, but I think it's on a different console." She ran over to the other side of the room, and Nanaki and Cait Sith followed her. She searched for a few moments silently, eyes intent and focused.
"OK!," she spoke suddenly, making Red jump, "Here's a map of the place . . . I wonder which room it is on here, though?" She traced the map with her finger thoughtfully.
"It would make the most sense for it to be located close to the reactor," Nanaki suggested, "since it has to physically control it." He and Cait Sith peered over her shoulder.
"Hmm . . . Automated Equipment Room? That sounds good," Cait Sith guessed."
"It's either that or the Reactor Components room -- but I like the sound of yours better, and it's more centrally located. Let's see now how to get there . . . " Shera zoomed out on the map until both the Equipment Room and the Control room were visible. "Looks like we'll have to go back a little ways, and climb down the ladder to the core, and then through the northwest door."
"Sounds easy enough -- let's go!," Cait Sith exclaimed, hopping up and down a little. The trio made their way out of the control room, their footsteps echoing gently off of the reactor walls. Down another hallway, which curved to the left around the reactor's core, they found the door that led to the ladder they were looking for. What made them stop, however, was the sign posted.
"DANGER - MAKO RADIATION AREA. NO ADMITTANCE WITHOUT RADIATION PROTECTION." In small, barely readable letters near the bottom, Shera read, "Mako has been recognized by the Shinra Division of Health to be hazardous to the well-being of humans and other species, and contact may cause the following symptoms: headache, nausea, hallucinations, vomiting, stomach upset, tumors, cancer, insanity, and death. Please act responsibly around Mako to minimize these risks."
"I guess it makes sense that it would be a contaminated area, since it's so close to the reactor . . . ," Shera admitted, "But I didn't see on the map any place where they would keep radiation suits."
"Well, they actually probably don't keep any here," Cait Sith explained, "The reactor inside doesn't usually need any human contact -- all the functions are accessible from the control room, and the equipment handles it all."
"How shall we proceed, then?" Red XIII asked, cocking his head to the side and glancing up at Cait Sith.
"Hmm, why don't I go?," Cait said nonchalantly.
"Cait Sith, are you sure?" Shera looked worried, as if remembering her earlier encounter with the relatively small amount of Mako compared to the amount that would exist right next to the core.
"Hey, I'm a stuffed moogle. What effect could the Mako possibly have?" Shera laughed, and relaxed a little.
"That's true. Being a stuffed animal has it's advantages, doesn't it?" She frowned a bit, and worried, "I hope you'll be able to climb down that ladder and operate the equipment okay."
"Ah, no problem. I'll just shut it down and be right back."
Red XIII and Shera stood back as he opened the door to the decontamination room and stepped inside. The thick, sturdy door shut behind him, airtight, and he crossed the small room and opened the far door. Shera and Red watched with inexplicable apprehension through the small, porthole-like window as the slightly-glowing mist seeped into the decontamination room. Cait turned and waved confidently, and then, just as he was about to head through the door, he stumbled and fell over. His legs twitched once, then twice, and then he was still. Mako flowed in through the open door over his stuffed, motionless body like a river over rocks.
"Cait!!!"