Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Derelict Revolution ❯ Tattered Empire ( Chapter 1 )

Mid·gard /mid-gahrd/
-noun Scandinavian Mythology.
the middle earth, home of men, lying between Niflheim and Muspelheim, formed from the body of Ymir.

Turk /turk/ -noun
8. Archaic. a cruel, brutal, and domineering man.

Gaea would never be the same after Meteor. Midgar stood, twisted and crippled beyond any but the vaguest resemblance to what it once was, but still it stood; perhaps, as if in one last defiance of the fantastic forces of nature and magic that had clashed on its surface.

The world mourned for the deserted city, for one of the- if not the greatest, definitely the biggest- centers of human and technological advancement was gone, most likely never to return. All the pillars standing, all the buildings and the streets that made up the greatest achievement and folly of humankind were nothing but a shell,  a prison of memories and regrets.

All of those who stood on the cliffs after evacuation to see what humanity had wrought, felt sorrow.

Not for the city itself... That was just a thing, something they could pick up and remake. It was for their actions that led to such a catastrophe, and among those who survived, the ones that had pitted themselves against others that did not hold their own selfish views, those ones responsible for such a thing coming to pass, felt the regret stronger than any.

Midgar
Month Three, Day 6, 14:00
Three months, that's how long it had been.
Technically, it was such a short time since one of the biggest catastrophes the world had ever seen took place. In practice, it felt like years, especially to the turk that piloted the unmarked helicopter over the now ruined mess that was Midgar.

It was hard to imagine that just four months ago, Midgar had been a huge, thriving metropolis teaming with worried and frightened people. Now the plate was utterly deserted by all save the monsters that had moved in when the people left; distorted creatures of mako, mutated beyond all reason and recognition.

"Hey, Rude, you see anything yet?" His co-pilot mumbled, voice heard distinctly through both the headset and on its own. Personally, the double hearing these things gave him was annoying, he doubted if he'd ever get used to it like the man sitting next to him did. "Damned if we don't have a wild goose chase on our hands, too."

The bald man shrugged, not even briefly flicking his eyes up from where they roamed the ground, searching for a place to land. Shattered buildings, twisted structures, and rubble from the colossal tower that sat in the center of this spiders' web of destruction made the city a difficult place to set an aircraft down. It had been difficult before, when the buildings were intact, but now it seemed almost an impossible task without encountering some well needed luck. "We'll find something. So far, all the reports state what can be seen through the Tower's windows are largely intact. You were the one that made a few of the reports, aren't you?"

The redheaded turk hesitated for a moment; Rude could almost swear he could hear Reno picking his words carefully. "Well, yeah, but... That's no guarantee what we find is intact, you know how viewing things at that distance can distort the view..."

Again, Rude shrugged, reaching up with one hand to adjust his sunglasses. "Point is moot, it's a mission." There was some sub-verbal grumbling on his partner's side, and Reno flipped a switch on the control panel in an agitated manner. The wipers came on and cleaned an already pristine windshield. Rude just shook his head.

"Figures Tseng would still be in his little wheelchair just when we could use him, huh?" Reno snorted a bit. "With Elena looking after both of them, no less... Well, least it's just us two, eh? I always felt kinda uncomfortable around Elena. While on duty anyway." The redhead only felt that way because he was obligated to act more professional, to set a standard and example for the younger turk.

Finally, the bald man's eyes found his way to Reno, expression undecipherable under the dark shades. He ignored the part about Elena. "At least Tseng can give orders..." Which was more than the other person Elena was looking after could say. Rude motioned towards the tail of the chopper, where the Shin-Ra logo had been blackened to blend in with the dark metal of the helicopter. Tseng had ordered all of the aircraft and land vehicles logos to be painted over, followed by an expression of concern that with Shin-Ra at such a low point, people might decide to shoot at anything sporting a logo. Rude thought it was a bit early to be worried about that, things were still in too much of a mess for anyone to really think about finishing off Shin-Ra yet, if they even wanted to. The refugees from Midgar were still trying to sort through the remains of their lives, meet with loved ones, try to survive until things were more stable in the world. There was no time for war in this new era of despair.

"Yeah, and just when I was getting good at command. Was a really nice trick making Cloud think we were deserting." Reno brushed some hair out of his eyes, still searching for that ever illusive landing spot. To be honest, he hadn't been a bad nominal commander, but some of his attitude grated on others, not just those in the Turks either. This was part of the reason he wasn't next in line for actual chief-hood; he was far to mercurial and unprofessional at times. It did take some getting used to...

Rude choked, holding back what sounded suspiciously like a snicker. "Liar, you really were until we heard from Tseng that the rumors were false." His partner could find nothing to say to that, but just sputtered in indignation for a bit.

There was a bursting crackle of radio static from their headsets, Reno actually jumped at the sudden noise. "You two there yet? You know, the longer you stay the more mako poisoning therapy you're going to go through..." Elena's dulcet voice came over, muffled by static interference from the reactors, but otherwise clear. The redhead frowned. Rude glanced over at him and spoke up before Reno could give Elena a lecture on what radio silence meant.

"We're fine, looking for a spot to land. We'll get back to you on PHS when we've found what we're looking for. Ask Tseng what data he wants us to get, write down a list for when we call." There, that would keep her busy. Unfortunately, it was also a necessary request- she was right, they wouldn't be able to stay very long, and if anything was salvageable in the tower, they'd need to get only the important parts first. They simply would not have enough time to gather everything. Which was also very unfortunate... Rude himself would really love to gather all the data Hojo had hidden away about his experiments; he had the feeling that all of the turks felt the same. Not that it would matter, since the man was dead (supposedly), but at least then Shin-Ra would know the full extent of the crazy scientists' misdeeds. Or at least, more of it.

Through sheer strength of will, Tseng had taken control of the company to avoid chaos in the ranks, possibly civil wars, and other general anarchy. People obeyed him not because they felt they should, but because there were so many lost in the shuffle, feeling helpless and confused since Meteor hit. Tseng was a core of stability in an otherwise chaotic world, most of the Shin-Ra personnel flocked back to the fold. Tseng had made it clear to the others that if any of Hojo's creations were found, they were to attempt to destroy it or render it harmless. He was not a fan of the scientist, by any means.

It was actually somewhat an advantage, having Tseng the de facto President for now, being the highest ranking member on the Shin-Ra's executive team that was conscious since Palmer's disappearance. The advantage being nobody was really willing to go against his orders because they were either afraid of him and the other turks, or had a lot of respect for Tseng. Unlike certain other executives...

Reno had surmised that Palmer buried himself in a big pile of dough nuts somewhere, supplied with a never ending stream of lard-filled tea; in short, Palmer Heaven. His partner had been drinking coffee at the time, and had to try very hard not to end up giving the walls a nice coffee colored coat. It was an honestly sad era they were stranded in that Rude had been finding himself actually laughing at Reno's jokes- just to actually have laughter somewhere, sometime. There just wasn't enough of it.

Of course, there were many employees that never heard of Tseng's ascension, employees that thought "this was it, Shin-Ra was over" and left. The other three turks had been in that number until they'd gotten a call from a newly awakened Tseng. The others that weren't so important- Tseng let them go, not because he didn't need them, but because if they fostered that opinion to the general populace, eventually most people would think either Shin-Ra was through, or too weak to do anything. That was an advantage at this stage in the game. Shin-Ra would be able to help rebuild things and move around mostly anonymously, without people knowing or interfering. The chaos had been too great to determine just how the populace felt about Shin-Ra at the moment.

Shin-Ra had been applauded for fighting WEAPON, trying to destroy Meteor, protecting things it had never protected before, and at the end of it all was faulted for not stopping Meteor, being near destroyed by the same power it wished to stop.

Shin-Ra was only a company, a very rich and powerful company, but even when it was The Company it had been before everything, it still could not bend the forces of nature to its will. It had tried, and suffered for it.

"There, I see a place." The redhead nudged Rude in the side, pointing ahead and slightly to the left. There was a slight fragment of a highway, undisturbed by the buildings around it. Wasn't that far from the Tower, either, which was good in Rude's opinion, and cut down on the time they were there. Elena was right; until they got the reactors shut down somehow, mako poisoning would be a major concern. That's why the two turks were wearing buttons that detected the amount of mako radiation they were exposed to. It would tell them when it was time to leave- no ifs, ands, or buts. "Land there, then?"

The bald turk nodded while adjusting the controls to prepare for a landing. Rude had always hated this part; landing on top of things directly, instead of coming down in a swoop as in an airplane. Helicopters weren't his thing. Reno was much better at this than Rude, but Tseng and put Rude in charge, and be damned if he was going to let Reno take this mission off his hands. It was important.

It went a lot smoother than Rude had expected, despite the pitted and uneven surface of the road... at least it was a thousand times better than the piles of rubble that surrounded it. They waited until the chopper blades slowed down and finally stopped- and while they waited, they sipped the Styrofoam cups of coffee they brought with them, bad as the coffee was, as if it was just another day on the job...

Even with the ruins of the empire they sought to protect and serve laying in tatters all around them.
That was the spirit that kept them going.

Midgar - Shin-Ra Building, Upper Floors, Server Room
Month Three, Day 6, 15:48

Rude adjusted his glasses, thinking about taking them off in the dark that already surrounded them. They had gotten as far as Floor 62, and that was the point when there was too much rubble in the staircases to even think about going further. It was frustrating, to say the least, that they wouldn't even get a chance to look at Hojo's lab. Not that they figured it was even still there... The tower's top had been blown off during Meteor, and they didn't know how far the damage went to the lower levels.

"So, you call or me?" Reno had his rod out for cautions' sake, with good reason. There were monsters in the building as well; defunct robo guards and creatures fresh from the labs. How they survived was anyone's guess, but the monsters were clearly Hojo's, the tell-tale pumpkin head on some monsters being clearly recognizable. The robo guards wouldn't have been a problem if only the machines would have recognize the key cards the two turks sported, but no. Things were never as easy as that, not for the Turks anyway.

Adjusting his glasses again, Rude looked around the computer room they were currently standing in. "...you call."

The redhead made a slightly disgusted noise in the back of his throat, then pulled out his PHS and flipped it open. "Elena, hey. ...Yeah, we're there." The conversation lasted only a minute before Reno flipped it closed and sighed. "Jenova Project data, business records for the past three years, anything recent that we can get our hands on, and AVALANCHE's records."
Rude raised an eyebrow as he turned to his mercurial partner. "That's it? That's all?" Reno just shrugged. The bigger man sighed, thinking as Reno did- that they were getting off pretty easy- and then turned to the server machines. "Servers A-9 to P-O had the AVALANCHE data, I think the business records were stored on A-9 as well..."

"That's great, not much to do then." Reno walked over to the server labeled A-9 and swiped his key card on a small panel set on the side of the machine. The machine clicked and opened, revealing the long, flat storage devices inside. "Awesome, the magnetic catches are still working. I was afraid I'd have to zap 'em open." Reaching in, Reno started pulling each one out carefully, setting them inside one of the large duffel bags they had brought for this.

It was a simple thing to open the next one to Reno's, this one labeled C-3, and reach in to grab the first of the devices. What Rude didn't expect was a sudden sting on his hand as a thin, barbed tentacle wrap around it. He barked in pain and snatched his hand back, dragging the creature that had taken refuge inside the server with him. It squealed and wrapped more around his hand, digging the barbs further into his flesh. Reno twirled around and brought his EMR down on the thing, but it dodged to the side and instead, hit Rude's hand. He hissed, the damn thing was doing something, he could feel the tentacles reaching up under his skin. "Fry it!"

Reno didn't need to be told twice, he saw what the thing was doing and adjusted the EMR, this time before bringing it down on Rude's arm. The creature, expecting it to hit where it was, moved to the side again and got caught by the EMR were it actually landed. There was a sound of sizzling flesh, and Rude's arm was unpleasantly shocked, but when Reno was done, the creature fell off, little wisps of smoke curling up from the main body mass.

"W-... what was that thing?" Reno bent down and poked at it with his rod, with his thumb on the power button, just in case. "It looks like some sort of tentacled animal crossed with a mushroom..." It suddenly deflated, releasing a horrid flatulent sound. There was a stench rising from the animal now, it smelled like rotten flesh and feces. "Eww, materia's sake, didn't Hojo ever create something that actually smelled nice for once?" The smell was really bad, the redhead had to pull his blazer over his nose.

The other turk was a bit preoccupied with picking out the barbs the creature had left in his arm, while trying to get it to stop spasming from the shock to really notice the smell. It was also probably a good thing he wasn't so close to the source, unlike Reno. "...wouldn't know, wouldn't care to know." Rude looked up at the server's box, seeing a small slime trail where the thing had gotten in and nested. "Might want to check the other computers before getting the data, too."

Standing up after rolling the thing away, Reno nodded and finished with the first server box, then moved on to Rude's.

It didn't need to be said about what had just happened; they saved each other's life more than once, it was part of the job... But Rude was grateful that despite their differences, Reno was still a man you could count on to have your back, then fill in the blanks if you were hurt- and all without a word or expecting a thanks. It was a rare friend and partner that would do that, and Rude tried to use Reno as an example of a good partner. Sometimes. Of course... there were some lots of things that you just wouldn't want Reno as an example for, but at the core of things, Reno was decent enough.

Rude figured Reno already knew that, and felt the same.

By this time, Rude's arm was feeling a lot better. He flexed it experimentally a bit, before turning to the task at hand, and sorting the contents in the duffel bags so the devices wouldn't rub and scratch each other the wrong way. They were delicate, and Reno had just tossed them in there haphazardly. That was a point Rude didn't like about Reno, though it was only a mild annoyance these days; Reno was sloppy in some things. It had been a major cause for contention between them when they first started working together, until Rude got used to it. "Any more monsters?"

The redhead looked over from the last server box he'd opened. "Nope, looks like whatever that thing was crawled from somewhere else. Hopefully a really far away somewhere else. Was it just my imagination or was it kind of... growing into you?"

"Kinda, it must have been some sort of parasite. Got all the stuff out of my arm though, don't worry about it. You got it good." Rude continued with the mission, pulling out things from the next server. "I'll get checked up when we get back."

"You do that." The redhead turned and just started yanking things out, dumping them into an empty duffel. Rude paused and stared over at the slender, lanky turk. Reno noticed the stare. "...what?"

Rude shook his head and turned back to his server. "If those get damaged, Tseng's going to have your head. Both of 'em."

A slightly exasperated and disgusted noise came from Reno's direction, since Rude definitely had a point, and he slowed down and started putting them in, neatly.

Maybe Reno wasn't so hopeless on some points after all, Rude thought, but it was rather discouraging that it took about seven years of influencing.

At least the rest of the mission went smoothly, aside from a few random monster attacks on the way back.

Routine, routine, Reno had mumbled.