Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Strife ❯ Deadly Trio ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4: Deadly Trio

"We can't wait here all night, Sephiroth."

Sephiroth turned his mako green eyes towards his partner. "Yes, I know that. Be patient, she will come soon; of that I am sure." The calm criminal leaned against the white wall of Shinra Headquarters' tenth level, completely healed.

"Why are we waiting around for her anyways? What makes her helpful to our plans?"

Sephiroth smiled at no one, but just at his own thoughts in his head. "You will see in all due time."

Meanwhile, Jassi was still zooming among the water's spray that was flying into the air on either side of her. Although, now she was running out of energy. It took a lot out of her to run at such speeds. She could see Midgar coming closer, but the rate of her movement was decreasing. If it were to get any slower, she feared she wouldn't be able to travel above the water any longer. The water on each side of her began to fall slowly back into the water. Jassi was suddenly weighed down by a feeling of exhaustion, and she fell into the salty, cold blackness below. Jassi swam up through the colorless void until she erupted out of the surface, gasping in the air. Once she had calmed down, she noticed she could now see Midgar's lights from where she was wading among the lifeless waves, but she still had to find the energy within herself to swim that distance. Jassi had little belief that she could actually swim the whole distance, but she also knew she had to try. Slowly the young woman began to swim her way to shore. As an hour goes by, she's a little over half the way there. Jassi was exhausted and felt like she could not go any further. All she could manage to do was bob there in the water. After a few minutes wading on the ocean's surface, Jassi knew she would only make it there if she tried to run again.

"Please, I ask the wind to be my friend and aid me on this night." Jassi closed her eyes until she was chilled by high winds that now blew towards Midgar. With a thankful smile, Jassi took the last bits of energy left inside of her and leaped out of the water, into the air. The wind moved her forward some, but Jassi still had to use the rest of her strength to blast off. In a matter of seconds, she was on shore and rising into the air, so she could scale Midgar and its headquarters. Only moments later, Jassi was running up the side of Shinra's building. As she passed the tenth floor, she saw two figures in a blur as she sped by. As soon as her impulses could act, she leaned forward, and busted through the twelve floor window. Glass went flying all over the floor, and on Jassi as she rolled and tumbled straight into the metal door. After that she went no further...the impact knocked her out cold, and the glass cut her up bad in a couple places.

Sephiroth and his company both stood up at attention at the sight of a blur of motion fly up the side of the building.

"What the hell was that?!" Sephiroth's partner in crime only had time to ask before the sound of glass being shattered was heard. This sound was quickly followed by a faint scream, a large thud, and a crash. "Is that who we've been waiting for?"

Sephiroth shook his head slowly side by side with a small smirk upon his face. "I believe it is...lets go take a look little brother."

They both went up the stair case, until the reached the closed metal door. Sephiroth had to put some effort into opening the door, because Jassi's limp body was blocking it. Once he got it open, they both stared down at the beaten, unconscious body.

"Whoa, you sure this is her? She doesn't look very powerful to me." The younger of the two squatted down beside her body, and checked for a pulse. "Well she's still alive. So is this her, Sephiroth?"

His mako eyes stared down at the young woman in disappointment. "Yes this is her. Her name is Jassi Strife, Cloud's sister. She has real hidden power, I know it. Despite what it looks like here, she is more powerful than you could ever imagine."

"Well okay Seph, if you say so. I'll believe what you say, but right now she doesn't look any stronger than a baby chocobo."

"Yes...well pick her up will you? We need to lay her down somewhere and cure her." Sephiroth turned away from the two and headed down the stairs.

"Yeah, sure thing brother..." The man sighed deeply as he slowly rolled the young woman over, and picked her up into his arms. As he started walking, he looked down at her face. She was beautiful, her face was untouched from her collision. She had radiant crimson hair, and creamy fair skin. Then as he kept looking at her, he noticed she had a great body as well, even if it was cut up at the moment.

"Hey hurry up, quit messing around up there...what ARE you doing anyways?"

"Nothing, just trying to not cut myself up as well..." He looked at Jassi once more, then headed down to where Sephiroth was. As he laid Jassi down on a desk that was in the room where Sephiroth stood, he looked up at Sephiroth. "Now seriously, what powers does this girl have?"

"Once I get her healed, you can ask her for a full on demonstration. Then you'll see what she's capable of when provoked."

"You mean...fight her?!"

"What, Saul are you afraid of the little girl?" Sephiroth smirked towards his little brother.

"No, but I don't want to knock your star fighter here out again." Saul smirked as Sephiroth used Cure 3 on the gorgeous Jassi.

Sephiroth finished casting Cure 3 then looked at Jassi for a moment. "She'll be out for a few minutes still. You look over her, I'm going to go get some files from their storage."

"Yeah okay, no problem." Saul set down in the chair beside the desk where Jassi laid as he watched his older brother walk up the stairwell. Saul quickly leaned back and got relaxed, while watching the unconscious Jassi.

Not even a minutes after Saul had tipped back his chair, Jassi started to blink her eyes open. Those emerald eyes began to look around, and she saw a man sitting right beside her. He looked quite a bit like Sephiroth, but she knew it was not him. This man had silver hair with some black streaks running through it, and his hair only went to the bottom of his earlobes. His face looked identical to Sephiroth's, same structure and eye color. He wore an outfit much like Sephiroth's, but this man's outfit didn't expose his chest...and it was all black. After looking at this new man in her presence, she began to sit up. "Hey...who are you?"

Saul's eyes widened at the sound of the woman's voice, and as he went to let his chair down back on the floor, he kicked off the desk and fell backwards onto the floor. As quickly as it took him to hit the ground, he bounced back up and grabbed the chair as he put it back up right. He smiled a bit and acted like nothing had happen. "Oh well hello there, glad to see you're okay. I'm Saul...and you're Jassi, right?"

Jassi nodded as she giggled at him a bit. "I take it you're the other partner of Sephiroth's. So who are you exactly...you look a lot like him."

"Oh, I'm his brother. I was born about twenty minutes after he was. No one knew, but our mother, Lucrecia, had twins. I hear you're Cloud's sister. Did you inherit his fighting skills?" Saul leaned one hand on the desk, as he looked at Jassi. Now that she was healed, and moving he could tell just how radiant she was. Even if she had no fighting talent at all...he wanted her around.

"Yeah...that's right. Cloud's my older brother...so I guess we have that in common; we're both younger siblings. As for my fighting skills, I think I am highly skilled. I would put myself above Cloud, considering I've beaten him on many occasions." Jassi stood up from the desk, and stretched up into the air.

"Oh really...you're that good? What do you say we have ourselves a little friendly match?"

"Well I don't see why not. If you think you can take me..." Jassi smirked at Saul with a raised eyebrow.

"Well do we get to use weapons?"

"Are you trying to kill me or something?"

"No, can't you take it?"

"Yeah I can take it..." Jassi sprung into the air towards Saul. It was obvious the young man did not expect her to lung at him, because he made no attempt at blocking her move. Jassi saw he was not ready and took her chance. Jassi spun her legs around, and threw them around Saul's neck. Not only did this move catch him off guard, but the extreme close up shocked him as well. He didn't have long to be shocked as she quickly got her hands on the ground, throwing him over her body with her legs. Saul landed with a thud as Jassi stood back up on her own two feet. "So I thought you could take me?"

Saul got up after a few seconds, shaking his head from the impact with the ground. "Damn woman!"

Jassi's eyes suddenly sparked some and narrowed into a glare. She hated to be called woman, she saw as degrading, rude, and sexist. She now had some inspiration to really give this man an ass whooping.

"What's wrong with you...your eyes are doing something weird."

Jassi didn't answer, instead a sinister smile spread across her face. "If you think that was something...wait till you see this." Yellow light began to grow around both of her hands, her hair started to rise like a gust of wind was blowing it from beneath, and her eyes were now sparking so fiercely that it was illuminating the whole room in a yellow tint. "Lightning Jolt" Jassi's voice was no longer her own, it was a mystical, haunting tone as yellow now covered her whole body.

Saul smiled a bit, as he quickly moved behind the massive support pillar. He had seen many limit breaks, his own were very deadly, and he had no doubt hers were as well. Whatever he had said or done, must of really pushed her button.

From the skies above a huge booming sound of thunder filled the air, a second, and a third. Before the fourth could be heard a giant bolt of lightning tore threw the Shinra Headquarters like a knife through butter. Sephiroth jumped back as the floor he was on had a giant hole ripped through it and tiny fires started throughout. He knew where the source of it came from, and he quickly headed down the stairs.

That lightning bolt continued it way down the levels until it struck Jassi herself. The bolt didn't seem to have harmed her at all, instead she harnessed that bolt's energy and sent over twenty bolts of lightning fly across the room. They flew in every direction in a radial pattern around her. One went flying strait for Saul, and it was a massive bolt, maybe the largest out of them all. Saul watched all the others fly by him, and this made him look around the pillar to see the blinding yellow light coming towards him. Saul did a ground roll out of the way, but the pillar was hit. Not only was it hit, but it was splintered into a million bits by the blow. The impact was so strong it sent a chain reaction all the way through the pillar. On floors above and below it started to shatter and break away.

Sephiroth opened the door to the tenth level, and dunked as a bolt went flying for his head. "What the hell are you two doing?!"

Sephiroth's voice brought Jassi out of her rage, and the lightning stopped. Her hair settled, and her eyes returned to normal beside a few small sparks of energy left within her. "Sephiroth...I...Saul challenged me a to a match."

Saul walked up to the both of them. "Yeah like you told me to. She won."

Everyone grew silent as the building moved, sending a jolt through every level and made each of the fighters nearly fall to the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Saul looked around a bit then at the other two. "Did you two feel that."

"Yes, you two have destroyed the support beam running through this building. We have to get out of here." Sephiroth grabbed Jassi up into his arms as he looked at Saul. "Come on, lets get going!"

Sephiroth and Saul went flying out the window, which had already been shattered by Jassi's lightning spectacular. Sephiroth had an outraged look on his face as he turned around to see the proud Shinra building fall to the ground behind them. He had not found the files we was looking for, and now he never would. The impact from the fall sent dust flying up thirty feet into the air. Many homes and other buildings were destroyed in the collision.

Sephiroth and Saul touched down besides the crumbled building's remains. Saul was shaking his head some, but with a smile on his face. On the other hand...Sephiroth did not have a smile of any kind as he firmly placed Jassi on her feet. "Well Jassi...great job, you have just probably single handedly murdered...oh I'd say fifty or more people with your little stunt in there. Bravo." Sephiroth patted the young woman on the back as she stared down at a piece of glass. Suddenly Sephiroth grabbed her and spun her around to face him. "But unfortunately in that building was special documents that I wanted to find...and you know what?!"

Jassi winced slightly, but it appeared clear in her mind, that this was his real side. He had not got her because of the feelings she had for him. No, it was for that power she had just witnessed for the first time. He knew she had that in her, and was now going to use her for it. Jassi rose her head high and stared back into his eyes of fury. "What? Did you not find them? Well too fucking bad...get over it. You'll just have to improvise."

Saul watched the two with a blank expression, seeing which of the two might stand down first.

"Don't forget you're Cloud's sister still...and if you become a pain I will have no problem with slicing your pretty little throat." Sephiroth went to touch her neck, but she slapped his hand away.

"I know what you're doing...just because I have feelings for you doesn't make me stupid. If you push me, then I will push back. You choose the wrong woman to use, but now that I'm here...I'm not going anywhere. You and Saul are now stuck with me."

Sephiroth walked even closer to her, and got his face inches from hers. "Do you really think you can bluff your way around me?"

Jassi rose one eyebrow at him and smirked. "Who said I was bluffing?"

"I do...you don't have the guts to actually take me on, now do you?" Sephiroth pushed Jassi back into a large slab of concrete off of the building.

Jassi got back up, and walked over to Sephiroth; with both hands and a scream of force she pushed him as hard as she could, knocking him back into a house. "Yes...I have never feared a single man nor beast. And just because you're a new breed of beast doesn't mean you're an exception. Now that I know how you really feel about me...don't expect me to be at your beck and call. I am here because this is the real me...I'm not a goodie like my brother, being with this group is my destiny." Jassi glared at Sephiroth for a moment then gave him a look of sadness. "But it's obviously not my destiny to be the one by your side." The young woman walked between Saul and Sephiroth but stopped. "Sephiroth...if you didn't find the file you were after, then what file are you carrying?"

Sephiroth turned his mako eyes to Jassi, and pulled out a file packet from within his jacket. "I found a thick folder all about you, dear Jassi."

Jassi was not affected by the word dear, but what he just had said made no sense to her. "That can't be...I've never had any encounters with Shinra. There's no way they could have a huge file on me."

"Oh but they do Jassi...here take it. I was going to give it to you anyways. I figured you'd be very interested in those pages. I was quite shocked by what little I read. It seems you and I are more alike than we both thought." Sephiroth walked up to Jassi and handed her the packet. "You'll have to wait and read that later though, I'm afraid because we have to leave. Saul has got a hold of some information. Apparently Scarlet and Palmer survived the Junon explosion, and are having a new group of their thugs called the Tyrants escort a special shipment to Gongaga. It should arrive by three o'clock tonight, and we are going to be there to intercept it."

Saul nodded with a smile. "We believe it's a new type of weapon that Shinra was making when they went belly up."

"Well it's past two now...we better get going." Jassi handed back the file that supposedly held information on her. "Hold this for me until after tonight."

"Very well." Sephiroth took back the file folder and placed it in his jacket. The look he now saw in Jassi's gorgeous emerald eyes was heart breaking...even to him. The fact he felt pity for her made him angry, and yet...she was so innocent inside, and he knew it. Now because of him she was turning over a new leaf, and breaking that innocence. Even though she knew...he was just using her for that power she had within.

"Sephiroth...come on, grab Jassi and lets go. We need to get to that cargo before it arrives at Gongaga."

"I know. Okay, let's go you two." Sephiroth walked over to Jassi as Saul took to the air. "Well let's go Jassi."

Jassi nodded with out word, and wrapped her arms around his neck. She kept her face pointed to the ground. Being in his arms made her so sad inside, knowing he would never embrace her there like she meant everything to him.

As he picked her up in his arms, he flew up after Saul in a hurried pace to get by his little brother's side. "Now there's going to be quite a few Tyrants guarding this thing I'm sure. Both of you will have to be at the top of your game."

Jassi tightened her grip around his neck and sighed heavily. "After this battle I need to sleep some."

Sephiroth looked down at the young woman in his arms, and nodded slowly. "I'm sure some rest would do us all some good." Sephiroth personally did not need any rest, but was in no big rush to complete his plans. He also didn't know if Saul needed rest or not since he only met him yesterday. He now had a brother...family that would stand by his side. All of this was a new experience for him. Some one loved him...his mind told him that wasn't true. How could anyone love him after all the hideous things he had done...and would still do.

"Gongaga is up ahead, which direction do you think they'll be coming from? I can't see anything from here, it's too dark." Saul turned his head over to Sephiroth and Jassi.

"I can help with that, it's my specialty." Jassi smirked at Saul then closed her eyes in concentration. After a moment the air grew still and silent as the grave. There was no wind to even let them know they were still moving. "Get closer Saul, I don't want you struck on accident.' Just as he began moving closer the sky exploded with lightning. The violent strike was followed by thunder and raindrops. Jassi opened her eyes and looked down on the ground below. "There...at two o'clock."

Sephiroth and Saul looked down and to the northeast a bit to see a group of maybe ten men, and four of them were carrying a large wooden crate. "Good work Jassi."

"Thanks Saul." It didn't surprise her that Sephiroth didn't join in on the praise. He probably wouldn't be nice to her for a long while since she stood up to him, and, sure enough, without a word spoken he began a nose dive towards the group of men below.

About half way down he did speak to her, but it was a command. "Give them a welcoming jolt."

Jassi saw this as an opportunity to show of for the all mighty Sephiroth. She launched herself out of his arms and to his side on the left. She began to plummet to the grass field below. Her hands went together and pointed at the three men in the front of the Tyrant's group. From within her hands, exploded a rapid fire of lightning bolts. They flew down quicker and thicker than the raindrops around them. Before the three targeted men could even look up, they were pushed down by the severe weight and force of the lightning bearing down upon them. Their scream quickly faded as the other Tyrant members could smell their singed corpses.

Now the seven remaining Tyrants were looking up in the air. Some were looking at Sephiroth, some at Saul, and the rest were watching Jassi. The four Tyrants carrying the crate carefully put it down and stood around it like nurturing mothers protecting their precious children. Their efforts would soon be futile, for the trio were closing in on their prey. The first one to land was Saul on the northwest side of the group. Sephiroth landed to the northeast, but nothing would of prepared the Tyrant's for Jassi's landing. The force of the lightning attack had slowed her down to a safe speed. She landed on both feet, in a slight kneel, her head was facing down. Under her feet there came the stomach turning sounds of human bones being crushed and broken. For Jassi had landed right on the fallen Tyrants she had just fried. Slowly she applied more pressure to stand up straight, causing more crunching sounds to come from the corpses. The last thing she did was lift her head up to be seen so the seven remaining men could look into her flickering eyes, but probably the most frightening thing was the smirk of pure pleasure from the sounds of those broken men under her boots. The pale light radiating from her eyes made her look ghost white.

The Tyrants were surrounded...and they could already tell their chances of winning were slim to none. One man spoke to the rest. "If we die, we die fighting with honor." Though as he spoke, his voice cracked and squeaked from fright. The other members drew their guns and/or swords.

Saul and Jassi charged into the group like spears and both jumped up on the crate. Without hesitation the gun fire and shimmering of moving blades begun. The two villains jumped away from each other and landed among the squirming Tyrants.

Sephiroth calmly stood by and watched his two partners take on the group alone. He hadn't even bothered to unsheathe his masamune.

Jassi smiled at the four men around her with sparking eyes and mischievous grin. "So many little boys to choose from, so little time. Let me see...eenie...meenie...minie...moe." As she spoke out `moe' two daggers flew forth from her hands and through the air like Gossamer. Jassi almost giggled as she watched her daggers deliver their deadly aim upon two Tyrant's throats. Blood began to bubble from their wounds, stopping them from speaking their final words before death took them. The fiery woman turned her back to the men as they hit the ground, and stared at the other two. "Two down, two to go."

On the other side of the crate, Saul was fighting the remaining three who weren't attacking Jassi. He didn't speak any words, but took action. He lifted up his long jacket, and pulled out two three-foot long sword, samurai styled. He, unlike Jassi, did not play around with the men's lives. He began twirling and whirling around his lethal swords to intimidate them, and just as they began to watch in marvel, he made his move. Saul jumped up into the air about a foot and stretched out his arms as far as they'd go as he spun his blades about. Each of the men only had time to gasp before the blades spun towards them, decapitating the three, and sent their heads flying through the air. Saul calmly sheathed his blades, and looked over at Jassi with a satanic smile, almost on her face. The beauty he saw in her only minutes ago, was gone...she was no longer sweet or innocent. All of that was long gone from her face, she was actually enjoying the kill.

Jassi's hair was matted down from the rain drops dripping down her face and off the ends of her hair. Her footsteps were slow and soft, but that didn't stop them from making s squishing noise in the watery mud below. She came inches from the last to men before they found courage to attack the hellish-like woman. Her hands moved with trained speed, grabbing and blocking their attacks. As she grabbed one man's arm, she lifted up her right leg, and kicked him in the chest. At that moment she let go, letting him fly to the ground several feet away, now near Sephiroth. Though he still didn't move or look down at the Tyrant. Jassi felt a punch to the gut, and turned to look at the remaining Tyrant with a glare. She had wasted enough time toying around, and it was now time for him to die. She promptly reached forward and took his skull firmly in one hand so her nails were digging into his skin. "Goodbye." Jassi sent an electrical shock through her arm, and into the man's skull, causing instant death as his brain got fried from the electrical heat she produced. The man quickly fell to the sloppy wet ground the moment she let go. Her face smiled at a job well done and was about to speak when she heard a gun cock back right behind her head.

"Don't move one damn muscle...any of you, or this bitch gets it! Both you men, drop your weapons now!" Even with the cold night rain falling upon him, there was no doubt that he was sweating from nervousness. He hand as slightly shaking, Jassi could feel it make her hair move slightly.

Sephiroth looked over at Saul and nodded, signaling him to place his weapons on the ground. Saul did as Sephiroth instructed, but the whole while his eyes fixated on Jassi. In an instant he briefly saw that innocence he saw in her when he had her in his arms, unconscious. She was afraid at this man's authority over her, and that her life was anyone's hands but her own. Saul glared slightly and thought to himself `don't worry Jassi, I will make sure you don't die.' Since he was still bent down, placing his second sword on the ground, he looked about to see a now, deceased Tyrant's gun two feet from him. He wasted no time, he flipped forward into a ground roll, and grabbed the gun in mid spin. He quickly got right side up; took his aim and fired.

Jassi heard the gunfire go off and flinched, only then to be thrown sideways, the man's arm that was wrapped around her throat forced her down. She landed on something sharp, and noticed she could feel something...she was alive. Jassi opened her eyes, and threw his arm off of her. After a moment of looking around it didn't take long to figure it out. "Thanks Saul, I owe you one."

"You owe me like two now and I've only known you an hour. It's got to be some kind of a record." Saul spoke as he replaced his swords back into their sheaths behind his back.

Sephiroth already had his masamune back where it belonged, and walked up beside Jassi. "Next time let's avoid the dramatics. Don't play around, this is business...not pleasure. Never get them confused, it'll get you into trouble. Good job never the less you two, we got what we came for." Sephiroth's eyes scanned over the wooden crate as he slowly approached it.

Saul and Jassi both followed him, and soon they were all looking straight down upon the crate. Each just looked at it, Jassi still didn't even know what was contained within the wooden beams, but she knew she would soon find out.

"Now Saul and I will escort the crate to the mansion...Jassi you will have to run, we are southeast from Nibelheim. You can make an easy run over land to get there, and I'm sure you will beat us to the mansion. So, Jassi, it is up to you to make sure no one is there or gets in. Be careful, I can't loose you already." Jassi had no time to reply; Sephiroth grabbed the crate and flew off into the air, followed by Saul which then grabbed one side of the crate to make flying easier for Sephiroth.

"Alone again...in the night, and I have to run again." Jassi softly sighed, as she placed one hand on her forehead. "Well I doubt I'll have energy enough to even fight a rat after this." Jassi closed her eyes and in the blink of an eye she was gone, only leaving a faint yellow trail behind. Which soon also faded away into the night.

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Author's Note: If you haven't noticed the main character of this book is Jassi Strife. It revolves around her and the choices she makes. So the villains will be the main point of this story...therefore if you are a hero fan, you might not enjoy most of this book. I enjoy writing about villains better because their personalities are less predictable and I can make them do anything...and make it believable. Please if you read this review it...even if it's a bad review, but please if you leave a bad review don't sign it...cause then I can not erase it. Thank you every single reader I have! I love you guys, -Jassi