Crisis String
Jun. 21st, 2018 09:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lithic_runeKunsel swore as glass shattered, braking hard to the left to avoid the spray of shards and shrapnel. The air outside screamed like a freight train bearing down on them, sucking up everything in its path into funnels of red-tinged darkness.
"Leave it!" he shouted over the roar of the storm. "We were ordered to evacuate! Now let's go!"
"Not yet!" Face ashen, the scientist's fingers danced over his console with the frantic speed of the desperate. "You don't understand! Five years of work-!"
"Will be for nothing if you're dead, professor!" The building shook, punctuating that statement with a rumble that sent dust sifting down from the ceiling tiles. Kunsel bit back another curse. Was that just the sheer power of the storm? Or were they dealing with earthquakes now, too?
Deeper in the lab, creatures in cages bellowed so loudly he could hear them even without the intercom the scientist was using. Kunsel couldn't see them from where he was standing, the view blocked by a bulky machine that dominated that end of the lab, but he could easily picture wings beating and bodies slamming into the bars in a bid for freedom. The scientist didn't even bother sparing them a glance, too focused on what he was doing.
"I just need a few more minutes! I just need to save this group of files!"
"In a few more minutes, those tornadoes are going to rip this building apart, if Meteor doesn't crush us first!" If it were an ordinary meteor, it already should have. The fact that it was moving so slowly was a testament to the powerful magic at work. The air was so thick with it he could almost feel it crawling up his skin and into his throat.
He ignored it. Instead he slammed a fist into the transparent barrier between him and the scientist he'd been sent to retrieve. It didn't so much as crack, even against the strength of a SOLDIER. With the monsters the scientists sometimes worked with here, the walls of these labs were reinforced to be able to contain them. Probably no one had ever considered the possibility that someone might need to be able to break in.
Well, fine. Being SOLDIER didn't mean he was all muscle and no brain. Kunsel's jaw firmed with a grim determination.
"Last chance, professor!"
"Or else what?" the man scoffed, turning his back on Kunsel to face another console entirely. "You'll abandon me here to save your own neck? I thought you SOLDIERs didn't quit your missions."
Too bad he wasn't looking at Kunsel's face, or he might have seen the dangerous flash of his eyes.
"We don't."
He pushed away from the wall. Maybe that was impregnable to SOLDIER strength, but the control panel next to the door sure as hell wasn't. He stomped over to the wall by the door, wind whipping his black fatigues as he pulled his gloves off his hands. It was the work of mere seconds to dig his fingernails into the cracks of the panel and rip it off the wall. From there it was just a matter of connecting the right wires.
And this is why it pays to read all the technical manuals.
The hiss of the glass doors opening was the only warning the scientist got before Kunsel was in and crossing the room. Brisk strides closed the distance before the man's head could even whip around, eyes wide behind his thin-rimmed glasses. "You-! How did you get past that door? I locked it!"
"Privilege of rank," Kunsel quipped. He reached for the man's arm, latching on with an iron grip. "We're leaving, Professor Graive. Now." His tone made it clear he'd pick the man up bodily if he had to.
Scientists were nothing if not a stubborn lot, though. Graive's nostrils flared with outrage and he pulled back, trying to twist away, futile though that gesture was against a SOLDIER's strength. "Unhand me! I told you, I'm not leaving without my research!"
"I'm not giving you a choice," Kunsel said, voice level if a bit clipped. The lights above flickered, prompting him to waste no more time pulling Professor Graive away from his computer. The man stumbled, caught between his struggle to resist and the desire to keep his footing. Two steps later he seemed to realize he wasn't going to be able to escape.
"Wait! At least let me grab my discs!"
It took less than a second to weigh the decision in his mind. A few moments to grab the discs he'd already collected versus the frustration and time lost to dealing with Graive's protests and resistance? Kunsel released the scientist's wrist.
"You've got five seconds," he said sternly.
The lights above them flickered as the building shook again, as though to underscore his warning.
Graive jerked a nod, then literally dove for his desk, snatching up every data storage disc lying there as though his very life depended on it. Then he turned to the console he'd been working on, reaching for the button to eject a disc. Silver and gleaming in the harsh lab light, it popped out into the scientist's waiting hand. The scientist took it with a grimace.
"It wasn't finished compiling..." he despaired, and Kunsel hid a wince.
Look, just because he had his priorities straight didn't mean he couldn't empathize with the scientist's loss of data. There would be corruption in those files. Who knew how much could even be salvaged?
At least the man would be alive to go over it, though.
Hopefully.
The magic writhing around and through him made it very hard to forget the threat literally having above their heads. Kunsel's stomach twisted against the surging feeling. He opened his mouth to prompt Graive to move.
The words didn't have a chance to leave his mouth before the power to the lab cut off. Near-darkness swallowed them, and for a few seconds all there was to the world was the dull roar of wind outside trying to whistle its way in through broken windows and the door that Kunsel had just opened. The lab specimens he'd heard before raised their voices in a louder cacophony, somehow sensing that this was more than just the lights going out at night. Then Kunsel's eyes adjusted to the dim red light filtering in from outside - too dim for Graive's eyes, but enough for a SOLDIER's enhanced sight to pick out the tables, the computers, the scientist himself. Graive had frozen in his tracks - whether from fear or from following protocol to wait for emergency power to kick in, Kunsel couldn't tell. Beads of sweat were running down his face, and his hands were clutching his discs protectively.
"SOLDIER..."
"Kunsel."
Where were the lights? The backup generators should have powered on by now.
Suspicion sank like a stone in his gut as his skin prickled with the sheer magnitude of magic in the air.
"SOLDIER, if we've lost the generators..." Graive's eyes darted blindly, not quite in the direction of the specimen area. Cages rattled, creatures yowled, and something slammed into the bars so hard that metal groaned, loud enough for even unenhanced ears to hear.
And Kunsel understood.
Shit!
"Move it!" he snapped, latching onto Graive's hand to pull him in the direction he needed to go. His other hand reached for the broadsword on his back, pulling it free from its magnetic harness. "There's more light once you get out into the hall! Go!" He let go and whirled, and not a moment to soon, intercepting a set of vicious claws with his sword before they could rip out his throat.
The creature leaped away, faster than he could counterattack. Its sleek, black coat barely caught any of the dim light, making it a blur of darkness in Kunsel's sight. He thought it looked vaguely Hound-shaped. Papers scattered beneath its feet as it landed on one of the counters, but it barely paused there before launching itself back at Kunsel with a snarl.
Fast!
He dropped, planting his free hand on the ground, and kicked up, catching the monster in its chest as it sailed over him. The thing hit the ceiling with a sharp yip of pain.
As it fell, though, it twisted, flipping itself over in mid-air to land back on its feet. From its growl, it didn't even sound like it was winded.
Shiva's spit, what is it with the scientists here and making monsters that are even harder to kill?! His mind flashed back to the last time lab specimens had gotten loose from their cages - a deliberate act, one he'd been in charge of investigating. They'd ended up needing the strength of a SOLDIER First back then, too. Zack had complained bitterly for days about monsters that could-
With an ache in his throat, Kunsel shut down that memory. Focus on the present. I'm the First Class now. No matter how much he didn't feel like he deserved that promotion. The sword in his hand warmed as he poured his own magic into it - into the materia equipped in its slots. Light swirled around him, singing in his ears.
Let's see how this thing likes fire!
"No!" Graive's voice shouted from the door with a panic even greater than he'd shown when the lights had shut off. "Don't use magic! All the experiments in here are magically sensitive, including-!" A shudder that ran through the whole building cut him off, making him stumble as he tried to keep his balance.
Kunsel's charging spell faltered, and he almost took his eyes off his enemy to give the scientist an incredulous look. What the hell was he still doing here? "Pretty sure any magic-sensitive experiments have already been ruined, professor!" Magic strong enough to knock out both the power and the backup generators was more than potent enough to screw up a few lab results.
Not to mention that Meteor itself was probably going to wipe this building out.
"It's not-!"
And then Kunsel didn't have time to pay attention anymore, because that moment of hesitation had been all the monster needed to go back on the attack. Teeth flashed in the light of Kunsel's spell, dripping with something darker than saliva, because of course that's just what a lab experiment needed. Kunsel dodged with a curse, forced to abort the spell. He couldn't afford to risk getting poisoned.
"Get out of here!" he ordered without looking back at the door. He swung his sword, only for the monster to dodge with preternatural reflexes. It came at him again in the blink of an eye, teeth snapping dangerously close to his arm. Rocking back on one foot, he twisted to keep his arm clear of those teeth, then used the momentum of the move to pivot and slam his fist into the creature's side. It hurtled through the air and crashed into the machine at the end of the lab, delicate components crumpling with the impact. Electricity arced around the creature's body, tinged with the green of stored magic.
But the thing still landed on its feet, snarling as though it had never been hit. Kunsel swore again. Don't tell me it's magic resistant!
"Do you really think I can escape without SOLDIER assistance?" came Graive's caustic reply. At least the man had had the sense to wait for a pause in the fight, however brief. "This is hardly the only lab with specimens capable of breaking out of cages without power!"
Kunsel grimaced, grudgingly having to admit that that was a point he hadn't considered. And even more, it meant he needed to end this quickly. Who knew how many more fights he'd have to deal with just to get out of this tower?
I need more time...
Time his current opponent didn't want to give him. With another blur of speed that rivaled even a SOLDIER's, the Hound rocketed across the room. Kunsel was ready, though. His sword slashed through the air, and this time he anticipated when the creature leapt aside. His first failed strike reversed momentum just as abruptly, and fast as the creature was, it wasn't fast enough. The tip of Kunsel's sword caught it in the chest, leaving a long but shallow scratch behind. The monster howled with pain and rage, twisting with a swipe of its own claws. Kunsel hissed at the lines of fire that bloomed in his leg.
Then he hammered his elbow into the monster's head, stunning it and buying him enough time to jerk a step back to avoid letting it sink its teeth in too. Not enough time to kill it, though. It recovered too quickly, leaping out of his reach.
"Don't suppose you have any tips for killing this thing!" If scientists like Graive were going to go around making monsters even SOLDIERs had trouble with, the least he could do was help Kunsel clean up his own damn mess.
"I already gave you a tip! Follow my advice and don't use magic!" Graive snapped. "It'll drain you and cast magic back!"
Well, shit. So much for his plans to fry it.
It lunged, and he drove it back with a wide, sweeping cut.
"Any weaknesses?"
"It wasn't intended to have any! The President wanted us to create a guard dog that nothing could get past, something with unquestioning loyalty."
Just out of his range, the monster circled to the right, its path taking it under one of the lab tables. Kunsel narrowed his eyes. Was it smart enough to try to use cover to conceal its next attack?
Not going to work on a SOLDIER.
He vaulted onto the table itself, then stabbed his sword straight down through it. He was rewarded with a yelp, then the screech of claws raking the underside of the table. Kunsel pulled his sword back, trying to judge how much blood was on it. "Somehow I'm not sensing the loyalty!"
Graive scoffed, still tensely holding position just ouside the lab door. "Of course not. We're still in the biological stage of development. Psychological conditioning will come after we've pinned down the physical traits the President wanted. Assuming, of course, Rufus ShinRa wants us to continue the work his father requested."
Kunsel almost opened his mouth to ask what the hell else someone could want in a guard dog. Fast, vicious, poisonous, capable of casting and draining magic, strong enough to take hits from even a SOLDIER-
Wait.
Something slammed into the table from underneath, and he leaped free of it just as it started to topple.
Wait, that's it!
He landed and kicked the table himself. The Hound jumped over it, but he didn't care. He'd only intended the move to give him enough time to thrust his hand into his pocket, pulling out one of the materia he kept there. Once again, magic surged to his call. For a moment, the heady rush of it even managed to drown out the thick, cloying magic of Meteor.
"SOLDIER, what are you doing?!" Graive's voice pitched with rising alarm. "Don't use magic! I told you!"
He had no time, no time to explain - but then, it wasn't time that he needed at all! The creature was already bolting, racing straight toward him.
This time he didn't abort. Magic sang as he cast it - not on the Hound, but on himself.
I don't need time, I need speed!
And monsters couldn't absorb what wasn't cast on them. Certainly not this one, or it would have been absorbing magic from Meteor all along.
Everything seemed to slow down for him as the effects of Haste kicked in. Papers fluttered in the air, scattered from the table, their fall so slow they almost seemed to hover. The black fur of the beast glistened in the fading light of his spell, no longer a blur of darkness. Its claws clicked on the tile, each sound distinct and sharp, as its powerful, corded muscles propelled it toward Kunsel.
SOLDIER First Class, one of the best that ShinRa had left after everything that had happened, Kunsel launched himself at the monster charging at him, moving faster than the light of his own spell could dissipate. Light streaked behind him, behind his sword as it swung a deadly arc for the monster's throat.
Except somehow, impossibly, it still twisted out of its path. The creature howled as the blade grazed it, but still barreled into him. No matter their relative speeds, the blow was still powerful enough to knock him off his feet, sending them both stumbling into the damaged laboratory machine. Kunsel recovered quickly and tried to shove the creature off before it could get claws or teeth into him. Its head tail still managed to brush against him, though - enough for him to feel a sickening Drain.
Oh, hell no!
With a roar, he punched the thing in the head, their limbs too tangled for him to use his sword. The Drain spell faltered, but still pulled from him - even pulled the sparks of magic from the damaged machine behind him, first in a trickle, then in an increasing torrent. Any second now it would have enough to cast a spell of its own. He didn't know what, and didn't care to find out. Still powered by Haste, he punched again, again, again, the Time materia still in his hand because he'd never had a chance to pocket it.
That should have been enough. Even if not enough to kill it, it should have bought him time, bought him space, bought him something.
He'd never find out, though, because the lab, the hall, the whole world lit up, Holy blinding in the brilliance of its clash with Meteor in the sky.
And magic consumed everything.
-o-
Beep beep.
Beep beep.
Kunsel's fingers twitched with an ingrained response. Consciousness was slow to return, though. The electronic chirp only barely registered, his mind still too hazy to comprehend what it was. What it meant.
Beep beep.
His fingers twitched again, seeking... something. Something connected to that sound. He really should...
What?
What was it he was supposed to do?
Silence answered the half-formed question. Even the chirp seemed to give up on getting his attention. Without anything to focus on, Kunsel drifted back into the fog he'd woken in.
Then fog became darkness again.
-o-
It was still dark the next time Kunsel woke, but it was the darkness of nighttime, and a hand on his shoulder squeezing in a too-familiar cue shot alertness through the fog remaining in his mind. His eyes snapped open, focusing on the face hovering above him.
Glowing blue eyes. A helmet that almost obscured his view of them. A hand lifted in sharp signals of -Danger. Enemy located. Five.- Kunsel's head swam with disorientation, but hard instinct kicked in the way it was supposed to when you'd been knocked out of your senses by whatever it was you'd been fighting. He lurched to his feet, hand grasping for the weight of the sword on his back even before all the pieces could fall into place.
Exton. SOLDIER Second. Recognition dawned a half second too slow, but still brought a rush of relief. Someone in ShinRa had sent backup, even though he hadn't called for it. A First and a Second. Graive must be important.
Speaking of which...
A quick scan of his surroundings turned up no sign of the scientist. Wherever they were, they sure as hell wasn't inside the ShinRa tower anymore. More importantly, the tornadoes had stopped and the sick red light of Meteor was gone. Only the light of a few flickering street lamps let him see the layout of the ramshackle buildings surrounding them. Kunsel's eyes flicked up to get his bearings from the stars, only to find to find an expanse of metal plating, struts, supports, and pipes blocking his view of the sky.
They were below the Plate.
A frown flickered across his face, but he had no time to question how much time he must have lost if someone had already managed to evacuate him down here. Exton was on the move, ghosting his way past a pile of rusting construction material that might have once been intended to be a house. Pushing the confusion, the questions aside, Kunsel followed the man, taking care to match his level of stealth. The difference between their ranks didn't even enter into the equation. He knew he didn't have enough information to take the lead here, and with an enemy so close, filling him in could wait.
Exton paused, ducking low at the end of a pile. His hand tightened its grip on his sword.
A scuff was all the warning that either of them had.
All the warning a SOLDIER needs to act.
Exton sprang to the side as half a dozen claws ripped through the air right where he'd been crouching a moment ago. The bipedal monster attached to them roared its thwarted rage, but Kunsel was there, sword slashing into its side. Even with SOLDIER strength behind the swing, though, the thick, leathery skin resisted the worst of the damage. Bleeding sluggishly from the thin cut, the monster whipped around to face him, and then it was Kunsel's turn to leap out of the way of the claws the monster wielded instead of arms.
Taking advantage of the distraction that Kunsel was providing, Exton stepped back to start drawing on his magic - only to have to abort just seconds later when another monster dropped down from the roof of the nearest ramshackle building. Just like the first, it led with its claws, aiming to skewer Exton with four of them at once. Exton threw himself into a roll, agile enough to dodge the thrust. The monster snapped its lizard-like mouth in frustration and turned to follow him.
Two now. Out of five, according to Exton's warning. Where were the other three?
"What do you think?" he called to Exton. "Death Claws?" It was hard to tell sometimes. Some of the different subspecies of these creatures could only be told apart by a particular shade of brown or gray to their skin, the number of teeth in their mouth, or the patterns on their hide. Easier to tell by the magic they favored, but Kunsel had no interest in risking getting hit by an Ultima if these turned out to be Scissor Devils.
For some reason, the question earned him an odd look before the other SOLDIER twisted out of the way of another attack. "Doubt it!" Exton called back. He hacked at the arms that had missed him by inches, earning a roar of pain. "Report said the locals mentioned fires, remember? So they're probably at least Scissor Claws!"
Probably not Scissor Devils, then. At least they had that going for them.
But what did Exton mean, remember?
Kunsel spun past the monster's next thrust at him, giving him a clean shot at the thing's exposed back. He took it with prejudice, stabbing just beneath the groove of an armored plate. His blade didn't penetrate as deeply as he would have liked, even with SOLDIER strength, but Kunsel made up for it by stabbing again, again, again, blurring through the steps of an attack he'd designed himself. Limit Breaks, people called them, because most fighters only managed the trick of energy manipulation after they'd been fighting long enough to build up to it before letting it all break loose.
In this case, though, all he was doing was moving, doing things he already knew how to do. Fast, controlled, precise, as he swung beneath the monster's slashing claw so he could stab it again. Tiring, yes, and that's why he didn't pull this out on just anything - certainly not something as fast as the hound in the lab, something that could tear him to pieces in the time it took to catch his breath - but this wasn't something he had to build up to. This Limit Break, at least, he could pull off whenever he pleased.
It was one of the things that had gotten him promoted to First, according to the higher ups.
The monster roared with each cut, each time Kunsel's sword bit into it - never deep enough to kill it, but too fast for it to retaliate, which only enraged it more. It whirled, trying to keep up, deadly appendages grasping. Sometimes its claws only missed by inches.
Inches might as well be miles in a battle like this.
Finally, the thing stumbled as blood loss started to take its toll. Sensing a chance to finish this, Kunsel slipped behind it and kicked it hard. The monster crashed to the ground, dizziness or weakness or both preventing it from catching its balance in time. And that bought him time to charge the Thundaga in his bracer, the most powerful materia he had in his arsenal. Magic sung to a crescendo, and just before it did, he slammed his broadsword between armored plates on the monster's back, then leapt back. Lightning crashed, guided inward by the makeshift lightning rod he'd just placed.
When the blinding light faded, all that was left was a smoking, lifeless heap.
Despite still being busy with his own fight, Exton managed a whistle. "Damn, Kunsel. When'd you start hitting the practice room? I thought you spent all your free time on your phone!"
Kunsel spent half a second making sure his monster was dead, and then another full second to catch his breath, worn just that much from the fight, from the Limit Break, and from the magic. It gave his sword a chance to cool down, too, because no matter how tolerant the steel was to magic, he'd still just hit it with a Thundaga. "Who says I can't do both?" he quipped back. "Want me to pull up a monster guide and identify what exactly we're dealing with here?"
Exton swore colorfully, scrambling out of the way of a quick double jab. "Hell no, you damn phone junkie! You can do that after you've helped me kill this thing!"
Grinning, Kunsel was almost tempted to pull his PHS out anyway, just to get a reaction.
But Exton was struggling, even bleeding from a cut on his side where he obviously hadn't been fast enough. Not that the monster wasn't looking a little worse for wear, too, bleeding and singed from spells, but it also just as clearly wasn't about to go down for the count. In fact...
All traces of humor were wiped away in an instant the moment Kunsel saw magic start swirling in the air. "Exton!" he barked, and knew he didn't need to say more than that. They still didn't know what this was, or what it might cast.
"On it!" Exton wasn't stupid. He didn't need to be told twice that he needed to interrupt that spell. The SOLDIER Second darted in, taking advantage of the monster's brief pause as it gathered the necessary magic to launch an attack right at the thing's throat.
That wouldn't be enough to kill it. Not with how tough the hides on these things were, even if he didn't hit armor plating. It might not even be enough to distract it from its spell. Kunsel wasn't just going to stand around, though. With no weapon and no time to close the distance between them, he called on his reserves of magic again, funneling everything he had into casting another Thundaga. Bolts of lightning arced around his outstretched hand.
"Clear!" he shouted, and Exton leaped away. The monster staggered in his wake, bellowing from the hit it had just taken, but magic still glowed in the air all around it.
Kunsel's Thundaga was mastered, though, and had been for years. His spell was faster than whatever this thing was trying to cast. The electrical energy took it right in the chest, powerful enough to knock it back. The magic in the air faltered, and then Exton was there, slamming his sword right into the monster's eye.
Two down, now. Still no sign of the other three. Kunsel wasn't going to question that good luck, though, because he was still feeling winded and Exton was hurt. His hand fished into his pocket for the Cura he always kept, even as he spared a glance to ensure the monster was dead. You'd think stabbing something in the brain would be enough to kill anything, but he'd learned (the hard way) not to take chances. Mutations could do unexpected things.
"You okay, Exton?" Any injuries besides the obvious one?
Exton grimaced, but still focused on freeing his sword from the monster's head first before checking the wound on his side. Kunsel obviously wasn't the only one thinking about the other three monsters in the area. "Stupid mistake," he admitted. "Good thing you carry a Cure around, huh?"
"Cura," Kunsel corrected, already warming the thing up. "I got it upgraded when I-" He abruptly cut himself off, staring down at the materia in his hand with surprise that quickly morphed into consternation. "This isn't Cura." He could feel the spell forming, and it was wrong. Still curative, but too weak, barely drawing on his magic at all.
He cast it anyway, because something was better than nothing, and there were still three deadly enemies out there, not to mention whatever the hell had happened in the wake of Meteor.
Exton breathed a sigh of relief as the magic sank into his wound. Cautious fingers slipped into the hole in his clothes, exploring the fragile, newly-formed skin. Then he nodded, as much in thanks as deciding the patch job was good enough. "Guess you packed the wrong one," he said, though a frown flickered on his face. He gave Kunsel a searching look that he couldn't blame the man for.
I don't make mistakes when packing. I didn't. Preparation is everything on a mission.
Gleaming innocent green, the materia in his hand plainly refuted that vehement thought. Kunsel clenched his fingers around it, frustrated and at a loss.
Exton shook his head, confused but pragmatic. "We can look into it when we get back. There's still three more of these things out there. They must have split up after I spotted them."
Which couldn't have been that long ago. They were probably still close by. Blowing out a breath, Kunsel nodded and started to shove the Cure back into his pocket, then paused and changed his mind. Instead, he switched it out for the Fira on his bracer. Two against three weren't necessarily bad odds when those two were SOLDIERs, but patched up or not, Exton was already hurt. Better to have ready access to whatever healing magic he had.
"Right. I'm going to pull up that monster guide and ID these things before the Lifestream reabsorbs their bodies. You take a look around and see if you can find any tracks to tell us where the other three went." Although first things first, he went over to reclaim his sword, trusting it to have cooled down by now. Feeling better for being armed again, Kunsel pulled his PHS out.
Exton just shook his head again. "Trust you to have that already loaded on your phone. I should have figured you weren't kidding about that."
Kunsel flashed a wry grin. "What can I say? Information's important."
"Yeah, yeah." Exton waved a hand, dismissing the point as he turned away. "You're still a junkie, Kunsel!"
Well, he couldn't really argue with that. But hey, he was alive where a lot of SOLDIERs were not. All things told, the teasing he got for it was worth it. So Kunsel just chuckled and got to work scrolling through the text on his screen.
In the back of his mind, though, it still bothered him. What had happened to his Cura?
"Leave it!" he shouted over the roar of the storm. "We were ordered to evacuate! Now let's go!"
"Not yet!" Face ashen, the scientist's fingers danced over his console with the frantic speed of the desperate. "You don't understand! Five years of work-!"
"Will be for nothing if you're dead, professor!" The building shook, punctuating that statement with a rumble that sent dust sifting down from the ceiling tiles. Kunsel bit back another curse. Was that just the sheer power of the storm? Or were they dealing with earthquakes now, too?
Deeper in the lab, creatures in cages bellowed so loudly he could hear them even without the intercom the scientist was using. Kunsel couldn't see them from where he was standing, the view blocked by a bulky machine that dominated that end of the lab, but he could easily picture wings beating and bodies slamming into the bars in a bid for freedom. The scientist didn't even bother sparing them a glance, too focused on what he was doing.
"I just need a few more minutes! I just need to save this group of files!"
"In a few more minutes, those tornadoes are going to rip this building apart, if Meteor doesn't crush us first!" If it were an ordinary meteor, it already should have. The fact that it was moving so slowly was a testament to the powerful magic at work. The air was so thick with it he could almost feel it crawling up his skin and into his throat.
He ignored it. Instead he slammed a fist into the transparent barrier between him and the scientist he'd been sent to retrieve. It didn't so much as crack, even against the strength of a SOLDIER. With the monsters the scientists sometimes worked with here, the walls of these labs were reinforced to be able to contain them. Probably no one had ever considered the possibility that someone might need to be able to break in.
Well, fine. Being SOLDIER didn't mean he was all muscle and no brain. Kunsel's jaw firmed with a grim determination.
"Last chance, professor!"
"Or else what?" the man scoffed, turning his back on Kunsel to face another console entirely. "You'll abandon me here to save your own neck? I thought you SOLDIERs didn't quit your missions."
Too bad he wasn't looking at Kunsel's face, or he might have seen the dangerous flash of his eyes.
"We don't."
He pushed away from the wall. Maybe that was impregnable to SOLDIER strength, but the control panel next to the door sure as hell wasn't. He stomped over to the wall by the door, wind whipping his black fatigues as he pulled his gloves off his hands. It was the work of mere seconds to dig his fingernails into the cracks of the panel and rip it off the wall. From there it was just a matter of connecting the right wires.
And this is why it pays to read all the technical manuals.
The hiss of the glass doors opening was the only warning the scientist got before Kunsel was in and crossing the room. Brisk strides closed the distance before the man's head could even whip around, eyes wide behind his thin-rimmed glasses. "You-! How did you get past that door? I locked it!"
"Privilege of rank," Kunsel quipped. He reached for the man's arm, latching on with an iron grip. "We're leaving, Professor Graive. Now." His tone made it clear he'd pick the man up bodily if he had to.
Scientists were nothing if not a stubborn lot, though. Graive's nostrils flared with outrage and he pulled back, trying to twist away, futile though that gesture was against a SOLDIER's strength. "Unhand me! I told you, I'm not leaving without my research!"
"I'm not giving you a choice," Kunsel said, voice level if a bit clipped. The lights above flickered, prompting him to waste no more time pulling Professor Graive away from his computer. The man stumbled, caught between his struggle to resist and the desire to keep his footing. Two steps later he seemed to realize he wasn't going to be able to escape.
"Wait! At least let me grab my discs!"
It took less than a second to weigh the decision in his mind. A few moments to grab the discs he'd already collected versus the frustration and time lost to dealing with Graive's protests and resistance? Kunsel released the scientist's wrist.
"You've got five seconds," he said sternly.
The lights above them flickered as the building shook again, as though to underscore his warning.
Graive jerked a nod, then literally dove for his desk, snatching up every data storage disc lying there as though his very life depended on it. Then he turned to the console he'd been working on, reaching for the button to eject a disc. Silver and gleaming in the harsh lab light, it popped out into the scientist's waiting hand. The scientist took it with a grimace.
"It wasn't finished compiling..." he despaired, and Kunsel hid a wince.
Look, just because he had his priorities straight didn't mean he couldn't empathize with the scientist's loss of data. There would be corruption in those files. Who knew how much could even be salvaged?
At least the man would be alive to go over it, though.
Hopefully.
The magic writhing around and through him made it very hard to forget the threat literally having above their heads. Kunsel's stomach twisted against the surging feeling. He opened his mouth to prompt Graive to move.
The words didn't have a chance to leave his mouth before the power to the lab cut off. Near-darkness swallowed them, and for a few seconds all there was to the world was the dull roar of wind outside trying to whistle its way in through broken windows and the door that Kunsel had just opened. The lab specimens he'd heard before raised their voices in a louder cacophony, somehow sensing that this was more than just the lights going out at night. Then Kunsel's eyes adjusted to the dim red light filtering in from outside - too dim for Graive's eyes, but enough for a SOLDIER's enhanced sight to pick out the tables, the computers, the scientist himself. Graive had frozen in his tracks - whether from fear or from following protocol to wait for emergency power to kick in, Kunsel couldn't tell. Beads of sweat were running down his face, and his hands were clutching his discs protectively.
"SOLDIER..."
"Kunsel."
Where were the lights? The backup generators should have powered on by now.
Suspicion sank like a stone in his gut as his skin prickled with the sheer magnitude of magic in the air.
"SOLDIER, if we've lost the generators..." Graive's eyes darted blindly, not quite in the direction of the specimen area. Cages rattled, creatures yowled, and something slammed into the bars so hard that metal groaned, loud enough for even unenhanced ears to hear.
And Kunsel understood.
Shit!
"Move it!" he snapped, latching onto Graive's hand to pull him in the direction he needed to go. His other hand reached for the broadsword on his back, pulling it free from its magnetic harness. "There's more light once you get out into the hall! Go!" He let go and whirled, and not a moment to soon, intercepting a set of vicious claws with his sword before they could rip out his throat.
The creature leaped away, faster than he could counterattack. Its sleek, black coat barely caught any of the dim light, making it a blur of darkness in Kunsel's sight. He thought it looked vaguely Hound-shaped. Papers scattered beneath its feet as it landed on one of the counters, but it barely paused there before launching itself back at Kunsel with a snarl.
Fast!
He dropped, planting his free hand on the ground, and kicked up, catching the monster in its chest as it sailed over him. The thing hit the ceiling with a sharp yip of pain.
As it fell, though, it twisted, flipping itself over in mid-air to land back on its feet. From its growl, it didn't even sound like it was winded.
Shiva's spit, what is it with the scientists here and making monsters that are even harder to kill?! His mind flashed back to the last time lab specimens had gotten loose from their cages - a deliberate act, one he'd been in charge of investigating. They'd ended up needing the strength of a SOLDIER First back then, too. Zack had complained bitterly for days about monsters that could-
With an ache in his throat, Kunsel shut down that memory. Focus on the present. I'm the First Class now. No matter how much he didn't feel like he deserved that promotion. The sword in his hand warmed as he poured his own magic into it - into the materia equipped in its slots. Light swirled around him, singing in his ears.
Let's see how this thing likes fire!
"No!" Graive's voice shouted from the door with a panic even greater than he'd shown when the lights had shut off. "Don't use magic! All the experiments in here are magically sensitive, including-!" A shudder that ran through the whole building cut him off, making him stumble as he tried to keep his balance.
Kunsel's charging spell faltered, and he almost took his eyes off his enemy to give the scientist an incredulous look. What the hell was he still doing here? "Pretty sure any magic-sensitive experiments have already been ruined, professor!" Magic strong enough to knock out both the power and the backup generators was more than potent enough to screw up a few lab results.
Not to mention that Meteor itself was probably going to wipe this building out.
"It's not-!"
And then Kunsel didn't have time to pay attention anymore, because that moment of hesitation had been all the monster needed to go back on the attack. Teeth flashed in the light of Kunsel's spell, dripping with something darker than saliva, because of course that's just what a lab experiment needed. Kunsel dodged with a curse, forced to abort the spell. He couldn't afford to risk getting poisoned.
"Get out of here!" he ordered without looking back at the door. He swung his sword, only for the monster to dodge with preternatural reflexes. It came at him again in the blink of an eye, teeth snapping dangerously close to his arm. Rocking back on one foot, he twisted to keep his arm clear of those teeth, then used the momentum of the move to pivot and slam his fist into the creature's side. It hurtled through the air and crashed into the machine at the end of the lab, delicate components crumpling with the impact. Electricity arced around the creature's body, tinged with the green of stored magic.
But the thing still landed on its feet, snarling as though it had never been hit. Kunsel swore again. Don't tell me it's magic resistant!
"Do you really think I can escape without SOLDIER assistance?" came Graive's caustic reply. At least the man had had the sense to wait for a pause in the fight, however brief. "This is hardly the only lab with specimens capable of breaking out of cages without power!"
Kunsel grimaced, grudgingly having to admit that that was a point he hadn't considered. And even more, it meant he needed to end this quickly. Who knew how many more fights he'd have to deal with just to get out of this tower?
I need more time...
Time his current opponent didn't want to give him. With another blur of speed that rivaled even a SOLDIER's, the Hound rocketed across the room. Kunsel was ready, though. His sword slashed through the air, and this time he anticipated when the creature leapt aside. His first failed strike reversed momentum just as abruptly, and fast as the creature was, it wasn't fast enough. The tip of Kunsel's sword caught it in the chest, leaving a long but shallow scratch behind. The monster howled with pain and rage, twisting with a swipe of its own claws. Kunsel hissed at the lines of fire that bloomed in his leg.
Then he hammered his elbow into the monster's head, stunning it and buying him enough time to jerk a step back to avoid letting it sink its teeth in too. Not enough time to kill it, though. It recovered too quickly, leaping out of his reach.
"Don't suppose you have any tips for killing this thing!" If scientists like Graive were going to go around making monsters even SOLDIERs had trouble with, the least he could do was help Kunsel clean up his own damn mess.
"I already gave you a tip! Follow my advice and don't use magic!" Graive snapped. "It'll drain you and cast magic back!"
Well, shit. So much for his plans to fry it.
It lunged, and he drove it back with a wide, sweeping cut.
"Any weaknesses?"
"It wasn't intended to have any! The President wanted us to create a guard dog that nothing could get past, something with unquestioning loyalty."
Just out of his range, the monster circled to the right, its path taking it under one of the lab tables. Kunsel narrowed his eyes. Was it smart enough to try to use cover to conceal its next attack?
Not going to work on a SOLDIER.
He vaulted onto the table itself, then stabbed his sword straight down through it. He was rewarded with a yelp, then the screech of claws raking the underside of the table. Kunsel pulled his sword back, trying to judge how much blood was on it. "Somehow I'm not sensing the loyalty!"
Graive scoffed, still tensely holding position just ouside the lab door. "Of course not. We're still in the biological stage of development. Psychological conditioning will come after we've pinned down the physical traits the President wanted. Assuming, of course, Rufus ShinRa wants us to continue the work his father requested."
Kunsel almost opened his mouth to ask what the hell else someone could want in a guard dog. Fast, vicious, poisonous, capable of casting and draining magic, strong enough to take hits from even a SOLDIER-
Wait.
Something slammed into the table from underneath, and he leaped free of it just as it started to topple.
Wait, that's it!
He landed and kicked the table himself. The Hound jumped over it, but he didn't care. He'd only intended the move to give him enough time to thrust his hand into his pocket, pulling out one of the materia he kept there. Once again, magic surged to his call. For a moment, the heady rush of it even managed to drown out the thick, cloying magic of Meteor.
"SOLDIER, what are you doing?!" Graive's voice pitched with rising alarm. "Don't use magic! I told you!"
He had no time, no time to explain - but then, it wasn't time that he needed at all! The creature was already bolting, racing straight toward him.
This time he didn't abort. Magic sang as he cast it - not on the Hound, but on himself.
I don't need time, I need speed!
And monsters couldn't absorb what wasn't cast on them. Certainly not this one, or it would have been absorbing magic from Meteor all along.
Everything seemed to slow down for him as the effects of Haste kicked in. Papers fluttered in the air, scattered from the table, their fall so slow they almost seemed to hover. The black fur of the beast glistened in the fading light of his spell, no longer a blur of darkness. Its claws clicked on the tile, each sound distinct and sharp, as its powerful, corded muscles propelled it toward Kunsel.
SOLDIER First Class, one of the best that ShinRa had left after everything that had happened, Kunsel launched himself at the monster charging at him, moving faster than the light of his own spell could dissipate. Light streaked behind him, behind his sword as it swung a deadly arc for the monster's throat.
Except somehow, impossibly, it still twisted out of its path. The creature howled as the blade grazed it, but still barreled into him. No matter their relative speeds, the blow was still powerful enough to knock him off his feet, sending them both stumbling into the damaged laboratory machine. Kunsel recovered quickly and tried to shove the creature off before it could get claws or teeth into him. Its head tail still managed to brush against him, though - enough for him to feel a sickening Drain.
Oh, hell no!
With a roar, he punched the thing in the head, their limbs too tangled for him to use his sword. The Drain spell faltered, but still pulled from him - even pulled the sparks of magic from the damaged machine behind him, first in a trickle, then in an increasing torrent. Any second now it would have enough to cast a spell of its own. He didn't know what, and didn't care to find out. Still powered by Haste, he punched again, again, again, the Time materia still in his hand because he'd never had a chance to pocket it.
That should have been enough. Even if not enough to kill it, it should have bought him time, bought him space, bought him something.
He'd never find out, though, because the lab, the hall, the whole world lit up, Holy blinding in the brilliance of its clash with Meteor in the sky.
And magic consumed everything.
Beep beep.
Beep beep.
Kunsel's fingers twitched with an ingrained response. Consciousness was slow to return, though. The electronic chirp only barely registered, his mind still too hazy to comprehend what it was. What it meant.
Beep beep.
His fingers twitched again, seeking... something. Something connected to that sound. He really should...
What?
What was it he was supposed to do?
Silence answered the half-formed question. Even the chirp seemed to give up on getting his attention. Without anything to focus on, Kunsel drifted back into the fog he'd woken in.
Then fog became darkness again.
It was still dark the next time Kunsel woke, but it was the darkness of nighttime, and a hand on his shoulder squeezing in a too-familiar cue shot alertness through the fog remaining in his mind. His eyes snapped open, focusing on the face hovering above him.
Glowing blue eyes. A helmet that almost obscured his view of them. A hand lifted in sharp signals of -Danger. Enemy located. Five.- Kunsel's head swam with disorientation, but hard instinct kicked in the way it was supposed to when you'd been knocked out of your senses by whatever it was you'd been fighting. He lurched to his feet, hand grasping for the weight of the sword on his back even before all the pieces could fall into place.
Exton. SOLDIER Second. Recognition dawned a half second too slow, but still brought a rush of relief. Someone in ShinRa had sent backup, even though he hadn't called for it. A First and a Second. Graive must be important.
Speaking of which...
A quick scan of his surroundings turned up no sign of the scientist. Wherever they were, they sure as hell wasn't inside the ShinRa tower anymore. More importantly, the tornadoes had stopped and the sick red light of Meteor was gone. Only the light of a few flickering street lamps let him see the layout of the ramshackle buildings surrounding them. Kunsel's eyes flicked up to get his bearings from the stars, only to find to find an expanse of metal plating, struts, supports, and pipes blocking his view of the sky.
They were below the Plate.
A frown flickered across his face, but he had no time to question how much time he must have lost if someone had already managed to evacuate him down here. Exton was on the move, ghosting his way past a pile of rusting construction material that might have once been intended to be a house. Pushing the confusion, the questions aside, Kunsel followed the man, taking care to match his level of stealth. The difference between their ranks didn't even enter into the equation. He knew he didn't have enough information to take the lead here, and with an enemy so close, filling him in could wait.
Exton paused, ducking low at the end of a pile. His hand tightened its grip on his sword.
A scuff was all the warning that either of them had.
All the warning a SOLDIER needs to act.
Exton sprang to the side as half a dozen claws ripped through the air right where he'd been crouching a moment ago. The bipedal monster attached to them roared its thwarted rage, but Kunsel was there, sword slashing into its side. Even with SOLDIER strength behind the swing, though, the thick, leathery skin resisted the worst of the damage. Bleeding sluggishly from the thin cut, the monster whipped around to face him, and then it was Kunsel's turn to leap out of the way of the claws the monster wielded instead of arms.
Taking advantage of the distraction that Kunsel was providing, Exton stepped back to start drawing on his magic - only to have to abort just seconds later when another monster dropped down from the roof of the nearest ramshackle building. Just like the first, it led with its claws, aiming to skewer Exton with four of them at once. Exton threw himself into a roll, agile enough to dodge the thrust. The monster snapped its lizard-like mouth in frustration and turned to follow him.
Two now. Out of five, according to Exton's warning. Where were the other three?
"What do you think?" he called to Exton. "Death Claws?" It was hard to tell sometimes. Some of the different subspecies of these creatures could only be told apart by a particular shade of brown or gray to their skin, the number of teeth in their mouth, or the patterns on their hide. Easier to tell by the magic they favored, but Kunsel had no interest in risking getting hit by an Ultima if these turned out to be Scissor Devils.
For some reason, the question earned him an odd look before the other SOLDIER twisted out of the way of another attack. "Doubt it!" Exton called back. He hacked at the arms that had missed him by inches, earning a roar of pain. "Report said the locals mentioned fires, remember? So they're probably at least Scissor Claws!"
Probably not Scissor Devils, then. At least they had that going for them.
But what did Exton mean, remember?
Kunsel spun past the monster's next thrust at him, giving him a clean shot at the thing's exposed back. He took it with prejudice, stabbing just beneath the groove of an armored plate. His blade didn't penetrate as deeply as he would have liked, even with SOLDIER strength, but Kunsel made up for it by stabbing again, again, again, blurring through the steps of an attack he'd designed himself. Limit Breaks, people called them, because most fighters only managed the trick of energy manipulation after they'd been fighting long enough to build up to it before letting it all break loose.
In this case, though, all he was doing was moving, doing things he already knew how to do. Fast, controlled, precise, as he swung beneath the monster's slashing claw so he could stab it again. Tiring, yes, and that's why he didn't pull this out on just anything - certainly not something as fast as the hound in the lab, something that could tear him to pieces in the time it took to catch his breath - but this wasn't something he had to build up to. This Limit Break, at least, he could pull off whenever he pleased.
It was one of the things that had gotten him promoted to First, according to the higher ups.
The monster roared with each cut, each time Kunsel's sword bit into it - never deep enough to kill it, but too fast for it to retaliate, which only enraged it more. It whirled, trying to keep up, deadly appendages grasping. Sometimes its claws only missed by inches.
Inches might as well be miles in a battle like this.
Finally, the thing stumbled as blood loss started to take its toll. Sensing a chance to finish this, Kunsel slipped behind it and kicked it hard. The monster crashed to the ground, dizziness or weakness or both preventing it from catching its balance in time. And that bought him time to charge the Thundaga in his bracer, the most powerful materia he had in his arsenal. Magic sung to a crescendo, and just before it did, he slammed his broadsword between armored plates on the monster's back, then leapt back. Lightning crashed, guided inward by the makeshift lightning rod he'd just placed.
When the blinding light faded, all that was left was a smoking, lifeless heap.
Despite still being busy with his own fight, Exton managed a whistle. "Damn, Kunsel. When'd you start hitting the practice room? I thought you spent all your free time on your phone!"
Kunsel spent half a second making sure his monster was dead, and then another full second to catch his breath, worn just that much from the fight, from the Limit Break, and from the magic. It gave his sword a chance to cool down, too, because no matter how tolerant the steel was to magic, he'd still just hit it with a Thundaga. "Who says I can't do both?" he quipped back. "Want me to pull up a monster guide and identify what exactly we're dealing with here?"
Exton swore colorfully, scrambling out of the way of a quick double jab. "Hell no, you damn phone junkie! You can do that after you've helped me kill this thing!"
Grinning, Kunsel was almost tempted to pull his PHS out anyway, just to get a reaction.
But Exton was struggling, even bleeding from a cut on his side where he obviously hadn't been fast enough. Not that the monster wasn't looking a little worse for wear, too, bleeding and singed from spells, but it also just as clearly wasn't about to go down for the count. In fact...
All traces of humor were wiped away in an instant the moment Kunsel saw magic start swirling in the air. "Exton!" he barked, and knew he didn't need to say more than that. They still didn't know what this was, or what it might cast.
"On it!" Exton wasn't stupid. He didn't need to be told twice that he needed to interrupt that spell. The SOLDIER Second darted in, taking advantage of the monster's brief pause as it gathered the necessary magic to launch an attack right at the thing's throat.
That wouldn't be enough to kill it. Not with how tough the hides on these things were, even if he didn't hit armor plating. It might not even be enough to distract it from its spell. Kunsel wasn't just going to stand around, though. With no weapon and no time to close the distance between them, he called on his reserves of magic again, funneling everything he had into casting another Thundaga. Bolts of lightning arced around his outstretched hand.
"Clear!" he shouted, and Exton leaped away. The monster staggered in his wake, bellowing from the hit it had just taken, but magic still glowed in the air all around it.
Kunsel's Thundaga was mastered, though, and had been for years. His spell was faster than whatever this thing was trying to cast. The electrical energy took it right in the chest, powerful enough to knock it back. The magic in the air faltered, and then Exton was there, slamming his sword right into the monster's eye.
Two down, now. Still no sign of the other three. Kunsel wasn't going to question that good luck, though, because he was still feeling winded and Exton was hurt. His hand fished into his pocket for the Cura he always kept, even as he spared a glance to ensure the monster was dead. You'd think stabbing something in the brain would be enough to kill anything, but he'd learned (the hard way) not to take chances. Mutations could do unexpected things.
"You okay, Exton?" Any injuries besides the obvious one?
Exton grimaced, but still focused on freeing his sword from the monster's head first before checking the wound on his side. Kunsel obviously wasn't the only one thinking about the other three monsters in the area. "Stupid mistake," he admitted. "Good thing you carry a Cure around, huh?"
"Cura," Kunsel corrected, already warming the thing up. "I got it upgraded when I-" He abruptly cut himself off, staring down at the materia in his hand with surprise that quickly morphed into consternation. "This isn't Cura." He could feel the spell forming, and it was wrong. Still curative, but too weak, barely drawing on his magic at all.
He cast it anyway, because something was better than nothing, and there were still three deadly enemies out there, not to mention whatever the hell had happened in the wake of Meteor.
Exton breathed a sigh of relief as the magic sank into his wound. Cautious fingers slipped into the hole in his clothes, exploring the fragile, newly-formed skin. Then he nodded, as much in thanks as deciding the patch job was good enough. "Guess you packed the wrong one," he said, though a frown flickered on his face. He gave Kunsel a searching look that he couldn't blame the man for.
I don't make mistakes when packing. I didn't. Preparation is everything on a mission.
Gleaming innocent green, the materia in his hand plainly refuted that vehement thought. Kunsel clenched his fingers around it, frustrated and at a loss.
Exton shook his head, confused but pragmatic. "We can look into it when we get back. There's still three more of these things out there. They must have split up after I spotted them."
Which couldn't have been that long ago. They were probably still close by. Blowing out a breath, Kunsel nodded and started to shove the Cure back into his pocket, then paused and changed his mind. Instead, he switched it out for the Fira on his bracer. Two against three weren't necessarily bad odds when those two were SOLDIERs, but patched up or not, Exton was already hurt. Better to have ready access to whatever healing magic he had.
"Right. I'm going to pull up that monster guide and ID these things before the Lifestream reabsorbs their bodies. You take a look around and see if you can find any tracks to tell us where the other three went." Although first things first, he went over to reclaim his sword, trusting it to have cooled down by now. Feeling better for being armed again, Kunsel pulled his PHS out.
Exton just shook his head again. "Trust you to have that already loaded on your phone. I should have figured you weren't kidding about that."
Kunsel flashed a wry grin. "What can I say? Information's important."
"Yeah, yeah." Exton waved a hand, dismissing the point as he turned away. "You're still a junkie, Kunsel!"
Well, he couldn't really argue with that. But hey, he was alive where a lot of SOLDIERs were not. All things told, the teasing he got for it was worth it. So Kunsel just chuckled and got to work scrolling through the text on his screen.
In the back of his mind, though, it still bothered him. What had happened to his Cura?
