Chapter Nine

         "It's gone," Tifa said, confused and betrayed. "The passageway. It's gone."

         "Are you sure you've led us back to the right place?" Vincent asked, refusing to give up hope. "You were probably a bit disoriented when you left the Mines. Maybe if we search up and down a bit more, we'll find it."

         "Negative on that, Valentine," Captain Grissom Hark commented as he walked up to Vincent's side, his assault rifle held easily in one hand.

         At first glance, Captain Hawk's close cut, graying hair might have made it seem as if he was over the hill. However, the steel in his cool blue eyes and his hard, chiseled face, tan and toughened from many years in the field, told otherwise. His build rivaled Barret's, although he was about an inch shorter, and it was immediately obvious to any observer that he was not a man to be taken lightly.

         "My men have searched up and down these mountains for at least a mile in each direction. Unless she's farther off than that, the only entrance within spitting distance is that one over there." Hawk pointed at the large, gaping entrance leading into the Mythril mines, barely visible in the distance.

         "It was right here, dammit!" Tifa insisted angrily. "I'm sure of it!"

         Vincent ran a hand through his long black hair, slowly, as he examined their surroundings. After a second's thought, he advanced on the sloping mountainside, his sharp eyes scanning its surface for anything out of the ordinary. The surface was broken and irregular, wind erosion having done little to smooth out its rocky skin.

         "Tifa," he said. "Can you remember exactly where this entrance was?"

         "I can try," Tifa agreed, walking up beside him and joining his examination of the rock face. She closed her eyes for a second, thinking back, and then slowly moved a bit to the left. Then she laid her hands on the surface of the rock face, nodding intently.

         "It was here," she said, no trace of doubt in her voice. The spot she had chosen was a narrow divot cut into the rock between two larger ridges, looking no different then the rest of the windblown rock face that stretched off to their left and right.

         Vincent advanced, analyzing the spot carefully. Kneeling beside the rock, he motioned Tifa aside and ran his hand gently across the surface, concentrating. Cold, irregular rock greeted his highly sensitive fingertips, as he methodically examined the unbroken rock face, but it seemed real. Not unnatural, then. A hidden switch, perhaps?

         "What's he doing?" Captain Hawk asked as he walked up to join them.

         "Quiet," Tifa ordered, pushing him back a bit. Vincent appreciated her gesture. The last thing he needed right now was distractions.

         Yes. There it was. A barely detectable difference in the texture of the rock face. A division. To the left, solid, hardened rock which surely stretched into the mountain for miles. To the right . . . less sure. Vincent couldn't place it immediately, but something about the rock just seemed . . . different. No catch or switch, though. A secret door? Most likely not. More likely, a newly built rock wall erected to cover the entrance. Masterfully done, most likely by magic, but not masterfully enough to escape Vincent's keen senses. Still, he had to be sure.

         "I need absolute silence," he said. "Captain Hawk. Have your men quiet down for a second. Tifa, tell the rest of our party to be quiet as well."

         "You got it," Tifa said immediately. "I think he's on to something. Hawk, tell your men to quiet down."

         Hawk glanced at her doubtfully, but only hesitated a second before passing her order on to the rest of his men via radio. His army stretched away behind them, over one hundred strong, all highly trained, highly motivated Shinra troopers. Twenty five of their number were elite Shinra Commandos like the ones that had attacked Yuffie and Vincent. Cid, Barret, Yuffie and Red all stood there as well, waiting.

         Satisfied that he had his quiet, Vincent concentrated, expanding his senses. Cautiously, he began to increase his hearing range, his augmented ears following the impulses of his keen mind as he literally turned up the volume in his head, exposing more of his highly sensitive eardrums to the surroundings. He generally kept his hearing range rather low, just about twice the range of a normal human, because expanding it farther could make normal speech quite painful. Hence, his request for silence.

         He could hear . . . almost everything. The nearly silent glide of a Midgar Zolom, prowling about just outside of the army's reach, afraid to attack such a large body of men. The shuffle of one hundred and three different uniforms, the impatient shifting of weight from the enlisted men, all save the twenty five commandos. The breathing of the closer ones, mostly regular, although eleven seemed to be breathing a bit fast, most likely nervous about the upcoming encounter. Green troops, then. So, Reeve had been slightly off the mark when he had said that he was sending nothing but his best. Well, Vincent couldn't fault him. Someone had to protect Midgar.

         There was the sound of a flock of birds flying by overhead, out of the visual range of most of those gathered about him, but he tuned it out, concentrating instead on the mountain ahead. He was grateful that the Shinra soldiers took their orders seriously. The last thing he needed now was their magnified voices echoing painfully off of his exposed eardrums.

         He curled his hand into a fist and brought it back, then rapped sharply on the rock, three times. The dull sound of his fist striking the rock sounded like a large bass drum, beaten from about five feet away. But that was not what he was interested in. He followed the audio vibrations from his raps into the rock, and realized with satisfaction that they ended barely a foot into it, hitting empty space beyond. Hollow. This was the entrance. Tifa was right.

         He brought his hearing back to a more bearable level, turned, and brought his gaze to rest on Hawk.

         "Have your men bring up some heavy drills, or explosive if you have it," he ordered the Captain. "The tunnel that Tifa remembers is just beyond the rock. It appears that Messiah has capped it to balk our entrance. It's about a foot thick."

         "You sure about that?" Captain Hawk asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

         Vincent merely continued to stare at him, his face cool and expressionless.

         "All right then," Hawk agreed. He brought the radio to his lips. "PFC Haze, come up and join us here at the front. And bring your rocket launcher."

         Vincent's eyes turned to watch as the troopers behind Hawk parted, and moments later the soldier Hawk had requested appeared. A small crest on his blue uniform designating him as one of the few Shinra elites, men who had been trained to use their highly volatile rocket launchers. Only five of these men had accompanied the detachment sent to strike at Messiah, because it was expected that rockets would be too dangerous in the close quarters of a tunnel environment.

         "So you want him to blast that wall?" Hawk asked, still doubtful. Reeve had told him that he would be under the party's command during this mission, with Tifa as his main superior, and so far his only resistance to this had been occasional doubt when confronted with an order he found strange.

         "Right here," Vincent said, laying his hand softly on the center of the thin rock wall.

         "All right Haze, you heard the man," Hawk said sharply, turning to his soldier. "Valentine, get clear. We need to back off a bit before he fires. The blast should blow most of the rock inward, if what you say is true. Still, if it's solid, the blast could send rubble back at us. I don't fancy being taken out by a rock."

         They backed off nearly thirty feet before Hawk cleared them to stop. "Haze, ready up," Hawk said sharply. The rocket soldier fell to one knee, bringing his launcher up to rest on his shoulder.

         "Aim," Hawk ordered. Haze tightened his grip on his launcher and trigger, carefully adjusting the angle and orientation of his weapon through the sight he had pressed against his left eye.

         "Fire," Hawk finished crisply.

         Haze lightly squeezed the trigger, only his intensive training, skill and muscle power keeping his launcher steady as flame tore from its rear, and a thin, pointed projectile roared from its business end on a tail of fire and smoke. The rocket spiraled from its launcher, blazing toward the rock wall in the distance, which remained steady, defiant, unafraid of the massive warhead rocketing toward it. A half second later the rocket hit, and there was a bright flash and a massive explosion.

         Smoke obscured the afflicted portion of the mountainside for a brief second. Then, the smoke began to clear, revealing the edge of a darkened opening, just becoming visible through the rapidly dissipating smoke. Tiny chunks of rock peppered them even at this distance, but the blast had carried most of the tunnel's concealment deeper into the mountain.

         "I'll be damned," Hawk muttered.

         A loud battle cry tore through the air, and a lone soldier rushed into view through the smoke, his brown armor and helmet clanking as he stumbled forward, blinded, trying to bring up the rifle in his hand to fire. Then others became visible past him, more armored, brown soldiers, pouring from the rock like ants from a suddenly disturbed hive.

         "Cover!" Hawk cried loudly, bringing his own weapon up to aim at the advancing soldiers. "Fire at will!"

         There was a bright flash of magical energy in front of them, and Vincent realized with satisfaction that Red had just thrown a Wall spell up before them. He must have begun before the smoke dissipated, hearing the advance of the soldiers inside before they cleared the cave. Vincent would have heard it as well, had he not nearly deafened himself to avoid being hurt by the sound of the rocket's detonation.

         The foremost rank of Shinra soldiers sent a deadly barrage lancing into the advancing enemy, even as the enemy's return fire panged harmlessly against the Wall spell. Hawk and Barret quickly joined them, as Vincent calmly popped off shots with his Sniper Rifle, piercing each soldier he brought into his sights straight between the eyes. Together with Barret and Vincent, the Shinra army mowed their opposition down quickly and mercilessly. The entirety of the advancing soldiers were cut down before their own weapons had destroyed a third of the wall's protection.

         "Company!" Captain Hawk called loudly, bringing his hand up, unruffled by the sudden attack. "Advance and secure the area!"

         He broke into a run, his men right behind, their rifles covering the area ahead, ready to instantly destroy anything that barred their path. Vincent jogged beside them, Tifa at his left, Barret at his right, the others behind them. Red jogged at the rear of their formation, easily keeping up despite his injuries.

         The Wall faded away, its power extinguished as they left its area of effect. Red had thrown up a large stationary obstruction, as opposed to the personal defense walls they normally used in combat. It would have been impossible to cast that type of wall onto this many men.

         Thinking back on the ease with which they'd slaughtered the enemy vanguard, Vincent silently found himself agreeing with Reeve's earlier words. Bolstered by their considerable magic, the Shinra army would be much more deadly than its small number would cause one to expect. They might just have a chance at pulling this off.

         Shinra soldiers moved carefully but fearlessly into the dark tunnel ahead, activating the lights on the end of their rifles as they examined the area. It took only a few seconds to determine that the entrance to the tunnel was theirs. Vincent stepped over the massed bodies of several corpses, right behind Captain Hawk, right ahead of his friends.

         The brown armor of the dead soldiers was broken and charred, their bodies lacerated with the force of the explosion which had blown the entrance open. They must have been waiting inside to ambush anyone who tried to drill their way through the rock. If they had survived, they surely would have thought twice before standing so close to a covered tunnel entrance again.

         "My commandos will form the head of our invasion party," Captain Hawk explained quickly. "This tunnel is not very big, so until it widens we'll have to walk in single file. This can kill us very quickly, if we come up against a large force of hostiles waiting to mow us down as we come out of the tunnel. In that case, we'll have to advance as quickly as possible and try to secure an opening.

         "Captain, that's gonna' hurt us," a nearby Commando said. His words were merely an observation, not an objection. It was obvious that he would lead the army without question, even though he would almost surely be killed if they encountered an ambush.

         "It is also unnecessary," Vincent commented. "I'll lead."

         Captain Hawk glanced at Tifa questioningly. She nodded.

         "With a Wall up to protect him, and his enhanced senses, he's the best choice to lead us in," she explained without batting an eyelash. "He'll probably hear anyone waiting ahead before they hear us."

         Captain Hawk turned his gaze back to Vincent, his eyes evaluative. "All right, then," he agreed without further comment. He turned to his men. "For now, you're under this man's command," he said sharply, pointing at Vincent. "He's gonna' head us up. Follow his orders as quickly as you would follow mine. We're working in operational silence from this point on till I say otherwise. Understood?"

         "Yes sir!" the nearest troopers chorused.

         "Five of my commandos will follow Vincent," Captain Hawk said, laying their formation out. "This is a damned small entrance, but it's the only one we've got. I'll want to be near the head of the group so I know what's going on. What about the rest of you?"

         "Vincent?" Tifa questioned.

         "Yuffie next," Vincent said. "Then Captain Hawk, yourself, Red, Barret, Cid. Followed by the rest of Hawk's commandos, and then the rest of his soldiers, until this tunnel widens out."

         Captain Hawk passed his orders back to the rest of his army, and then they moved into order. The effort was difficult in the narrow confines of the tunnel, requiring a host of tight squeezes, but they managed. Vincent, now at the head of the line, stared down the dark tunnel ahead, his Sniper Rifle strapped to his back, the sleek form of the Outsider grasped in his hands. It was his most powerful weapon, with Death Penalty lost, and therefore the best choice for his primary long range defense. For close range, his claw would do nicely.

         A flash of energy momentarily illuminated the area just ahead, and he felt the comforting security of a personal Wall flash into being around his body. Silently, he raised his arm and began to walk forward, then dropping his hand to order the Commando behind him into motion. The man passed the order onto the rest of the line, and at a brisk but careful pace, they began to advance.

         The loud shuffle of the men and women behind him, with the exception of Red and Yuffie, was almost painful to his expanding hearing. Only the Shinra Commandos and Captain Hawk seemed to have any grasp of how to move in any measure of silence.

         Messiah is going to hear us coming a mile away.

         The tunnel continued into the rock for quite a distance, its narrow confines unchanging. It was obviously engineered, its interior too consistent to have been naturally formed. It seemed to snake to the left and right without any clear purpose, almost at random, and even Vincent's keen senses had to strain to keep track of which direction they were heading. The only thing that was easily discernable is that they were heading, slowly but surely, down.

         Red had renewed the power of the wall four times before Vincent raised his hand in warning, bringing them to a stop. He had detected men ahead, the shuffle of armor against skin echoing into his enhanced ears from about fifty feet ahead. They lay just around a sharp fork in the tunnel, the first of its kind they had seen yet, a quick turn of almost ninety degrees. A perfect ambush spot.

         Vincent had ordered the Commandos to keep their lights shining just behind him, the illumination bouncing from the floor more than sufficient for his keen eyes to make out the area ahead. He could sense five enemy soldiers crouching around the bend, ready, but obviously impatient, as one of their number's nervous movement had implied. Surely, that meant the tunnel widened. Good. Enough of this single file advance.

         He turned to face the commando directly behind him, keeping his voice to a low whisper, too low to carry to the men waiting for them fifty feet down the tunnel.

         "You," he said, his gaze meeting that of the lead Commando, only the area immediately around his eyes visible under the thick black helmet that covered his head. A pair of night-vision goggles was affixed to its top. "Name?"

         "Trevor," the man replied. "Why?"

         "Trevor, there is an party of enemy soldiers about fifty feet ahead, as well as a sharp fork in the tunnel which will give them cover," Vincent whispered calmly. "They probably hope to ambush us, assuming that the glare of our lights will give them plenty of advance warning. We need to take them out, without lights, and quickly. No telling how many wait behind them."

         "Easy," Trevor replied, tapping his night vision goggles lightly with one finger. "Do we take them out with weapons or knifes?"

         "Knifes," Vincent replied. "We do not want the sound of gunfire to give us away. Chances are these men are stationed here to warn the main body when the tunnel has been penetrated. If we take them out, quickly, they may not get a chance to warn the others."

         "Good," Trevor said. "How many do you want me to take?"

         "The four behind you, plus the two of us," Vincent said. "Let's go." He began to turn, but Commando Trevor lightly grabbed his shoulder.

         "You got a pair of goggles?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

         "No need," Vincent said calmly.

         Trevor regarded him for a second, and then shrugged. "You're the boss," he whispered, turning to his men and quickly laying out what was ahead. Then he nodded at Vincent, signaling his readiness. The foremost of the men behind them extinguished their lights, just before Trevor and the rest of the Shinra Commandos dropped the night-vision goggles down over their faces, completely obscuring any last trace of humanity.

         They advanced then, and Vincent noted with satisfaction that the Shinra commandos moved forward as silently as he did. His eyes magnified the darkness of the tunnel, the lights behind them giving him enough scattered illumination to see. His eyes were a pair of night-vision goggles, when he wished them to be.

         The soldiers ahead were in complete darkness, and that was an obvious cause for their nervousness. They surely believed that the lights of an invading party would warn them to ready themselves. That belief would cause their deaths.

         Barely a minute later they had reached the fork in the tunnel, where it widened, much larger, wide enough for five men to walk abreast. The increase was sudden, indicating the end of the tortuous entrance through which they had traveled thus far. Vincent turned and brought three fingers up, nodding to the men behind him, who crouched in readiness. He silently counted down.

         "Two, one, go!" He signaled go by clasping his fist, remembering Commando hand signals all too clearly from his training before joining the Turks, and then leapt into action, Trevor and another man right behind them. He had a half second to observe the first soldier standing in the darkness ahead, his rifle held wearily at his side. His expression was ready, however, as he had obviously heard the sound of the hundred soldiers advancing on his position. Only a deaf man wouldn't, as Vincent had thought earlier. Still, the sound had stopped far enough away that he didn't yet feel threatened.

         Vincent's claw finished him instantly, as the knifes of the rest of the Commandos took down the four men closest to him, two to his left and right. Then they leapt upon the rest of the small enemy group, numbering only ten more, and the enemy soldiers jumped as the sound of the short, strangled cries of their comrades suddenly came to their ears.

         As the last one fell to the ground, his sightless eyes wide with shock, his hand gently opened to reveal a small radio. He hadn't even had time to use it. He had surely reported that the enemy was advancing, but he hadn't had time to report that the enemy was here.

         Vincent motioned to two of the Commandos to return and bring the rest of the party, as he, Trevor and two others moved forward silently to scout ahead. The tunnel got steadily wider, and continued on for about two hundred feet, curving back and forth as the entrance tunnel had done. They stopped short of the light that became visible ahead, taking in the large knot of soldiers who were marching toward them from farther into the tunnel, far too many for the three of them to handle.

         Silently, they doubled back to reach the rest of the advancing army before being detected, the curves of the larger tunnel surely enough to hide their army from Messiah's for a few minutes longer.

         They reached the forefront of the Shinra army without incident, and Vincent quickly made his report. Captain Hawk organized his men into a spearhead, a large portion of whom had already moved into the wider terrain. Just as it had been outside, they began to advance.

         They heard battle cries from the darkness ahead, as the sound of hundreds of booted feet met the sound of a hundred in opposition, and the enemy knew for certain that they were coming. So much for catching them off guard, but what could be expected of such a large force? The first of their lights came into view around a gentle curve in the tunnel.

         "Now!" Vincent cried, dropping to one knee and bringing up his Sniper Rifle, which he had once again brought into play.

         "For Messiah!" the leader of the enemy men yelled, an altered Shinra captain. His men fired as they charged into view, and the Shinra force backing Vincent up replied in kind. This time, the enemy barrage was much more severe, and it took all of Red's magical energy to keep the Wall which protected his allies up. However, his magic held firm, and Messiah's soldiers died in waves. Noticing a satisfied smile on Captain Hawk's face, Vincent wondered momentarily if he had known Captain Masters.

         "Fall back!" an enemy soldier cried. The enemy was having trouble advancing because of the carpet of bodies from the men already taken by Shinra fire. It was a slaughter. Faced with such fearsome opposition, unable to even hit their opponents, even men controlled by Messiah were smart enough to realize that they were only throwing their lives away here. The enemy soldiers began to fall back in disarray, and that was what Captain Hawk had been waiting for.

         "Charge!" he roared.

         And so they did. Not flinching at leaving the protection of Red's wall, they bravely ran ahead, firing steadily and quickly taking the ground that the disorganized and frightened enemy was giving up. Vincent, Barret, and the rest of the party ran forward, as Red threw up personal Walls around anyone who came within reach.

         Although it was obvious that he was quickly exhausting his magical power, Vincent knew that the turbo ether clasped in his teeth would quickly renew it. Like titans among ants, the Shinra warriors and the party tore through Messiah's men like they were nothing.

         This is too easy,Vincent thought darkly. Can it be that she wants us to reach her?

         As if in response to his thought, a wall of lightning suddenly leapt from the darkness ahead, and there was a terrifying, animalistic scream as Azure tore her way through her own retreating soldiers in an effort to reach her enemy. Her power quickly destroyed the foremost of the Shinra invaders, ending the one-sidedness of the conflict. Barret, Vincent and Hawk, the closest to her, laid into her with their weapons, as other soldiers joined in as well. She shrugged off their fire as easily as if they were shooting blanks.

         Azure fought like the devil herself, her lightning burning the bullets flying toward her from the air and striking back at her tormenters. Barret cried out as a blast of lightning smashed into him, and even though his Wall blocked most of its effect, the force of it still knocked him off of his feet. Was Azure invulnerable? Surely not!

         Vincent analyzed her calmly, even as the rounds from his weapon burned away into her magic. Then Hawk, too, was blown off his feet, along with the soldier behind him, though both were among the Shinra soldiers who had been blessed with Red's magic.

         "Fire Three!" Yuffie cried, pushing her way to the foremost rank of soldiers and joining the battle, the rest of the party right with her. Magic to fight magic. Azure screamed in agony as an intense blast of fire washed over her, returning the strike with lightning of her own. Vincent rolled to the side to evade her strike, but a Shinra commando was not as quick. By freak chance, Red had not had time to give him a wall. He was blown apart instantly.

         Then spells from Tifa and Cid tore into Azure as well. Ice and Bio, as they had decided quickly that Bolt would do little to slow one of Azure's nature. Vincent leapt ahead as the spells cleared, his ears deafened by Azure's tortured shriek of pain. He saw her ahead, falling backward, her burned body frosted with ice, her mouth open in terrible agony.

         Her electrical field began to dissipate as she fell into unconsciousness, beaten at last. Vincent leapt toward her, claw readied, and neatly decapitated her as the last of her magical field disappeared. One down. One to go.

         More soldiers fell, on both sides, as Tifa dragged Barret to his feet, and others helped Hawk and their fellow soldiers. None of the Walled men had been injured too badly, and most were still in fighting shape. Though the bloody conflict raged on for almost five minutes more before they reached one last sharp curve in the rock, the battle was soon won by Shinra and the party. Messiah's soldiers, at least those who had been sent after them, had been destroyed to the last, falling quickly after Azure was taken down.

         Vincent judged that over two hundred and fifty had fallen already, plus about forty back at the entrance. A grisly death toll. However, he knew that they were doing Messiah's soldiers a favor by freeing them of her grip. At least, that's what surely allowed the more conscientious members of his group to participate in the slaughter. Vincent himself didn't care either way.

         As they turned the corner, they were suddenly confronted with a different kind of opposition. And Vincent knew that it was far stronger than anything that they had yet encountered.

         "What the hell is that?" Captain Hawk asked, ordering his victorious soldiers to a halt. They had lost but seventeen men, in comparison to the hundreds of enemies they had killed. More than acceptable.

         Captain Hawk's question regarded the large, blue field of magic which blocked the tunnel ahead, crackling intensely. Vincent advanced as close as he was felt was safe, and then reached down and removed the helmet from a dead enemy soldier. He tossed it at the field. The helmet flared and died as it came in contact with the bluish energy.

         "Wonderful," he commented.

         "How do we get past that?" Captain Hawk asked, his armor and face blackened by the impact of Azure's lightning. He seemed to have developed a rather healthy respect for the uses of magic in a combat situation. Tifa came to his side, having made it through the conflict with Messiah's army with barely a scratch.

         "I don't know," she said angrily. To have advanced so far, to be balked now--it was almost unfair.

         The rest of the party joined into their quick strategy session, and as the Shinra commandos and soldiers set up a defensive perimeter around them, they analyzed the obstruction ahead.

         "Magic," Yuffie said simply. "I've never seen something that powerful before. It'll burn us up if we even touch it."

         Red set the turbo ether clasped in his teeth on the ground, freeing himself to speak. "Messiah has obviously thrown this barrier up to prevent us from reaching her. That is reassuring, because it means she probably has not run away. Perhaps she has nowhere else to go. So, we need to figure out a way past this field."

         Barret, also looking a bit worse for wear, grimaced. "Think a Wall would do it?"

         Red pondered. "Maybe. Any other thoughts?"

         No one provided any. It appeared they were stuck with the Wall theory.

         "So who's gonna test it?" Tifa asked uncertainly. "Can a Wall hold something of that magnitude back?"

         "We will find out," Red said with a grimace, advancing toward the glow. "Wall," he growled, renewing his protection. The others, seeing no better alternative, did not stop him.

         "Be careful Red!" Tifa cried. For his part, Vincent hoped Red knew what he was walking into.

         There was a loud hissing sound, and a shimmer of angry magic as Red put a paw into the field. The magical wall around his paw seemed to collapse inward, held barely an inch from his skin. Then he leapt forward, disappearing into the energy with a loud crackle.

         They waited breathlessly for him to emerge, praying for his safety. A second later his head and torso came back into view, the energy balked by his magic, held safely away from his skin. After emerging from the field, exhausted, he walked calmly over to the turbo ether, cracking it open and sighing deeply as its power flowed into his body.

         "We can get through," Red said calmly. "But not all of us. Our success depends on how far the energy goes. I walked in ten feet before I turned around, and barely made it out before I exhausted the last of my magic. The energy requires constant magical force to hold off. I believe, at full strength, I now have enough power to keep myself and two others safe for a distance of fifty feet. That is, both ways, as we would have to double back if it extends farther than fifty feet to avoid being killed. With three, the distance would shrink to twenty-five. Four, and we would have less than thirteen, and I know from how far I went in that five is not an option.

         "Damn!", Barret cursed. "So we got this whole army lined up, and only a few of us can get past this! That ain't right."

         "How many men do you believe Messiah has left, Tifa?" Red asked, turning to her.

         Tifa looked around, glancing sadly at the corpses that surrounded them. "Not many more than this," she said. "We must have killed nearly all of the men that I saw in the coliseum. I think Messiah is too vain to let any of her men out of their nightly worship ceremony. So, chances are the only people remaining between us and her are Flaym,
and . . . ," she paused, grimacing. "Cloud."

         "So, who goes in?" Hawk asked uncertainly. "Can't you destroy this field somehow?"

         "There is no other way," Red insisted calmly. "Messiah has balked us through magic, because physical force has failed. But I do not intend to let her escape. I am going in. Who will come with me?"

         "I'm going," Tifa said vengefully. "I owe her big time."

         "What about the rest of you?" Red asked.

         "I know we'd all like a piece of her sorry hide," Cid said. "So I say we draw straws. Whoever gets the shortest two straws goes in with Tifa and Red to kick Messiah's ass."

         "You're going to take her on alone?" Hawk asked in disbelief.

         "After Sephiroth?" Tifa returned. "Easily. You've been a great help, Captain Hawk. But from here on in, I think its going to be up to us."

         "Well, you saved the world once already," Captain Hawk said with a shrug. "Guess you might as well go for two."

         Without further discussion, they set up the drawing. Cid produced the required items from a pocket in his flight jacket, which he kept for just such an occasion as this, and Tifa held the four straws in her fist, as the remaining members of the party drew one apiece.

         "Well," Vincent said, evaluating the considerable length of his straw calmly.

         "Looks like I'm out too," Barret said with a shrug, dropping his to the ground in disgust. Then he grinned. "Well, I'm still achin' from that lightnin' strike, anyways. Guess you luck out this time, Cid. You and Yuffie go get 'er."

         "Captain Hawk, stay here until we return," Tifa ordered. "And the rest of you, wish us luck."

         "Good luck," Vincent said calmly, a bit disappointed to be left behind.

         "Kick 'er ass," Barret added.

         "Good luck," Hawk agreed. "You'll need it."

         "All right," Red said. "Four of us are going in. I will tell you if I want us to start doubling back. Depends on how thick this thing is. If it is more than twenty- five, I will take another turbo ether and we will go in again with fewer people.

         "Are you sure you're up to that, Red?" Tifa asked cautiously. "It's not healthy to expend this much magic, even with the ethers. You could burn yourself out."

         "Then I will give you the Barrier Materia for next time," Red replied. "If there is a next time."

         "Let's do it," Cid said.

         "Here we go," Red said through gritted teeth, as he brought his protection up around himself and his three charges. Suitably armored, they advanced into the field. With a crackle of protesting hostile magic, they were gone.

         Vincent waited, calmly. He hoped they would make it. A minute later, he was disappointed. Tifa, Cid, Yuffie and Red emerged from the field, dejected looks on their faces.

         Red was breathing heavily, exhausted. Silently, Tifa crouched at his side, removing the Barrier Materia from his headdress and giving him a concerned, nervous grin as she attached it to her glove. He did not smile back, but instead slowly sunk to the ground, exhausted.

         "That's it for me," he managed. Vincent raised an eyebrow. Red, using a contraction? It was a wonder they had made it out at all. "I guess I'll have to sit the rest of this out."

         "Then we're down to three," Tifa said with false bravado. "Well, that's the way we've usually done it before. So much for having Messiah outnumbered. At least it'll be an even fight."

         "We don't got no other choice," Cid said with a shake of his head. "Looks like that bitch don't want us gangin' up on her."

         "Well, the field can't go on much longer," Tifa said, glancing around at her friends defiantly.

         Vincent watched the exchange in detachment. He was already out of this fight. How many more, he thought, would join him?

         "Let's try it again," Cid said. "Tifa, you ready?"

         "Ready," Tifa replied confidently. She walked over and calmly withdrew their two remaining turbo ethers from the pack that Barret had carried in, affixing each to her belt. "No turning back, this time," she said grimly.

         "Two?" Cid asked in dismay. "What did you just say to Red?"

         "I can handle it," Tifa said, her eyes flashing. "Messiah won't escape. She's ours. I won't accept failure."

         "Chickenshit!" Yuffie stomped her foot on the ground, clearly annoyed. "Messiah is such a chickenshit!"

         Vincent evaluated her calmly. Even a very skilled magician would be hard pressed to attempt what Tifa was about to do. Even with the ethers, burning so much magic without any rest could seriously damage her body. Perhaps even kill her.

         "I've endured worse," she said softly.

         That settled it. No further conversation was necessary. Cid nodded, as did Yuffie. Barret laid a hand on her shoulder, his face grim.

         "I know you can do it, girl."

         She smiled at him and nodded. Then, she advanced to the field, glancing at the others. Together, the three of them disappeared into the crackling blue magic. Vincent waited. Five minutes passed. So he sat down, crossing his legs and staring at the field contemplatively.

         "They ain't comin' back," Barret commented. "So they made it through. They had too."

         "Perhaps," Vincent replied.

         Continue to Chapter 10

         Return to Chapter 8