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Post by mistervillainman on Jan 31, 2007 6:10:42 GMT
Sephiroth stepped on Cloud as he went by and climbed into the back of the truck, slowly of course. The moment he was aboard, Tseng stomped on the gas pedal and the truck took off down the street, away from the wreckage that lay behind...
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Jan 31, 2007 7:33:09 GMT
Jared heard a metallic clank as the truck ran over Cloud's sword... he smirked evilly. Let's see you get in the way this time, Strife.
As soon as they were a healthy distance from the bar, Jared sighed relief... and then turned around in irritation to glance at his uncle. "Took your d**n time..." he muttered under his breath.
He shook himself. I've got to be careful... if he finds out what I brought back from the Lifestream...
He yanked open the back cab window. "Where to now? Which way?" Jared yelled over the air whizzing by the speeding truck. "We're going back to plan A... We've got to find that ship."
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Feb 6, 2007 21:13:12 GMT
Tifa groaned, facedown in the dirt. Why, that rotten little...! I just saved his life, and this is the thanks I get?! If I had known Tseng and that brat were helping Sephiroth... SEPHIROTH of all people... What would Tseng be doing working with HIM? He hates that... that demon almost as much as Cloud does.
She turned to the car speeding off into the distance and almost began hurling curses at it... until she saw Cloud lying unconscious on the pavement. "Cloud-- !"
She rushed to him and knelt next to him, unsure if she should move him. "Cloud, wake up!"
The kids emerged from their hiding place... inside some crates behind a bakery a few buildings down the block. Marlene ran to him and looked at him intently, fear written across her face. "Will he be OK?"
Tifa was near panic. "I don't know, sweetie..."
Denzel was right behind her. He approached Tifa and put a hand on her shoulder... "It's OK, Tifa. He'll be fine. He's Cloud, right?" But inside, he felt as terrified as she probably did. Come on, Cloud... you JUST got back...
He groaned and stirred. "Oh, thank G**..." Tifa breathed.
He opened his eyes painfully, the light glaring into them. "Tifa... what..." He tried to pull his dizzy brain back into some semblance of order... He could not make himself remember what the h**k had just happened...
"You got hit," she replied tersely. "I'm calling the hospital."
"Don't," he groaned, moving his limbs slightly to be sure they were still connected to his brain. "I'll be OK."
"Cloud, maybe you didn't hear me. You were HIT by a TRUCK," Tifa repeated insistently.
He fixed her with a look. "I hate hospitals."
It finally occurred to Tifa, what he was getting at... that would be the first place anyone who wanted to catch him while he was vulnerable would look. At least at the 7H, she would be allowed to stay with and protect him.
"All right... no hospital. But we have to get you inside," she agreed.
He slowly sat up, aching everywhere, fairly sure that he had broken at least one rib. "Welcome back to town," he groaned. "Run over before breakfast... The best part of waking up."
Tifa couldn't help giggling... HE is trying to make ME feel better. And I'm the one who HASN'T been run over or skewered yet today. She put an arm around him and helped him stand. "I think we can safely say you're going to be out of commission for a little while."
Cloud wanted to protest, but he knew just how VERY right she was. He nodded mutely, concentrating on moving forward.
Denzel looked back... there on the ground lay the Buster, with a muddy tire track across it. He looked at Tifa, moving Cloud back to the tavern, and then back to the sword.
He knew better than to try picking up something that huge. But maybe if he dragged it... he couldn't just leave it out here.
He grabbed the handle and started to pull, making a horrible grating noise... he gritted his teeth against the agonizing sound and kept pulling...
The grating stopped. He looked back... Marlene had lifted the sword a few inches off the ground and was carrying the opposite end, even though Denzel had the bulk of its weight.
"I couldn't stand anymore," she explained petulantly.
He grinned at her, almost sheepishly.
Together, they carried it back inside, and left it on the weapon check table.
((Ouch, those creeps left a BIG hole in the wall... even after Cloud heals, the repair work on that alone will take weeks... I think they're gonna be out of play for a bit.))
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Post by mistervillainman on Feb 17, 2007 9:05:31 GMT
Sephiroth refused to give an answer to his "nephew" until he decided it was time to. The abombination sat down in the back of the truck, his enourmous blade leaning against the side next to him.
"Take us somewhere to spend the night... The ship can come later." He said with finality.
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Feb 17, 2007 9:22:21 GMT
Jared turned back towards his "uncle" slowly, unsure if he had just heard correctly. "Isn't it KINDA early to be thinking about where to sleep?" Jared queried, his patience starting to get extremely thin. "It's not even late enough for lunch break yet."
He tried to remind himself to calm down. Just remember. This is not you. Your mind is being placed under several variations of stress right now. Concentrate on keeping your identity intact.
He glanced at Tseng. Come on, back me up here. We got to keep moving... or else they'll figure out what we're up to and get to the ship first.
The baby gurgled grumpily. She just wanted this mess to be over with so she could get a decent nap.
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Post by mistervillainman on Feb 18, 2007 7:21:48 GMT
Tseng glanced from the road to Sephiroth in the back.
"I dont think so pal, I think you need to just tell us where this damn ship is so we can get him cured!"
Sephiroth's gaze shifted to Tseng and his grip tightened on his sword a bit.
"I dont recall asking your opinion on it, Turk..."
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Feb 18, 2007 7:34:24 GMT
Jared made a conscious effort to rein in the surge of irritation that rose in response to this development. Quiet down in there! What do you expect ME to do about it?
The irritation receded... reluctantly...
"Easy, everybody," Jared insisted, resuming his normal intermediary role. "If we need to stop and regroup for a minute, establish some kind of base, fine, that makes sense. But at least give us a general direction... so we know where to look for a place."
He contacted Tseng. Careful, Tseng... he just came off a rather messy battle... which he did not win. That always makes him a little bit "eee".
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Post by mistervillainman on Feb 18, 2007 7:39:24 GMT
"Just head north, stop at the next place you see." Sephiroth said, not taking his eyes off Tseng OR removing his hand from the sword.
Tseng clenched his jaw, forcing himself to stay quiet as he drove. He didnt want to put up with following his orders much longer...
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Feb 18, 2007 7:58:14 GMT
The truck made its way through the city, trying to maintain a mainly northern direction, but the roads had been altered or shunted off, to define the borders between Old Midgar and Edge...
They came to the edge of the ruins once again, confronted yet another Do Not Enter sign, and started to turn away, but Jared was getting tired of dead ends. He grunted with irritation and shoved down the gas pedal telekinetically, making the car lurch forward through the sign, towards the ruins at the center.
"Whatever might be in there waiting is nowhere near as dangerous as whatever would be out THERE waiting," Jared explained pre-emptorily. "We'll set up base here."
I know this place... Things have changed from the way my father remembered it, but there should be at least a FEW liveable areas...
The abandoned headquarters were dusty and crumbling, but better than nothing... better than the slums they had stayed in the night before. Jared got out of the truck as Tseng cut the engine and fired a few bolts at the main lobby doors, forcing them open. He headed inside. "OK, here we are," he announced lamely. "Base-- check." He turned back to Sephiroth. "So, what have you got to say that's so important we couldn't talk about it in the truck?"
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Post by mistervillainman on Mar 13, 2007 6:49:21 GMT
Sephiroth looked over the ruined remains of the former base and smirked at the thought of ALL the Shinra-controlled bases looking like this one... No, much worse would be better.
"Well its a matter of the hormone supressent, Fruxas..." He said, mocking the former name he'd abandoned. "Your going to give me the supressent BEFORE we go to the ship, either that, or there will BE no going to the ship at all I'm afraid. And then you wont have to worry about how long any of us live, because I can garuntee, none of you will live longer than me."
Tseng's blood boiled. "I've had just about enough of you, and I think its getting to the point that finding the ship would be easier than dealing with YOUR crap, Sephiroth." He said, gripping the handle of his gun a bit tighter.
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Mar 13, 2007 7:09:40 GMT
"Tseng, hold on," Jared said quietly. "No need to get huffy just yet."
Jared turned to his "uncle", tightening his grip on the baby. "There are two problems with that suggestion. The first is, it's not as easy as just handing over the suppressant, uncle. I have it hidden in a very complicated place... a place where it cannot be simply found. And even if you somehow learned its location... there is no way you could possibly access it without my help. The second problem is, you seem to think you are indispensible. You're very wrong on that account."
He turned to Tseng for a moment. Do you remember what I told you in the truck, on the way here? "You're not the only survivor left on this planet, Sephiroth," he announced calmly, facing his alpha again. "I'd just hoped to avoid waking the other one as long as possible... because I thought my sister wasn't ready." He glanced down at her. "But she's proven to me that she is, for anything."
He looked up and fixed the elder Seraph with a glare. "I know the reason you fought and died... we're more alike than you want to think." He tensed, prepared for fight or flight at the first sign of suspicious activity. "You of all people should be the last to believe death seperates mothers and children."
I'm not afraid to take a risk for her anymore. For my mother... I would do anything.
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Post by mistervillainman on May 8, 2007 4:19:00 GMT
Sephiroth grinned at the young being before him and approached, crouching to look at him face to face.
"Yes, I see we are quite alike. However, I already told you... I dont believe myself to be indispensable, I know letting me die is not a big loss to you... but if I dont recieve what I've asked for, your deaths mean less to me than nothing and you KNOW I'm serious." He said, stroking the baby's hair menacingly.
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on May 8, 2007 4:32:22 GMT
Jared reacted like a cornered animal, jerking the child away from him. "Have you not been listening?" Jared snapped. "I can't just GIVE it to you, just like that. It takes time to recover it."
He got a syringe from his sleeve. "Almost the entire time you have between doses." The syringe was quarter-filled with the anti-hormone. "This is a dose that would only last a little over an hour. It's taken me the entire time since we woke you up to recover this much, though I could do it faster if I concentrated. In the form I have my cache right right now it is totally inviable-- integrated with a crude hybrid protein." He knew that if Sephiroth could decode all that jargon, he would know where the suppressant was hidden...
He glanced at Tseng and sent a message to him. If anything happens to me, get out of here with the baby. Take her to my mother's remains in Nibelheim. The portal to the Netherspace will open. Do what I would have done... Use it to resurrect my mother.
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Post by mistervillainman on May 8, 2007 4:44:22 GMT
Sephiroth's eyes brightened a bit.
"You dont say..." He said, suddenly snatching the baby from him and drawing his sword, putting it to Jared's throat. "Now then... Kindly give me a sample of blood sufficient to keep me alive for 42 hours... Or I'll take as much as I need right now."
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Post by Amnesty Lazuli on May 8, 2007 4:56:02 GMT
Jared physically restrained himself from panicking. He shot another missive off to his guardian. D**n it, Tseng, do something...
He concentrated on the blade, and it started warping under his intense gaze, moving away from his neck. "Sephiroth... be reasonable. I'm only five years old," he said evenly. "It would take more than half the blood in my body." This was not QUITE true... but considering how little suppressant he'd be able to seperate from the blood on his own, it amounted to the same thing. He made a statement to that effect. "And after you got it, there is no guarantee you'd be able to seperate it from the proteins properly, your noteworthy skills notwithstanding. On the other hand, you'll have a steady, generous supply as long as our partnership continues if you only give me fifteen minutes to fill the syringe every so often. What's so abhorrent about helping us that would force you to turn down such favorable conditions?" When I raise my mother, she's going to kick your a**.
The baby writhed angrily in Sephiroth's grasp. That was all the warning she intended to give... if he did not put her down in short order she would be forced to defend herself...
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