01 - Close to Home

[The Waffle King]

Valtiel still lay on the barren roof in the slums of Midgar. His seemingly lifeless body splayed out and covered with debris. But it was not lifeless, a twitch darted through his limbs. He began to haul himself up into a sitting position, his joints creaking and snapping like a mummified corpse revived. He gathered himself for a moment.

Valtiel: "Well, it's about time I got to work."

He stood, legs popping once more, and hopped off the roof without hesitation.

Soon after, halfway across the world, something began to stir. In a secluded alleyway somewhere in the Super City, a strong and foreboding essence began to spread across the city like an invisible haze, the point of origin at it's concentrated center. It reached across the expansive metropolis with a message to all who would listen, or could listen. Beckoning the select few individuals who had that ability.

[Shadow Phoenix]

A little under two weeks had passed since the climactic battle between Sephiroth X and Dark Crono, and since Bax had realized that the Senate and the Order were still active thousands of miles away from their natural home in Zion. He thought he would be fine here. It seemed like it would be a vacation of sorts, at the start. But of course, trouble seemed to follow Bax wherever he went, and this time he ran headlong into it.

He, Jack, and Zack had been lying low since the battle, especially since they found out quickly that the Senate was hunting them down. Bax had been forced to bloody his hands again, though it had been necessary to make sure they were not further found out. Still, he hated having to kill others if he felt there was another way.

Bax knew that he couldn’t just go out without hiding his appearance, but he couldn’t stand just being locked up inside. If Zack or Jack just hid their faces a little and were out in areas of slightly lower population, they could travel freely. But Bax had to go out with a cloak and be all mysterious and secretive—people in cloaks tend to stick out. He would have to deal with that, though. And he had—several times, in fact. He never went out for very long, and he usually went out at night, but he had gone out enough that he hadn’t gotten claustrophobic.

Bax still couldn’t believe the events that he had witnessed nearly 2 weeks ago. That battle—two of the greatest powers on this planet clashed and it was an incredible and frightening display. Now Sephiroth X had the Element of Prosperity and he was more powerful than ever. Now Bax just hoped that Sephiroth X would continue to help him as he dealt with the Holy Order of the Magi.

Bax sat on the roof of the building of the night which they had holed up in, gazing over the bright lights of the city. His black cloak blew in the wind that tore through the upper tiers of the city, covering half his face and masking his Phoeniyan features from any potentially curious citizens with telescopes or binoculars that might see him and wonder too much. The city still operated at a low din at this time of night. Cars still honked in the light traffic. Someone in the residential building across the street was playing music which was obviously keeping his or her neighbors up (as all their lights were on and Bax could hear some yelling). Overall, however, the city was quiet. Almost peaceful.

Except for this feeling.

For a few days now, Bax had felt this creeping, disgusting feeling resonating throughout his entire body. It chilled him to the bone, but beckoned to him. Bax couldn’t explain the feeling…but he knew that Zack and Jack had sensed it, too. He could just tell by the expressions on their faces. Soon, they would all likely give in and try to figure out what the cause of this horrible feeling was. But Bax wanted to believe for at least one night more that everything here was peaceful.

Bax sighed and looked up at the moon high in the sky. He still just wanted to get home…he missed his family more than he could say…but with every day, it seemed less likely that he would ever see his home again. Should he just try to make a home here?

Bax tensed up and braced himself, leaning forward and taking a swan dive off the roof of the building. He was suspended in the air above the street for a moment before plummeting down face first. He closed his eyes as he soared through the air and extended his arms behind him. Just to feel the wind on his face, for just a moment…this was enough.

Suddenly, Bax pitched forward and flipped through the air, once, then twice. Bax landed and crouched down. His cloak fluttered up and then fell back down to cover him.

Tomorrow…Bax would seek for Jack and Zack to help him discover what this feeling was…tomorrow.

Tonight could be the last night of relative peace he would have for a while.

[Shadow Phoenix]

((A late night combined post by the ZC and the SP. Woot!))

Zack woke up cautiously as usual, twitching each limb one at a time to make sure no venomous animals had curled up with him during the night. He would probably never shake what had become an essential life-long habit. Once he realized he was in a safe bed, however, he sat up and stretched, yawning quietly. He then looked around the room, and noticed Bax gazing out the window. He looked on for a moment, then tried to get out of bed smoothly. He was a bit tangled with the blankets and sheets, however; the hotel used multiple layers of covering on the beds. So Zack ended up wrestling with the textiles for nearly twenty seconds, murmuring frustrated little huffs, until he finally got his bare feet to the carpet. He did not pay attention to the fact that the thinnest sheet was still tucked under his elbow and dragged across the floor as he approached Bax, his expression still sleepy but smiling. "Good morning."

"Siku," Bax responded, turning from the window briefly to look at Zack. He smiled at his friend, but it was a small of pain and loneliness. "It means 'hey.' In Phoeniyan."
Bax turned back to the window and leaned his head on the glass. "Sometimes I forget that I'm just a visitor here. I have been here for so long that I sometimes catch myself thinking I would like to get back home and picturing a gym or something in Midgar. I have not spoken in my own language except to Keldira or Necrostiana in months...I am the only one of my kind here...I am an alien...it is lonely..."

Zack frowned the moment he saw the sadness in Bax's eyes. His words further drove home the reality that Bax was living. Zack had figured Bax was experiencing such loneliness once in a while, but hearing it from him really drove it home. He lowered his head a bit, and the sheet fell from below his elbow onto the floor. "Yeah..." he said quietly, "It must be really hard. I've been doing my best to get enough money to get you home. But from all the folks I've been asking, there's a long way to go. And so much keeps happening..."
"I know you have been trying, Zack, and I appreciate it...in spite of all of the crap that we have been made to deal with, you have always been here for me...you are a good friend..."
Zack looked up a bit, giving a slight smile. "Thanks, Bax. It's because you're such a good friend to me. But I know, it's not the same for you. So much is probably so different, and there are probably so many back there who miss you and wonder where you are... I wish we could tell them you're alright and going back."
"If I could tell them that was all right, then they would be here in a matter of days...I could bring an army here and we could crush Valtiel..." Bax smirked and looked back at Zack again, "Although I doubt I could get a full army here. I may be king, but I do not hold even that much sway. Even I cannot rise above a decree to keep Earth safe from outside intervention."

"Ahhh..." Zack wasn't sure what to say to that, since he knew nothing about decrees and other such fancy large-scale military thingies. He slowly scratched the back of his head a few times, his fingers grazing over some of the scar tissue which covered a large portion of his scalp under the shorter area of his hair. He gazed distantly out the window as well. His eyes looked a bit more world-worn than usual. "I think I understand how you feel in a way... Not quite the same but similar..."
Bax turned from the window and looked right at his friend with a perplexed gaze. "Zack...I have been thinking. You are the best friend that I have here. But I do not think that I know very much about you. I know that you were a drifter in the desert, and that you are very strong and very kind. Why do I know nothing of your past? It seems strange to me..."
The teen's breath caught in his throat, and Bax could see it jumping with a sped-up, intensified pulse. Zack's eyes, still distant and aimed out the window, began moving back and forth, almost as if he were speed-reading a news article about a disaster. He swallowed, then opened his mouth a few times silently. Slowly, his arms closed together, gripping his elbows in his opposite hands, and his head lowered.
"Yeah... I... I don't think about it much."

Bax could tell right away that he had pricked a sensitive point. "I am sorry, I did not mean to cause you any pain. I try not to think about my past too much either, but...I am sorry..."
Zack's gaze quickly sprang toward Bax, and he was grinning, his eyes wide and bright, his posture quickly jerking back into a relaxed mode. "It's alright," he chirped, "A whole lot's gone on, but right now we're okay! I mean, the world was saved in like the ultimate battle here, and we've got this nice pad to rest up in, so everything's fine." He used his foot to kick part of the bed sheet into the air, and he caught it deftly, putting it on like a makeshift cape. "We'll get everything under control!" He saluted sharply.
Bax nodded, smiled at Zack, and confirmed, "Right."

Suddenly, Bax felt something like a punch in the gut and his face went pale. His eyes widened and he looked at Zack. "No...it is the same as last night, but now it is stronger. Do you feel that?"
The blonde cocked his head, then frowned a bit, his eyes quickly narrowing and darkening. "Yes... I thought I felt something ominous for a while now, but thought it was nothing... I guess this confirms something is up."
Bax walked over to the nearest bed and leaned on it, feeling almost sick. "Ancients, what is this? I can barely stand this feeling!"
He closed his eyes and shook, "It feels sickeningly familiar...I haven't felt like this for weeks..."
Zack's hands closed into fists, and his teeth clenched. "It does feel that way... But what could it be? Why here, of all places?"
"I thought we might have peace for a time here before heading back to Midgar."
Bax stood up and walked to Zack, placing his hands on his shoulders. "Zack, I need to find out what this is. Do you want to come with me or will you stay here with Jack?"

Zack's eyes lightened again and his mouth opened slightly as he tried to think of an answer. After all that had happened, he did not want Bax to go off again by himself; images of his ghastly wounds from just before they left Midgar flashed through his mind. However, he knew the Senate was looking for them all, and leaving Jack alone would put him at high risk. Jack was tough and could handle himself well, but he also knew the Senate could not be underestimated. If they were to all three travel, they would be even more likely to draw the attention of their known enemies, as well as having a harder time keeping the potential conflict away from the innocent public.

Reluctantly, Zack answered with lowered eyes, unable to meet Bax's gaze as he said, "I'd better stay with Jack in case the Zion forces return. Since we could both track you down this time, if there's anything suspicious at all, we'll be there as quick as we can."
Bax nodded, understanding Zack's decision completely. "I promise that I will be careful. I will avoid conflict and return as soon as possible. I just want to find out what this is Zack...before someone else finds out."
Bax began to head towards the door, but turned back. "I promise, Zack--I will be back to tell you my own story, and so that we can continue this new story of ours."
Zack looked at Bax, taking in his words, then slowly smiled. Bax had said many wonderful things before, and this was another. "We really would make a good book," he admitted. His smile then grew determined, displaying his faith in his friend. "Take care. We'll see you soon."
Bax nodded and walked out of the room. Now he had another promise to keep...

[Shadow Phoenix]

Bax descended down the stairs of the hotel and ran past the front desk. The desk manager called out to him to have a nice day, but Bax barely heard him. He had broken into as full a gait as he possibly could without extending into his powers, and nearly tore the door off its hinges as he burst through, out into the street. The sprawling metropolis stretched out before him, already busy even though it was early in the morning. A car streaked past in the street and Bax dodged on after it, skirting into an alleyway on the other side. Even though he had been in this city two weeks, he still had no idea exactly how to get around. All that he had was this feeling—sickness, horrible dread calling to him. And so he had to follow it.

Bax hopped up onto a dumpster and leapt over a sleeping bum to grasp a ladder. He quickly scaled the ladder and jumped up onto the rail patio. He practically flew back up another ladder and found himself on the roof. He looked around for a moment and felt the pull coming from the southeast. He turned and took off towards the edge of the roof. When he reached the edge, he sprang off and soared through the air. When he landed on the next building, he crouched for a brief moment and then continued to build his momentum in a run. He was soon running as fast as he could, leaping from building to building and scaling the cool brick and metal walls as he encountered them. He skirted past the windows of sleeping citizens and brushed by the apartments of people who had to take a second look as he passed to make sure they hadn’t been hallucinating. He was a blur of black and a little red, shooting from rooftop to rooftop as the sun kissed the rooftops of the Super City.

All the while, Bax wore a stern look of determination on his face. His brow was fixed and his gaze set straight forward. Now and then, he would look side to side for a brief moment to keep himself out of danger. He dove over high hanging clothes lines and ducked under billboards that blocked his path. He had been moving practically nonstop for about 20 minutes and the city was finally beginning to move. More cars were on the road and noise was beginning to creep up.

All of a sudden, the intense feeling of sickness made Bax double over and he clutched his stomach. He fought to keep from passing out, but could not manage to maintain his composure enough to keep his momentum up. He soared off the edge of this building and slammed into a brick wall on the other side. He grunted and tried to right himself so that the fall to the ground wouldn’t hurt as much. Even so, when he hit the ground it knocked the wind out of him. Bax gasped for breath and tried his best to scramble to his feet so as to avoid drawing any more unneeded attention to himself.

With a harried, blurry glance around, though, Bax noticed that there wasn’t a single person around this area. Down either end of the street, everyone was trying to take as wide a berth around this area as possible. What was more, the areas on either side were marked with yellow caution tape and blockaded with barrels and police cars. And with a glance straight forward, Bax knew why.

As Bax was able to breathe once again, the dark diseased sickness before him crushed him. This was the source, before him. In the alley a few feet away, Bax saw an indescribable scene. It was dark, but Bax could make out the unmistakable handiwork of the demon vessel, Valtiel. The alley was covered with grotesque, diseased, writhing flesh. Blood crept out of the alleyway and seeped down into the sewers below the city. Everything before Bax was moving in seeming slow motion, sickeningly lurching in agony. Bax couldn’t tell if there were any bodies inside, but he didn’t want to venture in any further at this point to find out why.

Bax’s eyes bulged and he felt his stomach churning. He pitched back down on the ground and let loose—he just couldn’t keep it down anymore. The smell was beyond foul, mixing the bowels of hell with the horrid stench of death and decay. The sight alone was enough to make him gag.

Bax shook and raised himself onto his knees with his hands. He looked forward and saw what looked almost like a portal—a wormhole—looming in the back of the alley, past all the writhing flesh. This was what was calling to him, clouded and diseased by all this filth around it. Where did it lead?

Bax’s gut wrenched again and he staggered up, stumbling back over to the other side of the street. He didn’t want to know. What the hell was this?! As far as Bax knew, Valtiel was still in Midgar! He didn’t feel Valtiel here, but his power was definitely reaching here. Had he grown that powerful? If his powers could reach halfway across the world, then Bax was no match for him!

Bax turned around and covered most of his face, leaving only his eyes exposed. He took a couple of steps back towards the alleyway.

“Ah, it’s you. It took you long enough, Child.”

Bax shuddered, feeling suddenly cold. He closed his eyes and moved his hands to his head.
“No, not you again…I ran away from you!”
“You must know that you can never really get away from me. Our destinies are connected, Firago. It’s not my fault.”
“I don’t do fate. What are you doing to this place?”
“Why don’t you come closer and find out?”

Bax didn’t want to deal with Valtiel or Necrostiana right now, and yet he felt compelled to obey and enter the alleyway. What was this?
“No…I won’t play by your rules today, Necrostiana.”
Silence. Bax removed his hands from his head and opened his eyes. He could hardly believe it…some of the blood was actually flowing backwards into the alley. It was coming out of the sewer, rising against all laws of gravity and filtering back into the hole of dread filth! Bax couldn’t help but shudder…

Still, he hadn’t won…not by a long shot. He knew that this was only temporary. He had to get back and tell Jack and Zack. Their peaceful stay in the Super City had come to an end. Either Valtiel was planning to invade the Super City through that strange wormhole portal, or he was going to do something else drastic. Either way, Bax had to make his way back to the hotel.

Bax walked down the street to the right and hopped over the police barrier. Immediately, an officer accosted him.
“Whoa, what were you doing back there? That’s not an area for civilians, sir. Don’t you see all of this security? Something very bad has happened back there, and we want to--”
Bax didn’t have time to deal with this. “Do I look like a civilian to you?” he snapped. “Never mind why I was back there. I am looking for the Twin Dunes Hotel. Can you give me directions?”
The officer shook his head, “Sorry, I can’t do that, I’m going to need to take you in for questioning. You’re officially a suspect in the events from back there.”
Bax raised his brow. The officer had to be kidding. “I am not going anywhere but back to my friends. I need to go now. Please, officer.” He started walking towards him with his hands held up in a gesture of good will.
The officer reached to his hip for a gun, “I will use force if I have to, sir. Stop coming closer to me!”
Damn it, this was not working! Bax didn’t want to have to hurt anyone here. He stopped where he was. “I do not want to hurt you, officer. Please just let me go.”

The officer didn’t respond. Actually, he stopped moving completely. Suddenly, his neck split open and blood began gushing from the wound. A moment later, at least a dozen other similar wounds all over the man’s body began spurting blood. Bax took a bewildered step back and watched helplessly as the man fell to the ground and bled to death. A small dagger was lodged into the back of his head. Instinctively, Bax drew one of his swords and held it up to defend himself in case someone tried something similar on him.

Within moments, everyone else on the other side of the police barrier stopped what they were doing and noticed Bax.
“Oh my God, look at him! He just killed a police officer!”
“Run, he’s got a weapon! He’ll kill us all!”
The entire street burst into chaos. Civilians passing by all broke into runs and got away from the area as quickly as possible. Some members of the media ran while snapping shots and trying to get footage of what promised to be a bloody ordeal, while others abandoned their equipment and just ran. Still others dodged up to higher vantage points and tried to capture footage in secrecy. All of the police in the area drew their guns and trained them on Bax.
“Drop your weapon and lay down on the ground!”

Bax cursed and looked behind him. Officers from the other side of the alley had been alerted and were starting to close in on him from the other side. He would soon be trapped. Not again…

Bax shook his head and crouched down to the ground. He bowed his head and tried to look submissive. Then, without warning, he leapt straight into the air and grabbed the wall on the building next to him. A hail of bullets assailed him instantly as he ascended up the wall at a remarkable speed, hand over hand and foot over foot, barely even stopping to find proper holds to climb. He leapt onto the roof and began racing back towards the hotel as best as he could remember, ripping along the rooftops.

It didn’t take long before Bax saw a small fleet of helicopters closing in on him from all corners of the city. As he glanced around, he saw at least a dozen cameras zooming in on him. He cursed.

“Try to keep a low profile, Bax. Great.”

* * *

Then, on TVs all across the Super City

On almost every channel across the board, a new bulletin flashed up. “And now we bring you this special new bulletin. We are in the middle of one of the most bizarre police chases that we have ever witnessed.”

A man clothed in black leapt across a wide road from one building to the other and kept on running, unhindered by the massive impact from leaping such a distance. His hair was a flaming red that seemed to be billowing uncontrollably in the air. He crossed one roof and leapt off it onto the next in a matter of moments.

“As you can see, there is a man in black running along the rooftops of the city. This man, seen better in pictures here,”

A picture of Bax, copyright of Midgar News Chanel 8, flashed up on the screen, depicting him with an angry snarl and with both of his swords drawn.

“Has just slain a police officer on the corner of 178th and Gaina Street without provocation and is now fleeing from authorities. The police are currently chasing him on the street, hoping he will come down at some point. We have also received word that the police choppers are being mobilized and will rendezvous with the suspect shortly. It is believed that this man may have been involved in the strange scene that was discovered early this morning on 178th and Gaina. We have also just received word from our personal team in Midgar that this man, whose name is unknown, is a terrorist who has been sighted several times in Midgar, and even over in Zion. He has exhibited seemingly supernatural powers and is armed and highly dangerous. We recommend that all citizens stay inside for the duration of this chase. We will continue to provide you with up to the minute coverage as we get it. We’ll be right back after these short messages from our sponsors.”

As the screen faded out, a heavily armored helicopter pulled into view while the anchor remarked, “Oh, look, it’s the police. About time!”

[SqiKy kLeen]

The hotels television had captured Zacks attention. He had kept feeling pangs of curiosity over the contraption, having only caught glimpses of news stations once in a while throughout town. He knew what they were and what they were for, due to having read about them in old magazines at a house he had temporarily stayed in long ago. The concept had both scared and excited him; he wondered if it could hypnotize the viewer into confusing its images with reality. Just how bizarre could the images get? Was there any limit at all? Could he handle it?

These qualms were what had kept him from pouncing on the thing the first time had access to one. Life itself could be overwhelming. Could he handle a whole new level of perception?

Zack swallowed hard, and picked up the remote from the side table by one of the beds. He held it out to Jack. “How does this thing work?”

Jack smiled slightly. This would be interesting, seeing Claude’s first reaction to television. It was something nearly everyone, including him, took for granted, but was brand new territory for his friend. “Ok, this is the Power button, that turns it on and off. These are the Channel buttons, you press up or down to go to different channels. Those are basically different sets of shows. Each channel has their own sets of shows at different times. So if you flip through at one time of day, then another time, they’ll be different. This is Volume, it controls how loud or quiet the tv is. That’s pretty much all you need.”

Zack nodded, gazing over the buttons to memorize them. Then, he aimed it at the tv and hit the Power button.

-“Pick up the phone and call this toll-free number, right now!”

“Aaaah! Oh no! Where’s the phone? How do I dial??” Zack started to scramble off of the bed.

“Hey, hold it,” Jack protested with a chuckle, raising his hands, “You don’t have to do everything the tv says. It’s just an advertisement.”

Zack sat back down and stared at the screen, puzzled. There was some kind of food dicing machine being touted. It looked really cool, actually, but he wondered why anyone would waste money on something that an ordinary knife could do with just a bit more effort.

-“We now return to ‘All Under the Sun’.”
-“I’m really your cousin!”
-“Why didn’t you tell me?!” *slap*
-“Because I love you anyway!”
-“But I just found out… I’m dying of a terminal illness…”
-“…Oh my God, I shouldn’t have told you, left you in blissful ignorance…”

Zack cocked his head, brow quirked. “This is… messed up. Not all people are like this, are they?”

Jack shrugged ruefully. “Not all, but who knows how many. That kind of show’s called a soap opera.”

The teen blinked. “Why’s it called that? You’d think that’d be a show about singing soap.”

His friend laughed at the visual. “I have no idea buddy,” he said.

Zack shrugged and switched to the next channel.

-“Metamorphs, roll out!” The teen watched in awe as animated robots changed into vehicles and raced into battle with one another. This he stayed on for the remaining eight minutes of the episode, grinning widely.

“Wow! How is it all colorful and… and not real?”

“That’s a cartoon, or animation,” Jack explained, “People draw thousands of pictures, each a little different, and they’re put on film to appear in motion. Actors do their voices. That one’s always been a classic. There’ve been modern remakes, but I still always have a soft spot for the original.”

“I liked that, it was cool,” Zack said happily. After learning what credits were, and what intros were, he watched what was next. A cartoon canine chasing a bird and meeting with a plethora of unfortunate accidents, but always returning to normal for the next chase.

“Hmmm… I guess not all cartoons are cool,” Zack sighed a while in, switching the channel again.

He squealed with delight at nature shows, chuckled at goofy commercials, asked myriads of questions about products he’d never even known existed, bobbed his head during music videos, then paused thoughtfully on a movie in progress.

-“I’ll never let go, John…”

“…Awww…” Zack intoned quietly, “…This is sad. Why isn’t the camera-man saving them?”

“It’s just a movie,” Jack explained, “Like a play. It’s a made up story with actors. So it’s not really happening. Although this particular one is based on a real occurrence in history.”

Zack frowned, looking at Jack. “Why would people want to watch stories that make them sad though?”

Jack sighed, scratched his head a bit, then shrugged. “Well… it’s complicated. I guess humans like to have their emotions stretched in all different directions. Positive and negative. It makes you feel alive. Most people don’t have very hard lives, so they need media to help them feel some negativity, so they can appreciate the positives. Kind of puts things in perspective I guess. Maybe? I don’t know for sure.”

“I guess I see… but… I don’t think I need it.” Zack continued to switch the channel, eventually landing on a jewelry wholesale network, momentarily becoming mesmerized by a large sapphire. Jack smiled a little, happy to see Zack enjoying television. “Just remember that not everything you see on TV is always as it seems. Its great entertainment and a window to our world, but never be afraid to be skeptical of what you see, even if it claims to have the truth.”

Zack nodded in agreement as a loud knock at the door sounded out through the room. The two stared cautiously and quietly at the door, as they didn’t want to take any chances considering their previous hotel stay. They couldn’t have been troops though, otherwise they would have busted in by now. Jack slowly crept to the door and took a look out the peephole, revealing the outline of two familiar faces.

Jack: “Shiki! What are you doing here? How did you find us?”

Shiki: “How ‘bout we talk about this inside?”

“Oh, right.” Jack unbolted the multiple locks on the door and welcomed in Shiki, followed by Nix, who was riding in an extremely high-tech looking motorized wheelchair that they themselves had swiped from the Senate long ago. “I forgot about that thing…aren’t you afraid somebody’s going to recognize it?”

Nix: “I don’t worry about it. Over here, everyone’s got cash. I’ve seen teenagers with million dollar sports cars already.”

Zacks eyes lit up as Shiki and Nix shuffled into the room, immediately prompting him to set aside the remote. He greeted them with an enthusiastic wave, then quickly ran over talk with them further, taking an interest in Nix’s wheelchair. Nix began a cheerful conversation with Zack, much of it involving the different parts of the wheelchair, as Shiki took Jack aside to discuss other matters.

Jack: “So just how did you find me anyway?”

“It was actually pretty easy,” Shiki began. “I dug up some more info on your suit. One bit of which is a trick for locating your suit, anytime, anywhere.” Shiki unfolded his laptop, showing an application with a series of maps and grids. “All you need to know is the right frequencies.”

Jack: “…so what does this mean then?”

“It means that we’re never going to lose track of the suit, or you for that matter.” Shiki folded up his laptop in a hurry. “But there are other things I found out about that thing…You gotta promise me that you’ll avoid using that thing as much as possible.”

Jack: “Well, it’s a little too late for that…”

“Dammit,” Shiki exclaimed frustratingly. “What happened, are you alright?”

Jack paused for a minute, as he flashed back momentarily to the battle with Valtiel at the gym. The abomination left the most grotesque and horrifying images in his mind. It took him a bit to bring it to words. “I encountered pure evil… I fought with Valtiel.”

Shiki was at a loss for words. Jack being alive still was amazing enough. Yet he didn’t want to stray from what he intended to tell him. “…Listen, there’s a ton of things about that suit that are still extremely unstable, Jack. This is crazy stuff I found man, we’re talking severe nerve damage, behavior modification, changes in brainwave patterns,…”

Jack: “Woah, woah, woah, I’m just fine. The suit helped save my life!”

Shiki appeared to be deep in thought as if analyzing a hundred different pieces of information at once. “You should try to be more careful, and if possible, avoid using it completely. There are so many interactions between the suit and the brain that are untested…I don’t want another one of my friends to wind up in a wheelchair…”

“Alright,” Jack said reassuringly. “I can find Celica well enough with or without the suit.”

Shiki appeared to be reassured for the time being, the momentarily silence revealing the sounds of the television, and approaching police sirens off in the distance. “We’re taking off right about now, remember what I told you, man.”

Jack: “Don’t tell me you guys stole a car.”

Shiki: “No, but we don’t want to be where the action is. This city has security cameras covering every square inch of it.”

Nix and Zacks attention turned away from their conversation to Shiki’s hasty goodbye. “Awwww, you’re leaving already?”, Zack exclaimed.

Shiki: “Just for now, there’s smarter places we can be at the moment. Ill make catching up to with you sometime my number one priority.”

Zack nodded as the two friends of Jack made their way out of the room, speeding off in the opposite direction of the sirens, the sound of which was getting even great as time went on it seems. Listening even closer, he could also hear the sounds of helicopters running rhythmically in the distance.

“Jack, you better take a look at this.”, Zack exclaimed as he sat in from of the television once again grasping the remote. His eyes widened, however, when he registered what was on the screen. It was a live news feed. He did not need to be told, because he immediately recognized the subject of the far-off, shaky camera’s eye. A man with crimson fire atop his head…

-“Again, the suspect is still on the move, MPs are giving chase,” the newscaster said, “He has killed an officer, and matches the description of a known terrorist in Midgar.”

“What the HELL?!?!” Zack screamed, leaping fully to his feet. He ran straight for his gear, whipping on the cape and snapping on his armor segments, then sheathing his Buster Swords. All the while, he growled, “Damn it… DAMN IT! I knew I shouldn’t have let him go alone… Something’s wrong. He wouldn’t have just killed an officer… Now the whole world will think he’s bad with that news running…”

[Shadow Phoenix]

The menacing whir of the helicopter blades behind Bax and the high blaring of the sirens in the streets below him reminded him just how much trouble he had gotten himself into. He ran at full tilt across the rooftops of the Super City, just trying to stay ahead of his pursuers so that he might have a moment to think.

How could he possibly get out of this? For that matter, how did he even get into it? He didn’t even touch the officer, but he burst into horrible bloodiness right before his eyes. He didn’t recall blacking out, so…he must have been set up.

“We repeat, alien terrorist—this is your last warning. Stop fleeing and allow us to take you into custody for questioning, or we will be forced to subdue you with lethal force.”

Bax glanced back for a moment and saw four, large armored helicopters following him, each less than 50 feet behind him. With the moment’s glance, he noticed that they were heavily armed, each toting cannons, rail guns, and probably rocket launchers. The accounts he had heard of the Super city had certainly been true—they were definitely powerful. With all of this illustrious land, they needed the guns to protect it—and they had it.

Still, there was no way that he was going to stop. He had already been taken into custody too many times here on Earth. It just wasn’t dignified! It wasn’t that Bax cared too much about his pride, but he was still a king, and he hated being considered an alien terrorist who needed to be brought to justice. By the ancients, he hadn’t even done anything!

So he kept running, leaping, and soaring from building to building, trying his best to weave through alleys and lose his assailants. But it was to no avail. Every time he popped back above the buildings, they found him within a few moments. And it didn’t seem like he would be able to easily outrun them.

Within a minute of the last loud announcement, Bax heard another communication that made his blood begin pumping faster.
“OPEN FIRE!”

Shit. The area directly behind Bax exploded and knocked him off balance. He soared through the air, riding on a wave of heat and debris that slammed him unevenly onto the next building. He tripped and fell, slamming face down onto the rooftop. His back was pelted with bricks and he coughed as scrambled back to his knees. He heard the rail guns from all four helicopters scattering the rock behind him and he leapt back up and tried to build up some momentum again. Bax closed his eyes and waved his hands in front of his chest for a brief moment. A quick flame sparked before him and he brushed through out. A moment later, his feet exploded in a brilliant flash of flames that propelled him into the air, destroying his former foothold. He rocketed forward, far ahead of the reach of the helicopters. It wasn’t much, but it bought him a little bit of time.

As he reached the upper crest of his personal rocket launch, he spun around and looked at the helicopters roaring towards him. The wind all around him screeched, making it hard to concentrate. One by one, each helicopter fired a pair of rockets directly towards him. Heat-seekers. Bax shook his head. They really wanted to bring him down.

“All right, then,” he said. “Let’s do this.”

Bax cracked his knuckles and extended both hands forward. Flames encircled his hands, growing and sparking, fed by the raging winds. He focused on one of the oncoming rockets and a large fireball exploded from his right hand. It sped towards a rocket, causing a massive explosion that shook the other rockets off course. One careened downward and smashed into another rooftop. Bax grinned and let off another seven fireballs in quick succession before turning around and landing. He heard a number of explosions, though he couldn’t tell exactly how many of the rockets had gone down.

Bax didn’t have time to turn around and look at the aftermath of the rockets, so he hit the ground and kept on running. After a few seconds, he tuned his ears back and swore that he heard at least one more rocket still coming after him. He took a deep breath, jumped across to another roof, and glanced back.

Shit. There were three rockets still going, though one was very off-course. Bax leapt off the next building and flipped over, flying through the air upside down. In the brief hang-time, he fired off three quick beams of fire. He landed on his feet and heard a single explosion. At least he had gotten one of them. But the remaining two were closing fast.

Bax was preparing to cast his launching spell again after leaping over another few buildings, when he suddenly heard two more explosions.

Wonder hit Bax like a train as he glanced back and saw the four helicopters driving through the explosions. The last two rockets had exploded in mid-air, nowhere near each other. Surely, they wouldn’t have detonated them when they were so close to reaching Bax’s range…would they?

Suddenly, Bax smacked into something hard and metallic. He grunted and shifted his head to see what he had run into, only to be surprised to see nothing in his path. He fell to the ground, dazed, and unsuccessfully willed himself to get up. The helicopters drew closer and he heard the rail guns making a mess of the building and getting ready to riddle his body with bullets.

With a grunt, Bax turned himself over onto his stomach and raised his hand to raise a wall of flames to protect his body from the brunt of the bullets. It was the best he could do with such short time…

And then the most disturbing thing happened. Bax saw a face flash before his eyes and then disappear. Half a second later, two of the helicopters collided and fell to the street in a fiery mess. Another helicopter’s tail exploded and it spun out of control, nicking the other remaining helicopter with a rogue blade. That helicopter kept flying on path for a moment until it exploded in a brilliant red flash.

A sinking feeling took over Bax’s stomach. Metal. Red explosions. Unbelievably fast movements. Bax knew these signs—he had seen them all too recently.

He slowly rose to his feet and turned around. Directly behind him stood Marco, old and wizened priest of the Holy Order of the Magi, wearing a piercing glare. He kept turning, and saw Kerlin appear in a blurry red haze, sporting his trademark cocky grin, though obviously pissed. Bax kept turning, expecting to see Daito flash up at any moment, but was disappointed. Instead, he felt a blade wrap around his neck. He glanced down and then followed the blade where he expected it to go—Daito. His expressionless face was the most chilling.

And then Bax realized what had happened before—Daito had killed the police officer and set this whole thing off.

“Good to see you again, Bax,” Kerlin said.
“How did you all get here?” Bax whispered. “And why are you still after me?”
Marco answered. “We have our ways of traveling. And we’re here for you because we can’t go back to the Order without you in tow.”
Kerlin sneered, “It’s cuz you got away. We had orders to find you and bring you in, dead or alive. The Order doesn’t tolerate failure. We go back, they kill us. We bring you back, we get a nice little prize.”

What an organization. Death as penalty for failing a mission.

“So what this means is,” Daito whispered, close to Bax, “You come with us willingly, or I take your head.”

What a choice…

Bax saw a news helicopter circle fairly close, shooting footage of what was going on. He could only imagine what they were saying.

[Shadow Phoenix]

“SHIIIIIT! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!”

The censors back at the news studio couldn’t react quickly enough to the tirade that erupted from the news anchors in the helicopter tailing Bax. After seeing all of the military police helicopters explode and then flying through the smoke and nearly crashing, everyone in the helicopter was screaming obscenities.

After a few moments, the picture stopped rattling around the helicopter and an image came into focus through the smoke. The shaken cameraman tried his best to keep the picture from shaking too violently. During the non-jerky moments, the scene became very clear. Bax was no longer alone. There were three new figures surrounding him. And one of them had a sword held to his throat.

“Sh…we apologize to all of you watching from home. Joe, try to keep the camera steady. If you’re seeing what I’m seeing, people, it is obvious that the fiery-headed terrorist is no longer alone. Somehow, he…or someone or something else…destroyed all of the pursuing helicopters except for our own. Now, as you can see, the chase has come to a halt and the man who we have been following has stopped on a roof on…Aerith Boulevard and 54th street, well over a hundred blocks from where we first began our coverage. It appears that three men in cloaks have surrounded the original assailant, and one of them has a sword held to his throat! We will continue bringing you live coverage as events transpire.”

* * *

Marco growled and cracked his neck. “This is it, Bax. Come with us or else. We have no choice and no time, and neither do you. The time is coming soon when you will be of the utmost importance in the coming war. I would rather not kill you.”

Bax swallowed heavily and felt the cold, razor sharp steel press into his skin. His blood trickled down his neck and down Daito’s blade. Bax glanced down the length of the blade and noticed Daito eyeing the rivulet of blood on his sword instead of looking at Bax. Daito craned his neck around the blade and ran his tongue along the flat of his blade, drinking in the blade. His eyes lit up like Bax’s, crimson fire. He looked back at Bax and smiled for the briefest moment, flashing a pair of fangs.

“It’s spicy…I like that…I want more…”

Bax froze in Daito’s gaze. He felt a chill run up his spine and he couldn’t move. He had read legends of vampires before, but he had never actually encountered one before. What kinds of miscreants filled the Order?

“Keep yourself in check, Daito,” Marco barked gruffly.
Daito twitched a little and his eyes hungrily latched onto the shallow wound on Bax’s neck. Bax wondered if he was distracted enough…

Daito twitched again and his tongue returned to the blade to lap up some more of Bax’s spilt blood. Bax seized the opportunity and double back over, kicking Daito’s katana as his hands hit the ground behind him. The sword flew backwards, probably cutting Daito a little on the process. Bax finished his nimble back flip and clapped his hands together as Daito spun around in surprise. Bax roared and unleashed a massive fireball into Daito’s unsuspecting face. The vampire’s piercing, unearthly scream rang through the air and Bax clapped his hands to his ears. Why did they always have to scream?

Daito was propelled halfway across the building, where he writhed in pain and continued to scream as he blazed on. Bax stumbled back and prayed that the vampire would shut up soon. Meanwhile, Kerlin and Marco were ignoring their burning comrade.

Kerlin swung his scythe up and pointed it at Bax. “That’s it. You’re dead.” He raised his scythe and jammed the shaft into his chest. He cried out in pain, but smiled as he pitched onto his knees. His scythe rose up into the air and blasted him with red bolts of lightning. He howled as the blasts forced him prostrate to the ground. He lifted himself up on his fists and continued to howl, his eyes bulging and his teeth grinding. His back pulsed and lurched as the muscles beneath his skin rippled. His pale skin gradually took on a darker shade, and his brilliant blue, bulging eyes turned almost completely green, a menacing green reminiscent of Sephiroth X’s eyes when he was angry.

Kerlin’s cloak burst open in the back and his skin split, spurting blood into the air as two massive, black-feathered wings surged from his back. A flurry of black feathers and blood rained down around Kerlin as he lay there on the ground, panting with pangs of pain and exhaustion, but smiling with a renewed vigor. He turned to Bax with a malicious grin and slowly stood to his feet. He ripped his tattered and torn cloak off, leaving him bare-chested. The archangel reached forward and grasped his scythe.

Marco ground his hands together and metal plating extended over his entire body. Once all of the sheets of metal had covered his body, new metal began sprouting from the plates. Horns split from Marco’s head, and spikes sprouted from his shoulders, elbows, and knees. He held his hands as through he was holding a weapon, and more metal began to swirl between his hands. A pole appeared between his hands and extended towards the side of his head. At the high end of the pole, the metal began to pile on until it formed the head of a massive hammer.

“Submit or perish,” Marco growled. He raised the gigantic warhammer, swung it above his head, and then leapt through the air towards Bax. Bax’s eyes widened and he took a quick step back to try to avoid Marco’s malicious swing. The hammer barely missed Bax and instead smashed directly into the ground before him. The roof shattered and splintered, brick breaking into more pieces than Bax imagined were possible. The impact was explosive and the area all around him crumbled while the chunks detonated all around. Bax didn’t even have enough of a surface to stand on to try to leap up, and he found himself falling uncontrollably. As he fell, the rest of the building began to crumble from the initial impact of the hammer.

Bax flailed in the air as he fell to the ground of the next floor. He slammed into hard, cold cement and past directly through as the tremor cracks annihilated the next floor. He began reaching for his swords to try to defend himself should someone assail him, but saw the winged Kerlin swooping through the destroyed roof before he could do anything. He looked as though he had gone mad as he raised his scythe and plummeted down towards him.
“It’s amazing the power one can get when he sells his soul!” Kerlin remarked. “I’ll enjoy tearing you apart!”
Kerlin swung his Reaper through the air behind him and propelled himself faster into Bax. He slammed his shoulder into Bax’s stomach and sent him crashing through to the next floor, careening through a wooden desk which exploded into splinters. Bax heard Kerlin cackling as he flew off. Still, Bax couldn’t do anything as he continued to rip through the building as if it were paper.

And then his downward movement was interrupted. Bax felt an iron death grip wrap around his neck as talons opened new wounds near major blood vessels. As he struggled to breathe, he was suddenly bashed through the nearest wall. He looked up and saw a hideous, grotesquely twisted, and obviously burnt face with gnarled fangs and piercing red eyes. Grayish skin hung about the deformed face with its prominent jaw, open to reveal deadly fangs and a hissing tongue. Black hair flew back in a mane from the hideous head. Daito, too, had transformed into a flying creature, a nosferatu. His black wings were leathery and inlaid with blood-red muscles, giving him the appearance of a giant flying bat.
“You will pay for that treachery with your blood, Bax!”

Daito ripped through the air and tossed Bax menacingly at the news helicopter. Bax slammed through the glass windshield and narrowly missed smacking into the occupants of the helicopter. He lay in the back of the helicopter, dazed for a few moments, while the pilot struggled to stay on course and the news correspondents shrieked at all the commotion. After a hectic moment, the news anchor shoved her mic in Bax’s face and asked him what was going on.
Bax’s eyes almost popped out of his skull as he screamed at everyone in the helicopter.
“What the hell are you still doing here? Get out of here before they kill you as well!”

Bax stood up and looked out of the helicopter. The building had completely crumbled by now. Marco was standing on an adjacent building, waiting for Bax to come back down. Kerlin and Daito hovered around him. All of them looked up patiently at the helicopter.

“If they want a fight, they will get it,” Bax mumbled. “I just wish they would not involve any more innocent people.”
He turned back to the people around him and shook his head. “Please get out of here. I do not want anyone else dying because of me today.”

With those brief words, Bax leapt out of the aircraft and rocketed towards the three priests of the Holy Order of the Magi, swords drawn and flames blazing around him. It was time to fight.

[Shadow Phoenix]

The helicopter shook as Bax leapt off it, and those inside were baffled by everything that was going on. The man with the fiery hair seemed almost sensible when juxtaposed against the three demons down below. There were two flying creatures: one that practically resembled a gargoyle, and the other with red hair and black, feathery wings. The last one was covered completely in metallic plates which had spikes jutting out of them. They all carried lethal weapons. Perhaps the fiery-haired one had been right and they should get out while they still could.

Bax roared as he rocketed directly towards Marco. Daito and Kerlin spun around their leader once and then went after Bax from both sides, flying at tremendous speeds with simple flaps of their wings. Marco reared back and hurled his hammer directly at Bax. The Phoeniyan swung his swords in a wide arc and changed the direction of his descent, narrowly avoiding the hammer while he rocketed down.

Kerlin was the first to reach him. He cackled like a madman and swung his scythe out in a vicious arc. Bax tensed his muscles and smacked the scythe away with all his strength. Sparks flew as the blades met, but Kerlin’s scythe gave way and the Archangel began to spin with his scythe as a series of red bolts crackled around him and his blade. Bax reached his other blade back in preparation to stab Kerlin as he spun. Kerlin’s head turned rapidly and he saw the approaching blow before it even began. With a quick, deft movement, he fluttered his wings and swiveled one wing into Bax’s face, knocking him off-balance and halting his attack.

Before Bax knew what was going on, Kerlin had disappeared in a haze of ruby bolts and midnight feathers. Bax huffed and gritted his teeth as he righted himself to figure out where he was. He saw the roof of the building Marco was standing on, and he tucked his body inwards to roll his landing. He rolled twice and then leapt up.

Bax began to spin around when he saw Marco charging towards him like an enraged bull. As Bax spun around on the heels of his feet, he found himself unable to defend himself. The metallic beast slammed into him and sent him flying. The horn on his shoulder was too curved to impale him, thank the Ancients, but it did jab into him and tear at his clothing, drawing blood. Bax’s head spun as he flew backwards into a metal vent. He tore through it (though not without significant pain from the twisting shards of metal), and continued through to the far wall. Bax gripped onto his swords and brought them up to defend himself from the charging bull.

As his vision cleared, Bax saw Marco still coming after him. His hammer suddenly flew through the air and crossed directly in front of Marco, probably flying at a ridiculous speed. Marco reached out, grabbed the hammer, and began to swing it viciously towards Bax’s left side.

Bax cursed and pointed both swords to the ground. They released a simultaneous blast of fire towards the area directly in front of Bax’s feet, propelling him upwards and backwards into the air. The hammer’s circular swing barely missed shattering Bax’s skull, though the air shifted and created a temporary vortex that stopped Bax’s movement and caused him to just float in the air for a moment. Helpless, Bax stared upside down into his attacker’s soulless, metallic eyes. A glint of malice reflected in his gaze as he continued the hammer swing behind and then above him. Bax wrenched his muscles to move them fast enough to meet the hammer-fall with his swords, but he just couldn’t move fast enough. The hammer crunched against his chest and sent him crushing down towards the street. All of the air in Bax’s lungs raced out and he gasped as he sped through the air, choking on the air that he tried to breathe in.

The building was tall, but it didn’t seem nearly tall enough as Bax smashed into the hood of a police cruiser just a moment later. The metal and glass buckled with the impact, shattering and rupturing everywhere. Bax lay there for a moment, gasping for breath. He spat up a bit of blood and prayed to the Ancients that his ribs hadn’t just been broken by that hammer blow.

Bax shook his head and began to lift himself off the car when he looked up and saw a psychotic Daito bearing down on him from above, his sword ready for battle. Bax struggled to get up more, but was unprepared for the assault. Daito leveled his sword and drove it directly into Bax’s right shoulder. Bax screamed in pain as the vampire forced the length of his blade through his right shoulder and into the police cruiser.

“Do you like pain, Bax?” Daito asked, showcasing a side of him which seemed uncharacteristic of the stoic man who had led the assault on Nibelheim just a few weeks before. He truly looked insane.
Bax groaned and looked directly into Daito’s crazed eyes. “Go to hell,” he said. Bax dropped his left sword to the ground and clenched his fist tightly. He gasped hard and wound his arm back before launching it forward and slugging Daito squarely in the jaw. Daito recoiled and shook his head, but came right back. Bax wound back and hit Daito again. The vampire’s jaw went out of place and he hissed, shrieking, but returning once again for more. He flared his fangs and hissed an inch from Bax’s face, threatening to bite him. Bax grimaced, screamed, and let loose a devastating left hook directly into the side of Daito’s head. Daito’s jaw completely dislocated and he flew into the wall of the adjacent building, leaving his sword lodged into Bax’s shoulder.

Bax cried out in pain as he reached for the sword and yanked it out of his shoulder and the car. He had long since dropped both of swords, which now lay on either side of the police cruiser. Bax held the katana in his left hand triumphantly as he slowly, painfully raised himself to a sitting position. Daito’s screech alerted Bax that the vampire was coming back around to attack him. Bax got to his feet and prepared for the creature. With his talons drawn, the vampire flew at Bax in a head-on assault. Bax crouched just as Daito passed in front of him, and he sliced the katana through the air and drove it through the vampire’s chest. He swiveled around and grasped Daito by the ankle. He continued his spin’s momentum and kept building up speed before finally releasing Daito into the opposite wall. The vampire hit and fell to the ground.

Bax reached his left hand to his right shoulder and felt it tenderly. That would hurt like hell for a while. Bax shook his head and then looked up towards the roof, where he would be prepared to continue the fight.

It was a good thing that Bax looked up, because the first sight that greeted him was that of a massive hammer pile-driving towards him. Bax kicked off of the car to the one behind him and witnessed in horror as Marco descended on the car and smashed it into utter oblivion. As far as Bax knew, there had still been people in that car. If there were, they were dead now…these people were lunatics.

Bax landed on the car and kept on moving. He knew from experience how quickly Marco could move that sledgehammer, and he wasn’t going to take any chances. Bax turned tail and leapt to the closest wall. Once he got there, he ran up a few steps and then kicked off to leap across the small street to the wall of the opposite building. In midair, he reached his hands down and called to his swords.
“Valermos! Diroxauralis! Come to me!”
The swords responded down in the debris of the police car and flashed up to their owner in a blaze of fire. Handy little things.

Bax landed on the wall and kicked off again. He looked down for a brief moment and saw that Marco was kicking up the wall in the same pattern, but causing significantly more damage in every spot that he landed, such that the walls of each building were beginning to crumble. And if Bax wasn’t mistaken, it almost looked like Marco was climbing the walls a little faster than Bax was. What was with these people?

Bax reached the rooftop and leapt over the ledge onto the roof just as the ledge collapsed and crumbled away as a result of Marco’s damage. Bax began running across the roof at breakneck speed.

In a similar flash to the one where he had disappeared, Kerlin swooped into view and unfurled his fingers towards Bax. Several bolts of red lightning soared from his fingertips and wrenched into Bax, stopping him in his place. Bax cursed at the pain and fell to his knees.
“Now you see that our power is superior to yours!”
Arrogant bastard. Bax just wanted to wipe that smarmy grin off his face!

Bax flipped both swords over so that the blades touched the ground, and he slashed them across the ground and upwards, slicing through the roofing and coming dangerously close to Kerlin. Bax surged forward and caught Kerlin in his scissor slash. The archangel’s eyes went wide as his abdomen split open and his innards began to spill out. Bax, too, was very surprised. He didn’t think one of the members of the Holy Order would allow themselves to be cut this easily. Bax fully expected for Kerlin to defend himself against that blow. A wound like that would be the death of him.

A flash suddenly caught Bax by surprise, and Kerlin split completely in half as a katana passed directly through him and nicked Bax across the bridge of his nose. Bax cursed at the sudden wound, but couldn’t close his eyes as Kerlin fell in half before him. Daito flew above his body’s carnage, looking almost gleeful at what he had just done. They were all traitorous backstabbers with no care for one another!

Daito swung his sword murderously again, hoping to catch more of Bax’s blood, but Bax was more prepared this time. He swung both swords up and blocked Daito’s swing. Daito smiled and snapped his fingers. He disappeared in a purple flash and Bax was left to stare at Kerlin.

Kerlin’s scythe then rose into the air by itself and began to glow red. His two halves aligned themselves in midair, enclosing all of the organs and healing Kerlin completely. His wounds glowed red and Kerlin grasped his scythe.
“Ah, that feels good.”
Kerlin saw Bax’s dumbfounded expression and chuckled. “That’s right. You didn’t see that before—your body double did. Either way, I wouldn’t worry about that too much right now.

Kerlin laughed and pointed behind Bax.

Bax had no sooner turned around than he felt a hammer pummel him to the ground. His elbows hit first, ripping the skin off of them, and then his jaw scraped against the roof. He collapsed to his hands and knees and coughed up even more blood.

“You bleed a great deal, Bax,” came Daito’s twisted, distorted voice. “I like that.” Bax felt the cold steel of his katana come in contact with his neck again, and he knew he was trapped again.

Bax lifted his head and looked into Kerlin’s evil eyes. “You see? You don’t have much of a choice. You can’t win. Come with us or you will die.”

Bax clenched the hilts of both of blades and began to quake. Why did this have to keep happening?

“Well, what is your decision, Bax? Do we have to take your head back, or can we just take your beaten and broken body—still alive, mind you?”

And then Bax got an idea. He began to murmur quietly to himself while he lay there in wait with his head down on the rooftop. If this worked, he might be able to keep fighting. If it didn’t…they would cut him down where he stood.

He hoped it would work…

[Shadow Phoenix]

OoC: Sorry, y'all, I'm a little tired of lying around. I hope your posts are coming along well. I'm just going to keep up the pace I've finally developed. Hope you don't mind too much

IC:

After a great deal of havoc and mayhem in which two buildings had been completely demolished and another had been horribly damaged, the four men had paused. Three of them had once again surrounded the fiery-headed one. A shaky camera zoomed in to catch a glimpse of the lull in the action. The three seemed to be mocking the one, even while they held him at the tip of a sword.

Unheard below, Marco called out to his prey from a decent distance. “What is your choice, Bax?”
“I choose…” Bax began.
Kerlin took a few steps forward and put the tip of his scythe to Bax’s cheek. “Yes?”
“To fight!” Bax screamed, flashing his arms around without warning, spinning the swords in a telltale circle around him.

In an instant, Bax’s swords burst into flames and sliced towards the legs of both Kerlin and Daito. Both of the priests gasped to see this coming, but were unable to move fast enough to avoid having their feet severed. They began to flail their arms wildly through the air as their bodies toppled without any pedal support.

Bax sheathed both swords and swung around to face Marco. His hands began moving rapidly as he formed a series of hand-signs as he murmured the words of a spell. The building began to rumble and the sidewalk on all sides began to crack, spewing red flames. The heavy Marco seemed unphased, and after righting his balance, began to run towards Bax with his hammer held high. The windows of the building, and of all surrounding buildings, shattered. Bax’s eyes flashed white, then black, and then glowed a dangerous red, deeper and darker than his usual color.

Marco drew within striking distance and began to swing his deadly hammer. Bax stopped murmuring and ducked down to the roof, slamming his hands, palms down, into the roof. The hammer passed over Bax’s head and the roof exploded. All four occupants were suspended in midair for a moment while the building groaned, and rumbled. The red glow below had crept halfway of the building, splitting the building along its foundations. It was a miracle that it was still standing.

Bax smiled and looked up into Marco’s baffled face as he looked down to see all of them falling through the crumbling building. He almost laughed to see Marco’s bewildered expression. And then he completed the spell.

“Draca roglia!” he said simply.

The earth below the building opened up its jaws and spewed forth fury from its fiery hot bellows. Like an apocalyptic volcanic eruption, an inferno of flames shot up from the belly of the earth, ringed with crimson death, and annihilated the building, turning it into pure slag. Bax felt the flames engulf him and basked in their inviting warmth. To him, this was like a nice bath, and he felt the ache of his wounds disappearing as they began to heal.

For his opponents, however, he was sure that this was far from enjoyable. As the forceful currents of the inferno began to push Bax up against his own will, he looked around to his opponents and saw them screeching as the flames licked them. Marco’s armor was beginning to melt as it had with Keldira’s breath of fire. Kerlin was obviously roasting. And poor Daito.

The inferno launched all four of them up into the air, carrying them on a wave of destruction. If Bax’s opponents survived, it would be much easier to take them down now.

Bax laughed for a moment as he rose into the air. He was creating quite a spectacle here. Destroying a city block would make the news even more than his hundred-block-plus run from the police. If this didn’t get Zack and Jack’s attention, Bax didn’t know what would.

[ZaCloud]

Zack looked around frantically once he and Jack exited the hotel. His eyes were narrowed with determination and concentration. While they had been in this area for quite a while, Zack had largely stayed indoors due to his racial identification, so he did not know the area as well as he had learned the layout of Midgar. He looked at Jack. “They said he was last around the condemned area’s rebuilding project. Do you know where that is?”

“I know that’s to the north-east,” he said, looking around to figure out his bearings. “So that’d be… this way.” He pointed, and they took off.

As the two pounded swiftly down the sidewalk, many people swung out of their way with looks of annoyance and shock. The Buster Swords gave away the spiky blonde hair as belonging to a rare golden Strife. For one to be so boldly armed to be among the general population was a huge shock and against district policy. His angry face and determined pace made him appear larger than he really was. It was frightening. There wouldn’t be a Strife revolt, would there? Thank goodness some tough looking red-head appeared to be chasing him down…

Zack remained oblivious to the murmurs, gasps, and stares. He was completely focused on getting to Bax. He only paid enough attention to dart between or around any people who failed to get out of his way on their own.

After what seemed like a painful forever, the teen skidded to a stop, staring off to his left. Jack stumbled to a halt, partially bumping into Zack. The blonde would have fallen over if Jack hadn’t grabbed onto his arm and pulled him back to vertical. “What is it?” he asked.

“I think I heard something, an explosion,” Zack answered, returning his gaze to the new direction. He led the way and Jack followed. He was definitely no slouch, but the more standard human of the two was beginning to tire. He couldn’t help but worry about whether he would have enough energy to deal with what was ahead.

Zack noticed and forced himself to slow down slightly. He had reluctantly let Bax go alone for the purpose of watching Jack’s back. Leaving him behind would be completely unacceptable, and would double his current failure.

---

The blonde glanced at a set of televisions in a store window which happened to be broadcasting the live feed from the scene they were heading toward. While the population of that particular area was nowhere near as thick there as it was in most of the Super City, and many of the buildings were not in use, it was still nowhere near as expendable as the slums of Midgar had been. And yet, it seemed that those pursuing Bax had little regard for that fact.

“Missiles,” Jack growled grimly, “I saw…”

“People are gonna to get hurt or die,” Zack lamented through gritted teeth. His head lowered and shook, his eyes squeezing shut. “Why is this happening?”

---

A busy street lay before them, and the light was not about to change anytime soon. Zack was about to leap over the moving vehicles, aiming to land on each lane line, but once more he took Jack into consideration and stopped to wait , breathing a bit hard with his nostrils flaring. He would normally not yet be doing so, but desperation had elevated his heart-rate substantially. He tried to take this moment to calm down. Mentally, he could have switched to his side of optimism. But there was no way he could push away his current worry to allow that; his deep-rooted concern for his friend overrode even his unusual sense of mental preservation. He could feel vibrations in the ground below his feet. No, no calming down for him.

In the corner of his eye, Zack saw another news-displaying television set in a restaurant on the corner they were waiting on. He glanced at the traffic light on the opposite side; he’d learned how those things worked over time. Still no change. He said, to Jack, “Just a second,” and bolted into the restaurant so he could hear the audio to match the shocking image.

“Once more, we are unsure how the pursuing choppers were destroyed, but they went down in violent explosions. And now the alien is being held by figures below. We can’t yet determine who—“

“I said, what are you doing?!” The nearby waiter’s voice, which had been already demanding an answer, now drowned out the TV audio as the tall, thin brunette man stood between it and Zack. “Barging in here, you’re disrupting…” The Strife was ignoring him, leaning to the side, trying to continue viewing the TV with a look of focused horror.

The waiter once more jutted in front of him, crossing his arms. Several customers and another waiter also began to approach, scowling. “You think that news will distract us and you Strifes can stage a coup?” the waiter dared.

“You don’t intimidate us!” a woman snarled from her seat several tables away.

Oh my God… Zack thought as the camera zoomed closer on what little of the TV he could see past the waiter’s shoulder. He turned and ran back for the door, toward Jack. Cheers of victory and shouts of “Yeah, you better run!” and “Get outta here!” followed him onto the sidewalk.

“It’s the Order! They’re attacking Bax!” Zack gasped to Jack. “They’re by Grid 52.”

Jack blinked. “Those guys? Shit… Like this needed to get any worse… We’ll get there though.”

The light finally changed, and the two dashed across the street, bringing themselves closer to the last known location of their companion. While on the move, Zack drew Fjalar, removed the elemental stones, and then loaded them onto Fenrir, the lighter and more varied of the two. He would quite possibly need its speed and versatility. During the long period hiding from the Betan citizens, he had practiced with this new sword, and learned how to disassemble it should he need smaller blades in various types of combat. It was far from mastered, but it would still be more efficient in this urgent situation.

“By the way,” Jack asked, now that the more important issues had sunken in, “What happened back in there?”

“No time to worry about it,” Zack answered, “This area just really doesn’t like Strifes, that’s all.”

Jack’s teeth gritted, and he felt a twinge of anger. He wondered if Claude would always have taken that situation in stride. It had been quite a chore to gain the kid’s trust long ago, after all, since nearly everyone else in the Desert of the Dead had been downright hostile to the young Strifes.

Or… Did I even gain his trust at all? …hmmm….it would’ve been nice to get a less vague answer…

He had no time to go further with the thought, however; people were rushing toward them on the sidewalks, and traffic was congested; they were trying to get away from wherever Zack and Jack were heading. It was getting more difficult to edge through the crowd, even though everyone was in turn edging away from the Strife with gasps and murmurs. Hadn’t it been enough they were almost killed by a fiery alien and bombs? Now they had an armed Strife heading into them, adjusting a Buster Sword no less!

A policeman who was helping escort the crowd did a double-take, then grabbed Zack by the shoulder. “Hey, hey, what are you doing?”

“Sorry, no time,” Zack stated, trying to keep going.

But the cop held fast. “There’s a disaster back there,” he warned, “If you’re thinking of looting or something, it’s too dangerous even for you.”

The teen’s determined gaze met the cop’s directly, the deep blue piercing. “We’re going to stop it.”

The cop felt surprised at the brave declaration, and his grip loosened before he could process that it had. Zack and Jack disappeared into the now thinning crowd.

The public servant scratched his buzz-cut head. “Either a good liar, or another one trying to prove himself…”

---

The noise and vibrations grew louder and more frequent. The two young men knew they were getting close. Dread clutched progressively tighter at their stomachs.

“Jack,” Zack panted, “You’ll need the Earth Breaker. The Order is ruthless and powerful… I can sense them now. These ones are really, really bad… You might even have to stay back.” He inwardly cringed as he said the last sentence.

And he got the expected reply. “What?! Hell no, if you’re planning to take them on, then so am I! If Bax could hold them off this long on his own, then the three of us can take ‘em down!”

Jack’s tone was confident, yet he felt understandably nervous below the surface. The sheer magnitude of the battle they were approaching would have sent any sane man running. Yes, he had a powerful weapon at his disposal, but it reacted to his own thoughts and motions. One slip-up on his part, and he could find himself in the obituary tomorrow. Hell, maybe not even that fortunate; his remains may be unrecognizable.

But there was no way he would allow the loss of any more of his friends’ lives. And no way he’d allow the Order to get away with all this destruction without an ass-kicking.

And so, without even breaking stride, he willed the Earth Breaker over his body. As it enveloped him, his pace grew faster, forcing Zack to turn up his own speed several notches. But speed up Zack did; this disaster was, in his eyes, his fault. He would fail still worse if he did not lead the charge.

Catching the glance of one more TV running in a now-abandoned store, Zack smiled slightly with relief. “There’s some bit of hope at least… The news camera is still looking at all that… Maybe they’ll know it wasn’t Bax’s fault after all.” That, and Bax was still alive and fighting at that point. Now, determination rather than despair fueled the pair, and their pounding legs carried them toward their destination. They could already see smoke and dust hanging in the air ahead.

And then, the explosion of magma becoming lava, a glowing geyser like a liquid wave of the sun, burst forth slightly to their left. Their paces went off for several beats as their vision was overwhelmed by the immense, destructive outpouring from the earth.

Definitely Bax’s doing.

“That just may’ve kicked their asses for us!” Zack declared with a tentative smirk. He certainly hoped that was more or less the case, and that it hadn’t been any sort of dying move on the part of Bax. But his instincts seemed to anchor onto the warm, familiar aura in the midst of it, and Zack knew that, for now, he was still alright.

We’ll be right there, Bax…

[Shadow Phoenix]

OoC: The late night efforts of Zacloud, Sqiky Kleen, and Shadow Phoenix. Enjoy!

IC:

Slowly, the crimson flames began to fade in their ferocity, and the column dwindled and shrank, eventually leaving nothing but a pile of slag oozing from the hole where the building used to be. High in the sky, four dots were visible, still rising a little bit. At about the same time, all four dots reached a crest and began to fall back to the earth, three of them trailed by large tracks of smoke. The last remaining dot still shined with the red flame, though it fell like the others.

As the four "dots" came back into full view, one could discern their features and identify them as the three priests and Bax. Bax was the only one who seemed to have any control over his flight path. The other three were merely falling. Kerlin hit the ground first, thudding sickeningly just outside the crater. His black wings were practically featherless as they had been almost completely singed off. His body lay motionless, with several broken bones jutting out all over the place. His weapon landed moments after him, and clattered away.

Daito slammed into the ground next, on the opposite side of the crater from Kerlin. His body was barely discernible as remotely human, as he simply looked like a charred husk of a skeleton with a loose covering of skin sort of covering his bones. He, too, lay motionless, as his weapon slammed into the ground near him and lodged itself deep in the hot cement. Marco fell deep into the crater, sinking into the slag. His hammer fell elsewhere in the hole. He groaned, and his voice echoed throughout the air. The slag was still practically boiling--it couldn't be very comfortable, especially since a great deal of his armor had already melted off.

Lastly, Bax landed gracefully in front of Zack and Jack, flipping over with a little bit of showman's flair and sheathing his swords. His shirt hung on him, tattered, torn, and burnt. A deep gash still hung open in his shoulder, and various scratches, scraps, scars, and bruises remained all over the rest of his body, though he had obviously benefited from the warmth of the flames in his healing process.

Bax took a deep breath and sighed. He smiled to see Zack and Jack. "I think that finally did it. It is good to see you both. It certainly took you long enough."

Zack, still panting from the run, took in Bax's form for several moments. He was vastly relieved to see him alive, and on the mend thanks to his natural properties. Nonetheless, he was wounded, and obviously had been in terrible shape at one point in this altercation. Bax hadn't deserved such pain, or whatever terrors he'd undergone at the hands of his enemies, or the accusations of being a murderer that may or may not still be perceived by nearly everyone in the world...

The young man stumbled toward Bax, and collapsed to his knees while clutching the hand of Bax's less-wounded arm.
"I'm sorry, Bax... I'm sorry... This was all my fault. After what already happened to you, I shouldn't have let you go alone... Now you almost got killed again, and... and..." His throat tightened and he shook his head, eyes squeezed shut.

Bax's eyes widened at Zack's display. He looked down at the prostrate young man and felt his shaky grip increase as he burst into tears. Bax frowned, and move his other hand to the blonde's head, running his fingers a little through his hair and settling down with a slight pat.
"No, Zack...I promise, it is not your fault. I chose to go by myself. You can not blame yourself for a thing like this."
Bax also fell to his knees and shook his head with a slight laugh. "I just wish you had gotten here sooner so you could have seen me take care of those three jerks...and so you could have...how do you say it...taken a swing at them yourself."
Bax looked up at Jack with a look of concern on his face and regarded Zack, mouthing "Is he okay?" silently.

Jack took a deep breath in and out and raised his eyebrows slightly, telegraphing that even he was confused at Claude's recent behavior, and even more oddly, his sudden decline in popularity. Unconsciously, Jack looked back down the street for a moment in the direction the restaurant where Claude had just been confronted, more questions popping into his mind all the time. He responded to Bax's original question by mouthing a small "I don’t know", once again looking back in the direction of that restaurant.

Bax nodded and let Jack return to his thoughts. He once again turned to Zack to see if the youth had anything further to say. He waited through a few tear-choked moments.

Zack had begun to calm down, but kept his head lowered as he finally drew his hand away and wiped his face. "I know... But so many times you end up bleeding... I won't let it happen again, Bax." He looked up into Bax's eyes with grim determination. "You're not going through anything like this again if I can help it."

Bax opened his mouth to cheer Zack up, but his voice was drowned out by the pounding whir of helicopter blades bearing down about 20 feet away. Bax turned and looked towards the interrupting news crew that had somehow managed to survive with all of the chaos. The blades powered down and the short-skirted reporter began running towards the group, motioning for her cameraman, 'Joe', to follow closely behind.
"You still sure he's not a terrorist? Look at the crew he hangs around with! That's a Strife!" the reporter said offhandedly to her trailing cameraman as she neared the group. She reached them and gawked at all of their appearances.
"Would you mind a quick interview?" she asked.

Zack blinked at their approach. Part of him wanted to be on TV, and to say something to clear Bax's name should any more be necessary. But knowing what he was and not feeling very adequate at the moment, he just lowered his head and looked away, as expected of his kind.

Bax sighed, "Very quick, please. We need to leave, soon."
The reporter shook her head almost violently, and launched in with a series of excited questions while the cameraman swiveled around them to capture the action.
"Okay, first things first: what was that?!"

Bax sighed, "Forgive me for any inadvertent destruction. Those three Holy Order Priests were trying to kill me and I was just trying to incapacitate them."

The reporter practically squealed at the mention of the Holy Order, but chose another question. "And why are you associating with a Strife? You do not seem to be from around here, but surely you know of their reputation. I mean, come on!"
Bax snarled, "This young man is my friend. I will not have you insulting him. That's it, we have to leave."
The reporter shook her head and waved her hands wildly. "No, no, please wait! Just a few more questions. Uh, where are you from?"
Bax put his arm around Zack and began to lead him away from the news reporters, motioning for Jack to follow him. That was all he could take, and they had to get back to that portal.

Zack swallowed, not wanting Bax to make himself look bad by standing up for him, but unable to bring himself to say anything.

Jack stepped directly into the path of the advancing camera crew for a moment, putting the palm of his hand directly over the front of one of the camera lenses. "Turn off the cameras already; can't you see he's injured? Give him some space!" The reporters, having finally been confronted in the same manner as they had been, finally gave up the paparazzi blitz, as Jack walked off with Zack and Bax, shooting the most disgusted faces he could make back in their direction.

Out of the corner of his eye, Bax saw something rise from the ground and begin to spin around. He turned his head just in time to see Kerlin's scythe swoop towards the unsuspecting helicopter pilot, who had come out of the helicopter a few moments before. It sliced the poor man in half, and he fell to the ground, gurgling as his life slipped away. Bax turned fully to see Kerlin grasp his scythe. It crackled red and the pilot's body disintegrated in a bright red coronal flash, turning into ash that spiraled around Kerlin.
"Miss me?"
As Kerlin's scythe pulsated red and the ashes flooded over him, he regained his appearance and looked almost healed, though he was obviously still wounded. His healing appeared to have its limits after all.

Zack's eyes widened. For a moment, he was frozen in place, overtaken by the horrible demise of the pilot, and the reappearance of this Magi fiend. But then he remembered the oath he had sworn only minutes ago, and he quickly drew Fenrir, eyes narrowed, and bringing it to a standard ready position. His eyes had gone dark and cold.

Bax reached his relatively undamaged left arm back and began to draw his sword as he seethed. "Why can't you just learn to stay down, Kerlin? Leave us alone."

Kerlin swung his scythe around and rested it cockily on his shoulder. "You brought friends. Couldn't do it anymore on your own, eh?"

Even though he didn’t know who he was, Jack could sense the dark twisted aura of this guy, even without the suits visor. And judging from his friends’ reaction, he somehow knew that this guy was nothing but trouble. Jack gave the mental note and the suit began its unfolding process, wrapping Jack in its metal confines as Kerlin looked on.

Kerlin smiled a little. "Ooh, what's this? A Strife...and that looks like some technology I saw them testing out on some peons over at Zion. How did you get your hands on that?" He spun his scythe and advanced closer to the group.

"Blood, sweat..... and tears..." Jack said quietly as he looked downwards slightly, while tightly gripping his fist. His eyes then shot back up at Kerlin in a gaze of determination, as he quickly reached around to one of the pouches in the suits back, pulling out his trusty weapon, the ball and chain. Jack swung the weapon around a few times before gripping both ends of the chain tightly, and pulling them to make the chain taught. "You wanna see what it can to?" Jack smirked.

Zack took a long step forward, his complex blade giving off an odd metallic rattle as he launched it forward. "That's as far as you'll go."

"You dare challenge me?" Kerlin gawked. "Mere pawns such as you?" Kerlin laughed and took another step, leveling his scythe before him.

"I beg to differ," Jack motioned. "I have no affiliations. I answer to nobody. You, however, bow down to a master. A master who controls your every move. I am free. YOU are the pawn."

"HOW DARE YOU!" Kerlin angrily responded. "That’s it! I’ll kill all of you!" Jacks taunt was effective, sending Kerlin into a mad dash strike towards Jack, scythe raised in the air, setting up Kerlin for a diagonal slashing strike. Jack read his opponents attack and immediately prepared for the defensive. As Kerlin's massive scythe swooped in towards Jack, he quickly swung his body weight around to his left, as if throwing a right hook, and spectacularly caught Kerlin's scythe in mid air, gripping the blade tightly but carefully, and forcing Kerlin to bring his Scythe down inches away from the ground, as if wresting with the weapons.
"WHAT?!" Kerlin yelled as he found himself struggling with the suits massive strength. Jack looked up and stared Kerlin directly into the eye, putting on the largest crap-eating grin that he could. "What's the matter, stick boy? Didn't your mama ever feed you protein?"
Jack slowly increased his grip strength, until he was literally yelling for the extra boost. After a couple more seconds, Jack began to literally crush Kerlin's scythe in his hand, letting go after a few moments and sending both fighters back to ready stance. Kerlin looked angrily at his crooked weapon. There were clear indentations where each of his fingers were, and the blade itself now had almost a 45 degree bend in it, rendering it unusable.

Kerlin glared from his blade to Jack and seethed. “You…little…”

Zack watched with satisfaction as Jack displayed his mastery of the Earth Breaker, and dealt a strong blow to Kerlin's ego and weapon in one fell swoop. He had no doubt that Jack could send this guy crying home, or dig him a grave if left with no alternative. He took the moment to glance around furtively. "No others left?" he asked Bax quietly.

Bax smiled at the scene. Jack had handily taken care of Kerlin and frustrated him thoroughly. What was there left to do?
"I guess the others were too wounded to come out of it."

Kerlin snarled and withdrew a few paces. He raised his scythe and it glowed red once more. "Don't turn your attention from me just yet," he growled. He reached his own hand to the blade of the scythe and sliced the skin open, allowing his blood to cover the metal. It glowed a stronger, deeper red, and the blade popped and creaked, reverting back to its original state.
"I'll not be taken down so simply," he smirked. He extended his left hand towards Jack and unleashed a fury of red lightning towards him, the bolts arching through the air viciously.

Jack flew backwards a few feet, his suit freezing up like a paperweight while in mid-air, then rebooting back to its usable state after a harsh collision with the ground. Jack felt a slight pain sensation, as if he had just been shocked by electricity, but was merely shaken. Thankfully, the suit absorbed the brunt of the load.
"Oh good," Jack grunted as he recovered. "I was hoping you wouldn't be such a pushover."
Before Jack could stand up again, Kerlin threw his other hand forward for another energy attack. Jack figured he would be exploiting his weakness and had a plan ready. Jack shot off the ground like a missile, missing the energy bolt by a few inches and flying past Kerlin to land on the wall behind him in a 2 point stance. Keeping his momentum, Jack launched himself off the wall, swinging his leg around in mid-flight for a roundhouse kick to Kerlin's abdomen. It connected fiercely, sending Kerlin reeling back a good distance.

Kerlin slammed into a wall and crashed through the bricks. He was hurting from that last blow, and he didn't move for a few moments. Suddenly, Daito's shriveled form gasped for breath and he called out with a shrill rasping voice. "Enough, Kerlin! We cannot win in this condition. Let us retreat..."
All three of the priests began to dematerialize in purple hazes. Kerlin was the last to go. He pulled himself forward from the wall and spit blood at the ground towards the group.
"This isn't over," he said. And then he was gone.

Bax shook his head, "Those were the three I told you about, those who I fought back in Nibelheim. I am sure that we will see them again...the Order has a nasty habit of following me around."
The thought of seeing them again, in better condition, was not pleasant to Zack. It angered him deeply that they were specifically targeting Bax; his momentary scowl reflected that. But for now, they were safe. He focused on that, and trotted a few steps closer to Jack, lightening up immediately. "Wow, that was awesome!" he crowed, "Sent 'em packin'! You've always been a badass!"

Jack couldn't help but crack a smile. "It wasn't THAT cool," he said jokingly. "But to be honest, deep down I didn't think I was going to win. But I didn't want to let him know that. Ya just can't back down, or let them see your fear." Jack leaned in closer to Zack's face. "You'd do well to remember that... In the end, it's only you that you have to look after," Jack said somewhat sternly, remembering Claude's encounter with the media.

Bax looked at the shaken camera crew while Jack and Zack talked. They had ducked behind cars in fright. Bax shook his head, and changed the subject. "We should get going. It is a long ways to the source that I felt earlier."
He pointed himself in the right direction and started walking. "Shall we?"

Zack blinked, glanced toward Bax, then back at Jack. He thought a moment, then said, "Well, against enemies of course. But..."
His expression grew slightly somber and his eyes looked all too wise. "...sometimes confidence can cause a lot of trouble..." He then turned to follow Bax.

* * *

The trip back to the source, where Valtiel’s energy was literally dripping, was relatively uneventful. They avoided the route that the police had followed and made their way around the crowd. The closer they got to the abandoned section of the city, the fewer people they saw. People still gave them nasty looks, but they avoided them in general, giving them a wide berth. Bax ignored them as he pressed on, and Zack seemed to take it for granted. The only one among them who seemed bothered by the looks they were getting was Jack. But he kept quiet as they moved closer to the original police blockade.

They finally reached the alley, which was now completely deserted. After Daito had killed the officer and sent Bax running, all of the police had gone in pursuit and all of the civilians had gotten as far away as possible. So the area looked even more eerie than usual. Bax hopped over the caution tape and motioned for the others to follow him. Once again, the stench of rotting flesh and the twisted darkness nearly overcame Bax as he drew closer. They arrived at the center and looked on. The alley ended with a single brick wall about 8 feet high. It was put in place to stop people from walking between the buildings, and the alley continued on the other side of it. The hole sat in the middle of it, 6 feet in diameter. Perfectly round, like it had been drilled. Although the wall was only a few layers of brick thick, the tunnel seemed to stretch on forever into the shadows. The outer runs of Valtiel's symbol encircled the tunnels entrance.

All of the debris in the alley looked like it was smashed against the sides of the buildings by and huge pressure, so the ground was nearly clear...nearly. A figure stood in the middle of the clearing. It was fleshy and unmoving, like a grim statue. It clearly resembled Valtiel, but lacked any outward signs of power. The trio neared it, and the "statue" twitched to life. Its feet did not move an inch, but its arms jerked around with exaggerated movements. A muffled voice emanated from somewhere inside the creature, almost like a voice recording.

"You sure took your dear sweet time. So many hours...minutes...seconds....just ticking by while you scurried about. Now, where are the rest of you? The silver haired leader is nowhere to be seen. Aaah, that's right—you left him in Midgar. You left him with me...alone. He thinks he's safe, he thinks he's strong. I beg to differ. But I'm a sporting man: I'll give you a chance to help him...to save him. This will lead you back to the start. Consider it a gift. I suggest you hurry."

The faux Valtiel extended a pointed arm towards the tunnel and froze. The message ended, and the game began.

Bax visibly shook at the sound of the voice, but closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he stepped forward. The other two followed him, albeit with a bit of trepidation.

About ten yards in, Bax felt very lightheaded, and he began to look back to Zack and Jack. A wave of realization began to pass over him and then everything went dark. His body slumped to the ground. Zack took a step forward to help him, trying to call out Bax’s name, but his shout disappeared in a vacuum and went unheard as he too fell down and blacked out. Jack felt his suit began to act up and his limbs buckled as his vision went dark. The trio splayed out on the ground of the endless tunnel, and none of them heard the ticking sound that began to echo off of the walls from somewhere down the tunnel.

* * *

Bax’s body tremored and he jolted up from his prostrate position. He looked around him and knew instantly that he was no longer in the tunnel or the Super City. From the decrepit look of the buildings around him, he could tell that he was in the slums of Midgar. Bax looked around him and saw that Zack and Jack were already up. Zack was staring at the wall behind them, where, instead of a tunnel, the brick wall remained with a large symbol reminiscent of Valtiel’s signature plastered on it. Bax shuddered and then stood up to go see what Jack was looking at.

Jack stood by his bike, shaking his head. He pointed to the ground to a message. The words "tick tock" were written in blood on the ground by the bike.
“Whoever this guy is, he’s sick,” Jack said. “I guess we should find Sephiroth X before we do anything else.”

Bax nodded and turned to Zack. Zack sighed, looking uncomfortable, but he nodded.
“Let’s do this.”

[ZaCloud]

Midgar. In a way, it felt like coming home to Zack. Even though he knew he’d grown up in the Desert of the Dead, it somehow felt like Midgar was where his life had really begun.

He took in the dilapidated buildings making up the slum area they had been brought to. Even in the dark night, he could see their details as clearly as his otherwise weak eyes allowed. A place of discomfort for many, but relatively safe solitude to Zack in a lot of ways. Still, it felt more ominous than usual. He wondered if he should say something, when Jack observed from beneath the Earth Breaker’s visor, “Well, we can’t find Sephiroth X by visual aura. Or anything for that matter. There’s black all over the place.”

Bax took in the observation grimly; he had felt the darkness around them, but now hearing this confirmation only reinforced what he already knew: Valtiel and the Dark Phoenix within him had a tight grip over all of Midgar, and it would be a very difficult prospect to release that hold. With a distinct possibility of failure.

Zack looked around, frowning. If he thought about what was going on, he found himself nearly overwhelmed. He would have to focus on smaller parts of the big picture. Namely, finding Sephiroth X. Given Valtiel’s recorded speech earlier, it would be likely that even Sephy would come to great risk against their foe. He was determined not to let another friend come to harm, even if he could do little by comparison. The blood in his veins seemed to hum a bit, and he gazed toward the more civilized part of the city.

Whether it was the traces of Sephiroth’s blood in his veins beckoning toward its owner, or just gut instinct, Zack felt compelled to head in a particular direction. “Guess we better at least look somewhere. Let’s head into the city’s center.”

Having no better ideas, the other two men nodded, and Jack looked over his bike to make sure it was still in good working order. It appeared untouched, surprisingly. It took a bit of shuffling to figure out how to fit three people onto it without resulting in leg-burns or tipping, but soon enough they were settled, and Jack piloted them down the dark street.

Knowing that conversation would likely lead to doom and gloom, which his mind was trying to protect him from, Zack hummed a light ditty quietly.

[ZaCloud]

(OOC: Me n SP did dis, fun times ^_^ )
----------------------------------------------------------------

Realizing they were close to a familiar area, Zack looked forward to Jack. "Hey, Jack? Could you take a left up here and stop at the sixth building on the right?"
Jack felt a bit puzzled, but answered, "Alright," and took the instructed turn at the next intersection.

When they rolled to a stop, Zack hopped off the bike and looked up at the building. It had always been a 24-hour establishment, but he wondered if the person they needed to see was awake or even there.

"What is this place?" Jack asked.
Bax smiled. "You'll see."
"Well, maybe," Zack answered, "I'm not sure if they'll let you all the way in or not... But Bax..." Zack looked at him levelly, quite serious. "If he's in, we might have to have a talk with him."

A cold wave went up Bax's spine as he read Zack's subtext. This was the headquarters of Zack's mercenary boss, Edos Lee. Lee kept tabs on all of his members--and he probably saw exactly what happened over in the Super City...

Zack sighed resolutely, as he turned to face the door again, his eyes narrowed and mature. "We don't know what else is going to happen... It has to be dealt with, and now may be the best, or only, chance. Jack, you should be safe out here, or you can come inside. The guards can be trusted either way." He stepped toward the door.

Jack looked around a bit. "Guards?" He could see no signs of anyone around or in the building's windows... All this cloak-and-dagger going on lately was irritating him. He did not like to be left in the dark, especially in matters concerning friends. "Well, I'm coming in." He got off the bike and followed.

Bax followed Zack closely and leaned in to whisper, "Lee will remember me, yes? We have only met a handful of times and it has been a long time, but I hope I made a good impression..."
Zack nodded. "You're pretty unforgettable. And he seems to remember every individual that works for him."

They stopped walking as they got to the secretary's desk. This shift, it was a young man with green hair tied back into a long ponytail and a lip ring. He quirked a brow at the visitors as they approached. "Wow... How'd you guys get here so fast?"
Zack blinked a bit. "How did--"
"The boss was hoping to see you guys. Well, you're definitely not doubles or anything, so head on up. Umm... Just a sec." He tapped his finger on the edge of his desk a few times near the intercom. A few taps came back over the line.
"You can bring your buddy too he says. We may be secretive, but we do get our advertising somehow." He smirked. "Just hope it won't be so you can drag their bodies outta here, Red. Alright, good luck."

Jack blinked with a bit of apprehension, then followed the two as they ascended the stairway. "Claude... What the hell kind of place is this?"
"It's where I work," Zack answered, "The Dragon's Claws. Edos Lee Mercenaries. Sorry for being so dodgy before; I have to be careful about releasing information."

Jack had heard of the organization before. These were no roughnecks; they worked cleanly and efficiently. But he hadn't had much opportunity to form a solid opinion of them. This would be interesting... But things seemed tense, especially as he connected what had happened on Beta to their current situation.

Edos Lee, rather than sitting behind his desk as usual, was standing in front of it, his arms folded in front of his chest. Such a loaded posture; it was difficult to tell if he was feeling business-like, casual... or angry. His eyes were always narrow, due to his Nihon lineage, and his expression had always been rather stoic. He was dressed in his usual sharp black business suit, his short black hair perfectly in place, his missing left ring-finger's vacant gap visible.

He gave a small nod to the three men. "I was not expecting you back so soon… But perhaps it is well. Little can surprise me anymore, so I will not delve into the technical." He slowly uncrossed his arms, allowing them to rest at his sides, his hands still in full view and unarmed. He looked first at Jack. "It is by grace of my trust in Zack Strife that you have been allowed to enter here. Know that he took an oath of loyalty, and is bound by his honor. Do not interfere with anything that may transpire, or it will stain his principles."

Jack blinked at the man’s chilling yet civilized words; this guy seemed like he could justify practically anything, and he found it disturbing how easily convinced he was to nod in agreement to the condition. What might happen? The tension had grown ten times thicker. He partially hoped that Claude would stand up for himself if need be, but given how this Edos Lee put things…

And there was the use of that name again…

Lee then shifted his black eyes to Zack, stepping closer. "Zack, you remember that it is also by my trust in you, that I allowed Bax Firago into our organization?"
Zack nodded, matching Lee’s stoicism. "I do, and I’ve been grateful."
"You yourself, and he, are well known members of my organization. Infamous in the criminal and civilian layers of Midgar. A Strife is seldom ignored, an alien of fire never. I knew it would carry both potentials of risk and reward to be associated so publicly. And yet, I accepted you without the usual first test, and Firago with no evaluation. Do you know why?"

Zack thought, but frowned. "I’m not really sure…"
"Because I can see with more than my eyes. I have said I can never be crossed without repercussion."
Zack’s breath caught. Had Jack been allowed in as a witness to a planned punishment of some sort? To display to the world that Edos Lee would not stand for betrayal of his organization? And worse… would he be able to do anything about it, considering how strongly he honored his oath? He felt trapped by only the air around him…

With Jack and Zack bound by the power of words alone, Lee then turned to Bax, standing the standard four feet away, right at the perceived boundary of comfortable distance for the average human stranger. "Bax Firago," he said sternly, "I have seen the footage of what transpired on the Beta Continent. For the majority of the broadcast, it was believed you had slain police officers. A destructive chase ensued. And then… they showed up. Specifically targeting you."

Lee raised a hand, gesturing to silence Bax in case he was about to speak up. "Say nothing yet. I know from the aftermath, and through my own experiences… You were not at fault for the destruction. It was sufficiently shown to be the case as well, so the general public knows factually. However, emotionally, there may be disbelief for quite some time. And nothing completely clear has yet come of the situation, so there will remain a chord of doubt. But even more importantly, the Order of Magi will quite likely discover that you are associated with me. It is only a matter of time. So, Bax..." Lee’s expression softened a bit, and he looked almost pleading to a small, nearly imperceptible degree. "...Do you have any idea of what can be done?"

Bax took a long, slow, deep breath, never breaking eye contact with Lee. His hair flickered in his nervousness, and he bit his lip before pursing his lips to speak.
"Lee…I respect you a great deal. Actually, I would love to be able to work with someone like you back on Auralis, both as leaders. And because I respect you so much, I do not want to bring you any trouble. I realize that you operate a very strong, covert business here, and I do not want to…jeopardize that. The Order is ruthless, and I do fear that they might try to come after me through you. I have been trying to…lay low as much as possible, but my appearance makes that very difficult. Unfortunately, the activities which I will be taking on in the near future risk me coming into the public eye even more."

Bax shook his head and his face turned into a snarl. "The Order refuses to leave me alone because I am a key in their scheme with Necrostiana and Valtiel. If I wait for them to find me, I will put many people at risk. But if I go after them myself, I will perish. So the only thing that I can think of is that I will do my best to distance myself from you and your organization to minimize any damage to your ranks and your reputation. I would appreciate any help, but you have been kind enough to take me in and I do not wish to repay you with chaos."

Lee folded his arms behind his back and straightened his posture. He sounded slightly regretful. "Unfortunately... Merely distancing yourself may not be an option. You are already well known, and the news of a member's severance is difficult to advertise in a believable manner..." He turned away and paced toward his desk.

Bax closed his eyes and gulped, gritting his teeth. He clenched his fists and huffed. "I..."
His throat closed up. He didn't know what to say to that...

Lee stopped, picked up a few papers, shuffled through them, then turned around, still holding them in his hand. "My organization is a tool of justice. And you have been a strong asset. Which is why..." He handed the papers to Bax. "...I will contact these members, and alert them to the situation. Any who accept, and whom you approve of, can help you in your battle. This Valtiel you speak of, I suspect is the source of darkness I have felt run through this city. And the Order of Magi... My history with them has told me enough. As a tool of justice, it would be treason to humanity for us to only stand by and do nothing. We must all be ready to be weilded, financial reward, or not."

Bax held the stack of papers in his hands and looked at them and Lee with complete shock. He was dumbfounded, speechless, unable to quite comprehend what he had just heard. Lee was not just going to spare their lives, but he was going to help Bax with one of the most important battle of his life by supplying him with a private army. Bax looked at Edos Lee and choked out a small "thank you" before examining the list with trembling hands. They all looked strong, and he recognized several names. It was incredible...

"I cannot promise any figures of who will volunteer, or whether they may have terms for you. But that will speak of who truly stands for the code I have myself sworn to. And if the number who accepts is below five, I will accompany you myself. All we need are some key details, and I will send out the call. You can return here to find out who will answer." He reached his more complete right hand forward.

Bax clutched the papers with his left hand and reached his right hand forward as well to engage Lee in the hand shake. "You are a great man, Lee. I do not know how else I will be able to thank you."

Lee shook his head once. "It is only the purpose of some men, to preserve what other men seek to destroy. The first is my caste, as it is yours."

***

A few taps echoed over some speakers in Lee's office, and he wheeled his eyes to a screen for cameras. He smiled and tapped back on a microphone. "We have a visitor. He's on your list."

Zack, still overwhelmed at the big turnaround, looked at Bax with excitement. He had dropped his serious persona in favor of the one that smiled naturally, and was doing so widely, his heart still pounding from the various shades of tension and relief that had occurred.
Bax looked from Lee to Zack inquisitively. "Who do you think it is? You've worked with more people than I have in this organization?"
Zack shrugged. "I dunno, there's over a hundred people here."
Lee answered, "We shall see when they arrive."

"Lee," called out a voice from behind them. A rugged man with jet-black, shoulder-length hair tied back in a pony tail walked in, sporting a half-shaved appearance and a patch over his left eye. He had at least three daggers and a gun strapped to various parts of his body--visible. "I have news you'll want to hear."
The man came between the group, and looked directly at Bax. "Bax? When did you get back here? I thought you were over at Beta."

Bax looked at the man incredulously. He had never seen this man before in his life, but his manner did seem strangely familiar. "Who are you, and how do you know my name?"

The man smiled and chuckled a little. Edos Lee broke his normally stoic expression and cracked a smile. "That's right, you don't know this form."
The man's skin began to darken to a charcoal black, only a little lighter than his hair. Two horns wrenched from the top of his head and his hair turned darker and came out of the ponytail, developing deep red highlights. Only his head changed, but his identity was very obvious.

"Black Spider!" Bax shouted! "I did not know that you worked for Edos Lee!"
Zack's eyes widened. "Whoah! I didn't either! Good to see ya!"

Jack, having already been blown away by extremes, would not have been hard to tip over at this point. What a small world it could be sometimes. Obviously, the foul-mouthed gargoyle he had met before when he'd also first met Bax, could change shape at will. It was amazing, but in a way troubling. He hoped he would be in for no more surprises for a little while...

"Yeah, for a few years now," the shape shifter responded. "When my body isn't shattered, I'm a pretty good asset around here. Actually, Zack, you've been giving me a run for money since you started working here."

Zack grinned with a slight blush and scratched the back of his head. "Uh, thanks, sorry?"

The gargoyle smiled and returned to his human form. "Anyway, this is just a logical extension of my line of work. Lee is one of the best bosses I've ever had--he hasn't ever tried to kill me."
Lee smiled, "Yet."
"Yet," Black Spider repeated, tossing a knowing look at his boss.
"Anyway, may I interrupt? Like I said, I have information I think you'll want to hear." Black Spider paused and looked over at the trio. "Actually, this pertains to you three as well."

Zack blinked and fell serious again, listening intently.
"Go ahead," Lee said.
Bax leaned towards Black Spider imperceptibly to make sure that he didn't miss a single word.

"You all know of the dark feeling around Midgar as of late. And I suppose that you three probably already figured out that it was Valtiel. It had begun a little bit around the time you left for Beta, but it has gotten progressively worse since then.
"Usually, when I have felt the dark, twisted presence, I have felt it in one place, maybe two when he has severely affected one place. But over the past few weeks, I have felt the presence all over the city--in multiple places. All at the same time. I don't know exactly what it means, but one of the presences just disappeared about half an hour ago. I went to investigate the disappearance and found a message on the ground near a brick wall in the slums. It said 'Tick Tock.' And what's more, Valtiel's symbol was etched into the wall. I think he's planning something."

Zack's eyes widened. "That's the place we got sucked in through when we got back here in Midgar! I think it was like a trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow... Said before he was being sporting by letting us have the opportunity to aid Sephiroth X... The Warrior of Prosperity, our friend." Zack's lips tightened and his head lowered.

Lee nodded, "That explains how you got here. This Valtiel wanted you here. But 'why' is the question here."
"He seems to really like messing with people's heads," Zack answered with a grim scowl and a slight shiver. "It's all a game to him... Probably would like some folks putting up a little fight for his own amusement..."

"Even if it is for his so-called amusement," Bax said, "we should find Sephiroth X. I do not much care for bait, but I do not want to see our ally injured for his sick pleasure."

Edos Lee nodded. "In that case, once the call-out is answered by enough, if there is a significant disturbance I can send them there straightaway, in case the monster acts too quickly for you to return here."

"We thank you, Lee. Black Spider, are you coming with us?"
The shape shifter smiled, "Do you think I would miss this?"
Zack smiled slightly, glad to have another ally along. But then he blinked and gestured with his fingers. "Umm, the bike's already pretty crowded though... Can you turn into a mouse?"

The shape shifter smiled, but shook his head. "If I were another species, perhaps, but my kind of shifting relies on changing my bone mass. I can only compress my body to a certain degree--a mouse would be too small for me. My apologies. I can, however, fly--though that might look conspicuous."

"Getting there's more important right now," Zack said with a bit of determination, "Plus you can let us know from up there if we're on the right track maybe." Then he blinked and lowered his head. "Uh, that is, if you guys think that'd work..."

"Fine with me," said Black Spider. Bax nodded in agreement. He was prepared to throw caution to the wind at this point, relatively speaking. Otherwise, they wouldn't get anything done.

Zack's confidence replenished, he pumped his fist in the air. "Alriiiight! Then let's get goin'! Flashy Shiny Buddy, here we come! An’ Flesh-Face is goin' down!"