While the blinding red emergency alarm lights flashed and blinked all around, Alex slowly descended the steps after the rest of the group, never taking his attentive gaze off the massive communication pipes that were disconnecting one after another with a characteristic loud hissing sound. The others likewise did not tear their tense gazes away from the gigantic container tightly closed by massive metal shutters — everyone perfectly understood that inside was yet another enormous and dangerous abomination created by Hojo's sadistic hands.
Standing in the very centre of the lower laboratory, Alex swept the squad with a quick glance and first of all turned to Aerith so that she would be fully ready for that exact second when the enormous monster crawled out of the opening trap. He wanted Aerith to instantly bind and block the creature with magical chains the very second it appeared — so that the group would have the ideal opportunity to operatively deal with the beast before it began smashing everything around.
Hearing Alex's clear request, Aerith first shifted her gaze to the closed reservoir, then looked at him again and confidently nodded her head. But before Alex turned to the others, Aerith quietly reminded him that she would not be able to hold a creature of such gigantic size under control for long.
Understandingly nodding, Alex turned to the group in order to quickly outline the tactical plan of action — how to deal with the beast ready to jump out at any second as quickly and operatively as possible. Alex clearly remembered that inside the reservoir was hidden exactly the same creature they had already encountered that afternoon in the underground laboratory under the Sector Seven Slums. And he perfectly knew that this beast in the container had likewise been bred thanks to the colossal energy flowing in the Red Materia of Leviathan.
Only, unlike the morning monster from the underground that had used the Materia of Leviathan as a full-fledged powerful battery, the creature in this central laboratory had managed to receive only a tiny part of it. That was exactly why Hojo had so passionately yearned to return the original Red Materia from the underground section, sending his contact into the Slums who in the end had hired the idiot Johnny who had completely ruined the entire assignment.
Not wishing to load the rest of the team with such unnecessary-in-battle details, Alex laid out only the essence of the plan: how to quickly kill the gigantic creature without even giving it a chance to come to its senses. And the entire essence of his idea boiled down to two extremely simple and effective actions — synchronously behead and pierce the heart of the enormous monster through and through, after which it would inevitably die. Having attentively listened to Alex's plan, Dean quietly snorted and with habitual grace pulled his Blade of Cain from behind his back, beginning with lazy ease to spin it right on his palm.
"Looks like that was the very last pipe disconnecting. The creature will come out any minute now," Tifa spoke in a tense tone, pointing a finger at the last pipe that had sprung off with a hiss.
"Finally! I'm already completely and finally ready! Let this monster out right now, and I'll graphically show this toothy carcass what happens when someone dares to mess with the greatest kunoichi of Wutai!" Yuffie shouted with sincere joyful excitement, dashingly waving her gigantic combat shuriken over her head.
"Don't celebrate ahead of time — inside there could be absolutely anything. This bastard Hojo never in his life creates anything even remotely harmless," Claudia spoke restrainedly, instantly drawing her heavy Buster Sword from behind her back with a clear sound.
"What difference does it make! Dangerous beast or not… The bigger and more massive its carcass, the elementary easier it is to hit it from all barrels!" Barrett answered with a wide, predatory smirk, clicking the bolt of his machine gun with a scrape and aiming its muzzle right at the centre of the sealed shutters.
"And if this beast turns out too damn tenacious — it just needs to be instantly turned into minced meat without unnecessary talk and burned to ash. That always works," Dean added with an icy smirk, continuing to spin the Blade of Cain on his palm with absolute carelessness.
Listening to the animated conversations around him, Alex never took his attentive gaze off the central container that was supposed to open literally any second. He perfectly understood that this unexpected fight was an excellent chance for the other members of the team to become significantly stronger, for, unlike the habitual video game, in this reality there existed no conditional level system. Shaking his head from side to side, Alex turned to Aerith at the moment when she had already fully prepared the spell for magical binding and was ready to apply it the very second the monster appeared outside.
Meeting her gaze, Alex slightly smiled and raised his index finger, showing that she would need to engage her magic strictly on his signal. Sweetly wrinkling her little nose, Aerith answered with a smile that she already knew everything perfectly well and there was no need to repeat the same thing ten times as if to a stupid little child. Seeing that even in such a tense and dangerous situation she still remained just as cute and spontaneous, Alex quietly laughed and turned away, taking a step a little to the side in order to reliably cover her with himself from a possible blow.
Not missing this protective gesture of Alex's, Aerith quietly and cheerfully laughed, after which she lightly kicked him from behind in the leg, playfully grumbling that she was not a fairy-tale princess who needed to be constantly protected. Hearing her cute grumbling, Alex slightly turned his head and arched an eyebrow, literally asking her with an expressive gaze whether that was true. Again wrinkling her little nose, Aerith raised her palm and barely noticeably pinched her fingers, leaving a tiny gap between them. Quietly laughing, Alex already wanted to tell Aerith not to get distracted right before the battle when behind him rang out a sharp, loud hissing sound.
Perfectly understanding exactly what this sound meant, Alex turned his head and saw how the massive metal shutters covering the enormous reservoir began slowly sliding apart in different directions. Confidently knowing, as it seemed to him, exactly what familiar creature was inside, Alex lazily reached for the cigarette case in the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a thin cigar. Bringing the cigar to his lips and lighting it with a habitual motion, Alex raised his gaze to the opening flask — and his eyes suddenly widened in shock. Even Dean, who until then had been lazily and indifferently spinning the Blade of Cain on his palm, stared in surprise straight ahead.
"What the hell is this doing here?!" Alex and Dean blurted out in one voice in complete amazement, peering at what was actually inside the Mako-filled container.
None of the other members of the group heard the sudden, shock-filled shout of Alex and Dean — their own gazes were fixed dead on that horrific nightmare that was in anabiosis inside the glass container. It was a truly colossal, massive creature resembling a hybrid of the most terrible hallucinations: with a repulsive octopus-like face as if stretched over a human skull, over which a translucent jellyfish had somehow been fastened, through whose gelatinous dome bare bones ominously gleamed white.
The body of the monster was covered in heavy scales and crowned with enormous paws with razor-sharp claws, and on its powerful shoulders stuck out appendages vaguely resembling folded wings but serving as massive bone pauldrons. Along the entire massive torso of the beast, right under the protective scales, continuous convulsing green sparks of pure Mako energy ran.
Blinking in surprise, Alex sharply turned his head to Dean — and the latter was already in the literal sense insanely poking a finger at the glass, demanding explanations of what the hell this ancient cosmic crap was even doing in this universe. For after Alex had earlier shared with him an enormous array of ton-weight information, knowledge of such horrific creatures that in all worlds were considered only children's fairy tales and ancient legends had been literally burned into Dean's memory. And now, having beheld this monster here with his own eyes, Dean simply thirsted to get a direct answer: what the hell was this beast slicing through this reality and sitting in a damn Shinra tank?
Perfectly understanding the reasons for such a turbulent reaction of Dean's, Alex calmingly waved his hand, showing with a gesture that he would now figure everything out. Instantly activating his magical vision, Alex intently peered into the anatomy of the creature inside the container that continued to rapidly empty of Mako.
A light, unpleasant doubt flashed through Alex's head for a second: first of all he wanted to make sure that this spawn had been bred precisely within the walls of the Shinra laboratory and was not a randomly fallen onto this world representative of the alien Hotian race that had once arrived together with the calamity named Jenova.
He damned well did not fancy the prospect of again dealing with full-fledged descendants of Cthulhu, as had already been the case during their leisurely journey into the Hunter's Nightmare in the company of Maria, with the subsequent meeting with the spawn named Cthilla.
Quickly and precisely making sure that before them was still not yet another cosmic beast of interstellar scale, Alex relievedly waved his hand to Dean, making it clear that one could exhale. But before completely switching off his magical vision, Alex managed to catch inside the massive body of H0512 a very familiar, sharp glimmer of ancient power that immediately lightning-fast faded, reliably hiding behind the dense streams of Mako circulating inside the monster.
Not paying particular attention at first to this insignificant and fleeting detail, Alex turned to Dean, who with a loud exhale wiped non-existent sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. For a short moment it sincerely seemed to him that their entire adventure, imposed on them by Lucifer himself, would in the end inevitably lead to the necessity of getting into a fight with yet another cosmic abomination. Lightly shaking his head, Alex successively swept his gaze over Claudia, Tifa, Yuffie and Barrett, and at the very end stopped on Aerith, who right now felt absolutely nothing suspicious or alien inside the biological shell of H0512.
"All right, this beast is about to finally get free. The moment it appears — we work strictly according to plan," Alex spoke in a collected, chiselled tone, attracting the universal attention of the squad and tuning everyone into a combat mood.
"Oh yes! You can have no doubts, I'm more than ready. Right now I'll show this freak my signature super-duper combo!" Yuffie spoke with a cheerful, mischievous sparkle in her eyes, rapidly forming complex hand seals and summoning her shadow clones with green leaves on their heads to help.
"I'm also fully ready, kid. Let's see just how thick the hide of this huge damn thing is," Barrett responded with a predatory smirk, switching on the move to explosive rounds mode on the sensor panel of his cyber-arm.
"It's starting to get out. Everyone to positions, prepare for battle!" Claudia sharply commanded, noticing how the monster behind the thick glass slowly opened its horrific eyes.
"Aerith, get ready… On the count of three!" Alex loudly commanded, demonstratively raising above his head exactly three bent fingers.
The moment Alex finished speaking and bent the first finger, the creature H0512 with a deafening roar swung its enormous scaled paw and without particular difficulty smashed the thick armoured glass of the capsule in which it had been languishing to smithereens.
Seeing the sharpest heavy fragments flying straight in their direction, everyone instantly jumped backward so that no one's face or body would be hit. Alex, however, only lazily waved his palm at the flying glass spray, never taking his attentive gaze off H0512, which was slowly and threateningly tumbling out of the damaged reservoir.
Having finally gotten out of the capsule, H0512 emitted such a wild, piercing howl that all the remaining containers in the laboratory instantly began cracking and bursting, spilling their toxic-green contents around. And the moment the creature finished its deafening roar, Alex confidently lowered the very last finger — and Aerith instantly caught this long-awaited signal.
Having received the clear command, Aerith with a strong swing struck the tip of her magic staff against the ringing metal floor. At that same instant under the paws of the monster a gigantic magical circle of blinding pink light flared up, from the epicentre of which heavy crystal-pink chains burst out with a loud clang.
The shining fetters immediately seized the enormous limbs and massive torso of H0512 in a death grip, with incredible power pulling the monster downward — so much so that the metal floor under its carcass began deeply sagging with a characteristic pitiful scrape. Even though the magical chains had bound its movements, H0512 tried with all its strength to break free: it furiously jerked in different directions, convulsively twisting and trying to free its gigantic clawed paws.
Feeling how strongly the weavings of the spell were stretching, Aerith gritted her teeth with all her strength, continuing with stubbornness to press the tip of the staff to the floor so that the charms would not dissipate ahead of time. Noticing that Aerith had with difficulty but still managed to temporarily restrain the giant, the entire squad instantly prepared for a crushing attack.
"I… I won't hold it for long! Hurry while it hasn't torn the chains!" Aerith shouted in a tense voice while distinct beads of sweat appeared on her forehead from the colossal strain.
"Yuffie, Tifa — I choose you! Forward! Use the paired strike to the knees!" Alex shouted in a maximally pompous, epic tone, with an ominous smirk pointing a finger right at the beast straining against the fetters.
"Oh come on! You didn't need to say it in such a stupid tone!" Tifa shouted with a smile on the run, sharply leaning her body forward and preparing for a lightning rush.
Quietly laughing, Alex winked at Tifa and calmly waved his index finger forward, graphically showing that right now was the time to act and not conduct long conversations. Tifa slightly narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath, completely concentrating on the intended target. Sharply tearing from her place, she gained colossal acceleration and soared into a high jump.
Spinning in the air, Tifa deftly reached the very ceiling, instantly pushed off from it with her feet and like a soaring arrow rushed back downward. Having gained maximum falling speed, she sharply turned right in the air, putting all the physical strength she had into one single crushing thrust.
Extending her leg forward, Tifa at frenzied speed with a swing smashed precisely into the right knee of H0512. From this terrible blow a repulsive crunch of breaking bones echoed throughout the closed laboratory. The kneecap of H0512 was instantly crushed into fine crumbs, and the flesh literally burst, spraying stinking, murky blood resembling thick swamp silt in all directions.
Not stopping at the one achieved success, Tifa immediately delivered yet another lightning kick precisely into the already damaged place. From the repeated thrust the leg of H0512 helplessly bent the wrong way, and the gigantic creature heavily staggered, tipping onto its side.
Beginning to roar piercingly from hellish pain, H0512 blindly swung its enormous clawed paw, intending to scoop up and crush Tifa. But when the sharp claws had already practically closed around her body, a light, slicing whistle was heard in the air — and thin metal threads instantly wrapped around Tifa's waist, which with incredible speed yanked her backward. Quietly gasping from such a sharp and unexpected jerk, Tifa a fraction of a second later felt that she was sitting in Alex's arms, who had without difficulty caught her in mid-air.
Meeting his gaze, Tifa gratefully and warmly smiled, after which she lightly jumped down onto the metal floor. Alex only softly smiled back at her and turned his head toward Yuffie — however she was already racing at full speed straight toward the tipping H0512 surrounded by a pack of her shadow clones.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha! And now my star hour has come! Get ready, ugly monster, right now you'll be hit by the super-duper combo of the great and inimitable kunoichi Yuffie Kisaragi!" Yuffie shouted with a deafening mischievous laugh, on the run dashingly spinning her gigantic four-pointed shuriken over her head.
Catching sight of Yuffie approaching at frenzied speed, H0512 emitted a deafening furious roar and crushingly swung its enormous clawed paw, intending with one motion to knock her down. But the moment it only raised its paw for a powerful swing, a rolling combat cry of Barrett rang out throughout the laboratory, immediately followed by loud sounds of rapid shotgun fire. Heavy explosive shrapnel with an unpleasant hiss deeply embedded itself into the sturdy scales on the paw of H0512, after which inside the wound a whole series of quiet but destructive pops thundered.
With each such microscopic explosion bloodied pieces of scales cracked off the massive paw of H0512 and flew in all directions, and thick stinking blood poured from the torn wounds. Having received such a painful wound, H0512 desperately threw the damaged paw backward, which gifted Yuffie the ideal opportunity for an unhindered attack.
Finding herself at a critically close distance for a strike, Yuffie together with her shadow clones synchronously and with a swing threw their gigantic four-pointed shurikens. Each of the five enormous shurikens with a whistle embedded itself precisely into the leg of H0512, evenly covering it with blades from the very foot to the very thigh.
Widely smirking, Yuffie together with her copies began simultaneously forming complex hand seals. At that same second on the steel blades of the embedded shurikens crackling electric arcs brightly flared up that began greedily tearing and burning the flesh on the leg of H0512. But Yuffie was not going to stop at that and dashingly formed yet another combination of hand seals. And the moment she fixed her fingers in the final gesture, the gigantic shurikens of her clones simultaneously exploded with a deafening crack, literally tearing off the mutilated leg of H0512.
From the powerful shockwave Yuffie's own gigantic shuriken hummed back, and she deftly, with a graceful turn caught it right in the air. Completely losing support on the second leg, H0512 helplessly lost its balance and with a heavy crash began tipping belly-first right onto the sagging metal floor.
"Well, and now, perhaps, my turn has come… Maximum effort," Alex spoke with an ominous chuckle, with a characteristic ring stretching sharp metal threads between his fingers.
The moment H0512 with a crash fell downward and heavily braced its paws against the metal floor, preparing to rise back up, Alex was already right in front of it with a wide, ominous smile on his face. Meeting his gaze, H0512 emitted a loud roar and raised its arm for a crushing swing.
But before the monster managed even to swing, Alex had already drawn his hand back, loudly cracking his fingers. Skillfully restraining his colossal strength so as not to finish the beast with a single blow and spoil the team fight for everyone, Alex put a careful impulse and delivered a lightning uppercut precisely into the centre of H0512's face.
And the moment Alex's fist with a swing smashed into the muzzle of H0512, the sound of a real explosion thundered deafeningly throughout the closed laboratory, immediately followed by a powerful shockwave that scattered the nearest broken containers in different directions.
The head of H0512 helplessly tilted backward, and its gigantic torso began heavily listing onto its back. Deftly catching this ideal moment, Alex jumped upward, easily pushing off from the falling torso of H0512, and simultaneously threw his thin metal threads around the massive steel pipes under the very ceiling.
Flying over the carcass of H0512, Alex forcefully pulled his hands toward himself — and the steel threads closed with a clear sound around the neck of H0512, along the way instantly slicing off all the octopus tentacles from its face. Sharply jerking his hands downward, Alex tightened the metal strings even more, and the massive body of H0512 began slowly rising above the floor as if it had been strung up on an improvised gallows. From such an unexpected rise the crystal-pink chains around its torso stretched to the limit, continuing stubbornly to pull the monster downward.
Aerith emitted a tired, heavy sigh, with colossal difficulty continuing to maintain the charms in order to keep the straining H0512 in one place. Again with a crushing clang striking the tip of her magic staff against the floor, Aerith summoned even more magical chains that wound in a dense cocoon around the body of H0512 and began with doubled power to attract it to the ground — with such terrible force that a distinct crunch of breaking internal bones rolled through the hall.
"Dean, gut its chest this instant! Barrett, get ready to fire the main calibre!" Alex shouted, continuing with all his strength to pull the metal threads toward himself and hold H0512 in a helpless suspended state.
"I know perfectly well what to do without you! It was you yourself who proposed this whole dumb idea with the team fight!" Dean snapped with clear irritation, approaching the fixed H0512 with rapid and precise dashes.
"Come on, chop this bastard! Right now we'll graphically see what shit this beast is made of!" Barrett shouted with a predatory smirk, on the move quickly switching the firing mode of his cyber-arm to heavy grenade-launcher shots and aiming right at the centre of H0512's chest.
Continuing to run at full speed toward the fixed H0512, Dean thought on the move that it wouldn't hurt him either to show off a little in front of the others — exactly the same way all the others had just done. After all, he categorically did not want to seem the only "uncool" guy in this company and was definitely not going to resign himself to such a role. Jumping high and powerfully, Dean slightly miscalculated the colossal force of his dash — and at frenzied speed with a swing smashed his knee precisely into the repulsive face of H0512. The blow turned out so wild that the muzzle of the creature instantly caved deep inward.
From such an unexpected and sharp jerk of the gigantic carcass Alex and Aerith almost lost the held object and simultaneously emitted extremely irritated grumbling, loudly asking this idiot not to jerk the beast so convulsively.
Quickly and with an imperturbable expression pretending as if everything had been planned that way from the very beginning, Dean with a habitual deft motion turned the Blade of Cain in his palm, gripping the hilt of the weapon in a reverse grip. Forcefully driving the Blade of Cain precisely into the mutilated muzzle of H0512, Dean slightly tilted his head backward so that the stinking dark blood would not God forbid get on him, and with full force sharply jerked his hand downward.
Pressing harder on the convenient hilt of the Blade of Cain, Dean began rapidly sliding downward, literally ripping open the torso of H0512 from the very head to the central sternum. Finding himself precisely at the level of the monster's chest, Dean made a sharp lateral jerk with his hand, instantly ripping the flesh of H0512 and exposing the monolithic, thick bones that densely as a natural shield covered the internal organs of the creature. With a clear sound yanking the Blade of Cain out of the torn flesh, Dean with graceful ease jumped backward, completely opening a clear view for Barrett.
Seeing the exposed and unprotected bones of the monster, Barrett loudly and triumphantly laughed. Not making himself wait long, he immediately fired a crushing shot from his weapon with a clump of concentrated red energy. The bright sphere with a hiss touched the exposed bone armour of H0512, and in the next second a deafening explosion thundered from which the beast went into a piercing, dying roar. From the most powerful detonation the thick bones on the chest of H0512 cracked and covered themselves with a distinct network of deep fissures from which thick streams of viscous black blood poured.
"Forward, SOLDIER girl! Your turn! Finish this ugly scum already!" Barrett shouted rollingly when Claudia raced past him at full, crushing speed with the Buster Sword in her hand.
Hearing Barrett's rolling cry, Claudia only quietly snorted, never for a second taking her intent gaze off the suspended H0512. Beginning to spin the gigantic Buster Sword at incredible speed right over her head, Claudia sharply jumped high upward — and at that same instant the broad steel blade of her weapon brightly flared with emerald-green Mako light.
Leaning her body forward, Claudia spun in the air like a top, gaining maximum inertia for a crushing chopping thrust. In the next instant Claudia with a swing delivered a most powerful blow precisely into the centre of the crushed bones on the chest of H0512. From her ramming thrust the sturdy bone plates on the monster's sternum finally broke and with a scrape flew in all directions, exposing a pulsating, strange-looking heart densely covered with black murky blood.
But the blade still could not immediately drive deep into the flesh, and Claudia emitted an irritated, quiet grumble. Instantly pushing off from the suspended torso of H0512, Claudia again soared upward, forcefully smashing her feet into the metal ceiling. Narrowing her eyes, Claudia pushed off from the ceiling supports and at colossal speed flew back downward like a stone.
Putting all the physical strength she had into one arm, Claudia delivered a powerful, sharp thrusting blow right into the exposed heart of the creature. And when the very tip of the Buster Sword with a crunch drove into the heart of H0512, Claudia felt colossal resistance — as if her heavy weapon with a scrape had abutted against yet another hidden internal bone.
Trying with all her strength to press the hilt forward, Claudia quickly realised that the Buster Sword had stuck dead in the fibrous heart of the creature. Raising a clenched fist in order to smash with a swing against the guard of the hilt and finally pierce the heart of H0512 through and through, Claudia suddenly tensely narrowed her eyes when she saw that absolutely all the internals of the creature began rapidly flaring with blinding green light.
And the very first anxious thought that instantly came into her head was that the concentrated Mako flowing through the wounded body of H0512 had finally gone out of control and a detonation explosion was about to occur right now. Tifa, the first to notice this dangerous ominous glow, did not waste a single second and immediately tore from her place, running forward at the limit of her strength.
"Claudia, get clear!" Tifa shouted at the top of her voice, approaching the fixed H0512 at full speed and intending on the fly to help deliver the final, decisive blow.
Hearing Tifa's warning cry behind her, Claudia sharply leaned her body backward, gripping with a death grip one hand the hilt of the Buster Sword — as if she were holding a heavy aspen stake at the very heart of the monster — and deeply drew the other hand back, clenching her fingers into a dense fist.
Gaining maximum acceleration, Tifa powerfully jumped forward and delivered a crushing spinning kick precisely into the very tip of the hilt of the Buster Sword. And at that very same fraction of a second Claudia synchronously delivered a fierce fist strike right against the guard of her blade with the single goal of finally and irreversibly piercing the heart of H0512 through and through.
From their colossal joint impulse a tangible shockwave spread throughout the closed laboratory from which the Buster Sword with a sharp whistle instantly pierced the heart of H0512 through and through and came out right from its back, with a crash embedding itself into the steel wall of the destroyed container from which this creature had originally burst.
But even with a completely pierced heart the toxic-green glow inside the body of H0512 did not think of quieting — on the contrary, it began pulsating and blinding even stronger, threatening an immediate detonation explosion. Irritably clicking his tongue, Alex loudly shouted to Aerith that she should with all her strength begin pulling the magical chains strictly downward.
Despite the terrible fatigue from continuously holding such an enormous creature with the help of her magic, Aerith clenched her teeth and began with new strength to pull the crystal-pink fetters to the floor. And the moment the shining chains with a powerful jerk pulled the fixed creature to the ground, Alex with a lightning motion twitched his fingers — and razor-sharp metal threads wound in a dense loop around the arms, neck and massive torso of the creature. In the next moment an unpleasant sound of ripping flesh and the crack of breaking bones swept through the hall.
Alex one last time sharply jerked his hands, tightening the strings to the limit, and in the next instant the massive body of H0512 was completely and thoroughly torn into several pieces that remained hanging suspended from the steel pipes under the ceiling. The bright green glow that by this moment was already blazing with blinding fire instantly went out and completely faded.
Looking at the bloodied body parts of H0512 suspended from the ceiling, absolutely everyone in the squad emitted a sincere, collective exhalation of enormous relief — for the monster in the end still had not exploded right in front of their noses.
"Well that was complete fucking bullshit, of course… But overall everyone worked simply excellently," Alex said, slightly moving his frozen fingers in order to loosen the tension of the metal threads and quickly wind them back into a neat ball.
"Ha-ha-ha! I'm the best of all in general! Did you only see how I effectively blew up the leg of this huge damn thing? I said from the very beginning that I'm the greatest kunoichi of Wutai!" Yuffie shouted with cheerful, ringing laughter, joyfully bouncing up to Alex and staring up at him with a sparkling gaze completely filled with trembling expectation of deserved praise.
"Well of course, you're our smart girl and a big hero. If only at the same time you weren't constantly trying to steal everything that isn't nailed down — you'd be priceless in general," Alex said with a light chuckle, affectionately stroking the playfully grumbling Yuffie on her tousled hair.
"Actually, I did no less! It was me with my magic who held this whole gigantic thing in one place! So the greatest number of team points for this fight by right I earned!" Aerith spoke in a proud tone, straightening her back, playfully raising her chin and planting her hands on her hips.
"Yeah-yeah, you're also a hero. And you, buddy, next time go fuck yourself with your team fights. Next time we just without unnecessary snot take down any beast and instantly forget about it. That was not cool at all," Dean spoke lazily and sceptically waving his hand, unhurriedly walking past Aerith and stopping right in front of Alex.
"Dude, come on, that was really damn cool! Am I not right?" Alex spoke, slightly pursing his lips and surveying Claudia, Tifa and Barrett standing nearby with a doubtful gaze.
"I somehow don't give a damn about your points. The main thing is just to kill the beast, and exactly how it's done worries me least of all," Barrett answered, indifferently shrugging his powerful shoulders and with a clear click clapping his palm against his cyber-arm.
"Don't even look at me. I don't care at all," Claudia immediately spoke in a strict tone the moment she shifted her gaze to Alex.
Looking at the impregnable Claudia, Alex instantly depicted on his face an incredibly offended expression as if his heart had just been broken with particular cynicism. But in response to this pitiful, full-of-tragedy gaze Claudia only bestowed upon him an absolutely calm, cool look and demonstratively turned away, making it clearly clear that she had merely voiced what she really thought.
Emitting a theatrical offended groan, Alex turned to Tifa, with his entire demeanour hoping to find at least some sincere support from her side. Having not the slightest possibility of resisting this childish pitiful gaze, Tifa emitted a quiet, velvety laugh, softly admitting that personally she had very much liked this whole idea with the team fight.
But before Alex managed to spread into a victorious happy smile, Tifa quickly added that such extremes still definitely should not be arranged too often. Widely smirking, Alex instantly found himself right up against Tifa and very tightly hugged her around the waist, literally lifting her into his arms.
Feeling the firm embrace and how her legs left the floor, Tifa again emitted a quiet chuckle and affectionately patted the arm that had wrapped around her waist. At this time Claudia, easily jumping inside the wrecked container from which H0512 had earlier burst, seized the convenient hilt of her Buster Sword in a death grip.
Sharply and forcefully jerking the hilt toward herself, she with one confident motion yanked the massive blade out of the mutilated steel wall and with a habitual gesture secured it behind her back. Quickly turning away, Claudia never noticed how from the deep hole in the wall a bright sheaf of crackling sparks burst out, after which a barely noticeable thin stream of black acrid smoke poured outside.
Unknowingly, Claudia had caused a serious short circuit in the central power grid of this block. And at that same time on the middle tier of the laboratory the electronic lock on one of the isolated cages began wildly sparking until the heavy metal doors finally with a scrape swung wide open.
The unique powerful creature resembling a graceful hybrid of a puma and a noble wolf that was in this cage suddenly opened its penetrating eyes and emitted a low, vibrating growl, baring sharp beastly fangs. And this captive creature was none other than Red XIII — or, as he was proudly called in his native distant lands, Nanaki.
Majestically rising onto all four paws, Red XIII emitted a quiet, threatening growl, exiting the dark cage, and his intent gaze immediately directed upward — to where he instantly caught the barely perceptible but deadly familiar scent of the mad Hojo. Digging his razor-sharp claws into the metal surface of the floor, Red XIII triumphantly and loudly howled throughout the laboratory, after which like a rapid fiery shadow dashed forward, instantly disappearing into the dark corridors of the complex.
To be continued...
(Well, the team battle went quite successfully, and everyone earned enough points. And an unexpected coincidence freed Red XIII. Quite a coincidence, don't you think? Who could have known something like that would happen? *Ahem*—certainly not me. I certainly didn't know Nanaki would escape like that—wonders never cease. And now that everyone is in place, we need to go after Hojo and find out the truth about the crap going on here. Yeah. As for me, I think I'll go get something to eat. Peace, love, and—hey, someone stole my raccoon. Bring him back, and I won't burn down your house.)
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