Night 59: Main Hallway, 1-West

[doneinthree]

[from here]

Kirk ran into the main hallway and found nothing there except more pink light coating everything. His gut feeling said that if something was happening, it should've happened already, but he was a loss to explain what was going on. The system (if he could call it that, vague as it was to describe the whole Landel's torture/

Comments

[36_24_35]

[From here]

Still dizzy from her recent revelation, Tifa stormed through the hallway without her usual caution. There was no need right now. Every corpse she had come across had been relatively small. There were none of those powerhouse nurses or hulking figures patients had encountered and fled from in the past.

The usually quiet hallway was buzzing with talk, distant cries of battle, and a new, fragile energy. Maybe it was hope, or it was just the optimistic side of her blabbing on. Either way, it was different and that was something to exploit in every way possible. She was up for the challenge, Tifa just needed a partner in crime--

"Zack!" Tifa called out from across the hallway. Sidestepping a few patients, she met him in the dimly lit passage. "Had any fun yet?" It was probably said with a bit too much glee, but could anyone blame her? She couldn't deny the exhilaration that was taking over her mind and body. A freak accident had put them in an advantageous spot. They may as well help clear out this institute for easy escape, not to mention the patients that were genuine civilians. Someone needed to help them!

[zack_fair]

Right as Zack was going to give into that urge to race off on his own and really get his blood flowing, his attention was grabbed as his name was called. That would be none other than Tifa, and the soldier turned and looked at the woman appreciatively as she ran up to him.

Her question earned an equally gleeful grin from him. Just judging from that, he knew that Tifa's powers had to be back as well. Even if that just meant that she had more stamina and agility, it was bound to make a difference -- and didn't she have a materia of her own, too? The two of them had fought side-by-side in this place before, but Zack got the feeling that now he was going to have a chance to see what Tifa was really capable of.

"You bet! There's a scorpion a few halls back who is really sorry it came my way," he replied, giving a cocky tilt of his head. He glanced around, already aware that there was more commotion around this area than usual, and realized that there had to be more where that came from in terms of monsters. "Guess we'd better set out, huh? It's time to play hero."

Except that it had never been playing, for him. Running around and helping with a crisis situation? That had been his job. Except that he was the one who would causing the trouble this time, rather than trying to suppress it or put it down. It felt strangely good.

[36_24_35]

"Oh yeah?" She asked, glad to see Zack had hit his prime too. "I just turned a cat into a slushie," Tifa gushed right back. It was probably not the most appropriate time to be joking about carnage. They may have been well prepared for such a situation, but there were people here who could very well get overwhelmed and killed. She and Zack shouldn't be taking it so lightly. It was hard to remain composed and Tifa felt a bit guilty for that, especially after Zack's last remark.

Her smile didn't waver, but her motives needed a bit of a reshuffling. Looking down at her sneakers as if to scrape some dried blood from the heel, she had to compartmentalize her guilt in one box and her joy into another. Whatever she felt in this moment, they still needed to help people. Whether her reasons were completely altruistic or not, someone needed to fill that role. Might as well be people who've done it countless times before.

"Sounds like it. I just hope we run into some of those soldiers. I'd like to thank them personally for my time spent in solitary." Drooling like a retarded monkey, but that didn't need to be public knowledge.

"Where should we start? There's plenty of people around her to take care of others waiting around for their parties. What about the second floor--? Outside? If people are going to try and make a break for it..." Tifa trailed off, unsure as to where they could be of the most help.

[zack_fair]

Turned a cat into a slushie? For a moment Zack had to wonder at how Tifa had pulled something like that off, but he remembered the Ice Materia and suddenly it made sense. It was still a real shame that they didn't have a Cure on hand, especially since it was possible that Taura had one. He glanced over toward the woman in question but realized that she'd been joined by someone already.

They'd be fine without it, he decided. She probably didn't have the Materia on her and he wasn't going to make her run back to her room and get it when there was so much excitement in the air. It was possible that Taura was just as excited to go kick some ass as Zack was.

At the mention of soldiers, Zack gave a grim smirk and then glanced upward as he thought it over. "I wonder if they'll be running around trying to put us down or if they've already retreated." They wouldn't be very good soldiers if it was the latter, but Zack didn't even know if any of them had powers. If they didn't, then it would amount to a pretty unfair fight, wouldn't it?

As for where they should go, that was trickier. Zack had to agree that this area around here seemed to be under control. In fact, the sound of someone singing filtered through and the next thing he knew, most of the neary monsters suddenly fell into a deep sleep. "My instinct is to head outside, but I'm up for anything. We can probably cover a lot of ground, so we could maybe start on the second floor and then head out after that." Maybe he was being ambitious, but he figured he had a right to be considering the circumstances.

I'll be happy to move them next round

[36_24_35]

"If they are, sounds like second floor's the place to find them. Might as well do a bit of damage inside before we move out." That sounded sensible enough. The patients might as well scatter themselves as best they could to do the most damage. Too many clustered in one spot wasn't going to help drain the institute's resources; this was war 101, people!

"So," Tifa began, her constant smile no longer so angelic as she declared some terms and conditions. "Why don't we make this more interesting. We're at one and one, right? Let's see who can rack up the highest number. Every monster is one point--Unless you save someone, that can be two points. You up for it, SOLDIER?"

As far as she was concerned, Zack had quite the reputation to live up to from Cloud's perspective. He had the skills to climb the ranks of SOLDIER at his age. It was a shame Tifa never got to see him shine when he was alive (There was that one fight, but Tifa couldn't count that against him. Pitted against Sephiroth, they had all been reduced to a child's plaything). This was her chance to fight with a man so admired by Cloud.

Tifa was really excited.

I've got it! Zack didn't want to wait around. 8D

[zack_fair]

Zack wasn't sure how Tifa knew that the soldiers would be upstairs, but he wasn't going to question it. Maybe she was just assuming that since they'd been taken up there when they'd been put in solitary. Either way, they had a plan and that was all that he needed. He was eager to get moving; tonight wasn't a night for standing around and talking in hallways.

Before he could head off, though, Tifa went ahead and set out some terms. "Oh," he said, his voice almost singsong, "so we're going to make this a contest, huh? I'm game." He didn't know how Tifa was going to measure up against him, but they both had their weapons (meaning he had a sword and Tifa had her fists) and one Materia each. It seemed fair enough.

Well, Tifa hadn't been professionally trained, but if she was willing to take that risk, then he was up for it.

Seeing no reason to hang around in this hallway, Zack barked out a laugh and then took off toward the stairs.

[To here.]