Override
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII (AU)
Title: Override
Rating: R
All Chapters found here
Midgar was one of the few major cities still standing, leftover from the Last War. She sprawled across an immense crater that lay in the middle of the desert wasteland that covered most of the planet. Hers was a city of layers, with eight spiraling towers laid out in a circle, marking the boundaries. From the upper halves of the Towers extended long, interconnecting tubes where the rich could travel around without breathing in the dirty air of the congested city. They never left the spiderweb network of tubes to walk around in the city below and the majority of the citizens couldn't access the upper levels of the towers, let alone the Networks.
One tower, the one standing closest to the main entrance of Midgar, stood out from all the rest. It belonged to ShinRa and only ShinRa. The entire thing was off limits to non-ShinRa employees and even then, most couldn't access the upper half.
The lower halves of most Towers were reserved for the middle class, those with enough money to afford an apartment there but not enough to enter the high society. These were the lawyers and doctors and minor politicians. They worked in the buildings of the Outer Ring, the tall office buildings at the edges of the city. The inner city was where the majority of the people lived, with crime rates climbing steadily higher the further in one went.
The last layer was one most people didn't talk about, one everyone tried to forget. Beneath Midgar there were a myriad of catacombs, left untouched by the passage of time. There were an innumerable amount and few dared ventured in them, least they never come out again.
Reno, as always, was an exception. He led everyone out the back door, which ended up in a small alleyway, and said, "We're goin' down under."
"...you're kidding, right?" Cloud's right eye twitched.
"Since when have I ever kidded? You ought to at least remember that I don't kid, I lie outright and if it's not a total lie, then it's the truth." Reno laughed before turning on his heel and walking further down the alley.
"How are we supposed to know when it's the truth?" Sephiroth asked, confused.
Yuffie shrugged, "Beats me. Hey, Reno! What's down under?" She scampered off after the red head, leaving Cloud and Sephiroth behind.
As they followed the excitable duo at a more sedate pace, Sephiroth looked down at Cloud and asked, "What is down under?"
Cloud sighed. "First off, it's slang, a local term for something outsiders usually say differently. They usually referred to it as the Labyrinth. It's just a series, a really big series, of tunnels under Midgar leftover from the Old World."
"Old World?" Sephiroth echoed, sounding mush like the robot they'd thought he originally was.
'Still kind of is,' Cloud thought a bit guiltily. Out loud he answered, "Yeah, you know, what was before the Last War?"
"I'm afraid I do not," Sephiroth apologized.
"I guess you wouldn't," Cloud ran his fingers through his hair. "It's kind of complicated; even I don't know much. In fact, now that I think about it, no one really does. All I know is that some 500 years or so ago, there was a huge war between humans and robots, more specifically the AI. Somehow we managed to win, but the planet was basically turned into a desert wasteland and we lost a lot of the technology from that time. Most of the stuff you'll see in the cities are what we could salvage and even then we don't know all of the functions, just barely manage to make them work."
Sephiroth was quiet for a while before speaking up softly, "Is that why I can't sense any of my own kind?"
Cloud looked up sharply, "You can sense others like you?"
Sephiroth shrugged, a motion somewhere in between Reno's casual roll of the shoulders and Yuffie's quick, excited movements. "I do not know, but I feel...empty inside. Does that not mean I can't feel anyone like me?"
"I...I don't know," Cloud replied, frustration coloring his tone. "Look, I'm not really good at this type of stuff. It was always Za-" he stopped abruptly, closing his mouth with an audible snap of his teeth. Clenching his fists tightly, he muttered, "let's go," before quickening his pace.
They rounded the corner, only to stop short at the sight that greeted them. Reno and Yuffie were up ahead, ringed by three people, obviously threatening the duo by their stance. The dim lighting of an overhead fixture flickered, casting moving shadows across all five forms. One of the strangers stepped forward into the weak light, causing Cloud to start in surprise. "Tifa..." he breathed out, shocked.
Her head jerked towards Cloud, long brown hair whipping behind her. "Cloud!?!"
Title: Override
Rating: R
All Chapters found here
Midgar was one of the few major cities still standing, leftover from the Last War. She sprawled across an immense crater that lay in the middle of the desert wasteland that covered most of the planet. Hers was a city of layers, with eight spiraling towers laid out in a circle, marking the boundaries. From the upper halves of the Towers extended long, interconnecting tubes where the rich could travel around without breathing in the dirty air of the congested city. They never left the spiderweb network of tubes to walk around in the city below and the majority of the citizens couldn't access the upper levels of the towers, let alone the Networks.
One tower, the one standing closest to the main entrance of Midgar, stood out from all the rest. It belonged to ShinRa and only ShinRa. The entire thing was off limits to non-ShinRa employees and even then, most couldn't access the upper half.
The lower halves of most Towers were reserved for the middle class, those with enough money to afford an apartment there but not enough to enter the high society. These were the lawyers and doctors and minor politicians. They worked in the buildings of the Outer Ring, the tall office buildings at the edges of the city. The inner city was where the majority of the people lived, with crime rates climbing steadily higher the further in one went.
The last layer was one most people didn't talk about, one everyone tried to forget. Beneath Midgar there were a myriad of catacombs, left untouched by the passage of time. There were an innumerable amount and few dared ventured in them, least they never come out again.
Reno, as always, was an exception. He led everyone out the back door, which ended up in a small alleyway, and said, "We're goin' down under."
"...you're kidding, right?" Cloud's right eye twitched.
"Since when have I ever kidded? You ought to at least remember that I don't kid, I lie outright and if it's not a total lie, then it's the truth." Reno laughed before turning on his heel and walking further down the alley.
"How are we supposed to know when it's the truth?" Sephiroth asked, confused.
Yuffie shrugged, "Beats me. Hey, Reno! What's down under?" She scampered off after the red head, leaving Cloud and Sephiroth behind.
As they followed the excitable duo at a more sedate pace, Sephiroth looked down at Cloud and asked, "What is down under?"
Cloud sighed. "First off, it's slang, a local term for something outsiders usually say differently. They usually referred to it as the Labyrinth. It's just a series, a really big series, of tunnels under Midgar leftover from the Old World."
"Old World?" Sephiroth echoed, sounding mush like the robot they'd thought he originally was.
'Still kind of is,' Cloud thought a bit guiltily. Out loud he answered, "Yeah, you know, what was before the Last War?"
"I'm afraid I do not," Sephiroth apologized.
"I guess you wouldn't," Cloud ran his fingers through his hair. "It's kind of complicated; even I don't know much. In fact, now that I think about it, no one really does. All I know is that some 500 years or so ago, there was a huge war between humans and robots, more specifically the AI. Somehow we managed to win, but the planet was basically turned into a desert wasteland and we lost a lot of the technology from that time. Most of the stuff you'll see in the cities are what we could salvage and even then we don't know all of the functions, just barely manage to make them work."
Sephiroth was quiet for a while before speaking up softly, "Is that why I can't sense any of my own kind?"
Cloud looked up sharply, "You can sense others like you?"
Sephiroth shrugged, a motion somewhere in between Reno's casual roll of the shoulders and Yuffie's quick, excited movements. "I do not know, but I feel...empty inside. Does that not mean I can't feel anyone like me?"
"I...I don't know," Cloud replied, frustration coloring his tone. "Look, I'm not really good at this type of stuff. It was always Za-" he stopped abruptly, closing his mouth with an audible snap of his teeth. Clenching his fists tightly, he muttered, "let's go," before quickening his pace.
They rounded the corner, only to stop short at the sight that greeted them. Reno and Yuffie were up ahead, ringed by three people, obviously threatening the duo by their stance. The dim lighting of an overhead fixture flickered, casting moving shadows across all five forms. One of the strangers stepped forward into the weak light, causing Cloud to start in surprise. "Tifa..." he breathed out, shocked.
Her head jerked towards Cloud, long brown hair whipping behind her. "Cloud!?!"