LYDIA DEETZ AND FINAL FANTASY 7
Capítulo 3: Fleeing from Midgar
The group came out of the bathrooms and decided to follow Professor Hojo, who would surely know where Aerith was.
Hojo went to his labs and started talking to an animal that was in containment in an armored glass cage, then left the place and Lydia and the others searched around.
There were several biological containers and in one of them there was a kind of headless humanoid, the container had a mark that reads Genova. Cloud looked at the beheaded humanoid and had some kind of attack.
“What's wrong with Cloud?” Tifa and Jesse asked worried, but no one seemed to know the answer.
Lydia frowned as she noticed something strange in Cloud's aura but could not specify what it was.
After the emergency and Cloud had recovered, the group toured the site and arrived at Aerith. The florist was locked in a huge cell of armored glass.
“Aerith, don't worry, we'll get you out of there!” Cloud shouted at her.
“Do you know any way to open the cell?” Lydia asked her.
“Yes, you must press those buttons and lower the lever on the left," Aerith explained, but Hojo appeared at the scene and ordered them to stop.
Suddenly, a trapdoor was opened in the middle of Aerith's cell and the animal that Hojo was confronting came up through it, it looked like a kind of wolf adorned with feathers and beads.
“Lydia, please!” Aerith shouted and Lydia operated the controls by opening the cell.
Cloud immediately jumped into the cell ready to face the strange wolf, but was astonished to see the animal introduce itself and offer to help him out of the building.
Hojo fled the place and the group set out to follow him, but the man released one of his experiments and they had to face him.
“I am very grateful to you for trusting me," Nanaki told them at the end of the battle and began to tell them how he was captured.
Lydia was impressed by Nanaki's courteous, retro style, but Percy was not amused.
Nanaki asked to accompany the group but Percy had his reservations.
“Felines and canines don't share a boat," he said with a frown.
“Percy, don't say that! Of course you're welcome to join us," Lydia said.
The other members did not object and Nanaki became a member of the group.
The group entered an elevator but then the Turks appeared in the adjacent elevator and set off a gas trap that facilitated the capture of the intruders.
Under the effects of the gas, they could do nothing to prevent the Turks from putting shackles and electronic rings around their necks to restrict their movements. They were then taken to Shinra's president and he told them that they would be executed for having demolished Sector 7 over the city.
“Damn you," roared Percy and received a shock that immobilized him.
“Take them to the cells awaiting execution," said the president laughing.
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The cells were small but they had to share them. The four girls were in one cell, while the four boys shared the other, Nanaki and Percy were taken by animals and put in another.
“The cells are so small," Lydia complained sadly.
“Shinra's people don't care, they're going to execute us tomorrow anyway," said Cloud.
“Cloud!” Tifa scolded him and hugged Lydia to comfort her.
Wedge had a watch and told them that only a couple of hours had passed, but to the others it seemed as if much more time had passed. The wait was exasperating.
Percy tried to use his superhuman strength, but the cell door was apparently electrified, and he was sending out loud shocks if it was broken into in any way. He also tried to pass through the bars in the shape of a cat, but automatically closed the door of the bars, cancelling any attempt to escape.
After what seemed like a whole day, something strange happened, all the door locks were opened.
“What's going on?” Aerith asked.
“Maybe they want to give us the escape law," said Nanaki.
“How do you know about the fleeing law?” Percy asked him.
“Grandpa reads many books to me," said Nanaki.
“We won't get another chance like this, come on," urged Biggs and everyone came out of the cells nervous.
As they left the prisoner's room they saw that something was wrong, there were traces of fighting and blood all over the place, they even found several body parts scattered all over the place, which made the girls sick and the men swallowed nervous spittle.
“What the hell happened here?” Barrett asked himself.
“I don't know and I don't want to find out," said Biggs.
“Let's get out of here.” Aerith begged.
“Okay, but first let's go to the president," Barrett replied and went in front of the others, forcing the whole group to follow him.
“Cloud, don't go so fast," said Tifa to the blond man who had already overtaken Barrett.
“Cloud, please wait for us," begged Jesse, but like Tifa, the blond man ignored her.
“Cloud, I'm scared, please hold my hand," said Aerith, and this time Cloud did stop and turn to go to Aerith and hold her hand.
“Thank you Cloud.” The florist thanked him with a smile and Cloud just nodded his head trying to look tough.
They both followed Barrett again and both Tifa and Jesse frowned. Percy took Lydia's hand and with his free hand punched Wedge in the shoulder.
Wedge was about to reprimand him when Percy grabbed him and whispered something to him.
“Now that Cloud is back, there is a change of plans, the new plan is "I will always be with you" or IWABWY. So go to Tifa's place and stay close to her, however, also go to Jesse just for now or Tifa will get suspicious ," Percy said.
Lydia who was scared didn't have the courage to criticize Percy, so Wedge went to Tifa and Jesse.
“Girls, don't worry, no matter what happens I'll always be by your side," Wedge said, trying not to look guilty and the girls thanked him.
“How much were you talking to Wedge about?” Biggs questioned Percy.
“I just told him to watch out for the presence of the enemy and move more to the center of the group, you as the toughest member of Avalanche will cover our rear.”
“Oh, sure, don't worry, you take care of Lydia and I'll cover your backs," said Biggs, full of confidence at Percy's words.
Percy laughed with disguise as Lydia watched him with her eyes narrowed and her brow slightly frowned. Nanaki, who had a good ear had heard it all but simply shook his head.
After climbing several floors where they found no one but traces of blood, they arrived at the office of Shinra's president.
The office was deserted except for the president who was in his seat with a sword through his back.
“What the hell happened here!” Barrett shouted and Cloud approached the body.
“No way, that's Sephirot's sword," whispered Cloud to himself and then he had another attack.
“Cloud!” Jesse shouted and went over to the blond man to see if she could do anything.
Tifa, for her part, looked at the sword in amazement.
“It cannot be, I recognize the sword, I would never forget it, but Sephirot is supposed to be dead," said Tifa with a look of fear on her face.
“Isn't Sephirot supposed to be dead?” Wedge asked.
“It should be, it was in all the papers," said Biggs.
“Newspapers that are owned by Shinra," Lydia told them, "I don't think we should trust what is written in them.”
“There's someone there!” Percy shouted, pointing to a piece of furniture.
“There is no one here, Percy," said Aerith.
“Young Percy has the right intuition to be right," said Nanaki, "I too perceive that someone wants to hide his presence from us.”
“Are you sure there's someone hiding?” asked Biggs, and in response Percy pointed to his cat ears and human nose.
Barrett went to check the furniture when suddenly a fat, gray-haired man shot out of the place.
“That guy is Palmer, one of Shinra's top executives," Cloud told them once he had recovered from his attack.
Barrett held the man down and forced him to tell him who killed the president.
“It was, it was Sephirot, I swore to you! I saw it with my own eyes!” Palmer was crying and took the opportunity to escape because at that very moment a helicopter seemed to land on the building's helipad, distracting Barrett.
“Don't let him go!” Lydia shouted but apparently everyone wanted to see who was coming in the helicopter.
“Don't worry Lydia, that Palmer is heading for the helipad, which is where we're going," Percy told her and the whole group went after Palmer.
Arriving at the helipad, they saw Palmer pathetically begging a young man in white to enter the helicopter.
The young blond man turned out to be Rufus, the son of the late president of Shinra.
“Wow, look what he's wearing," exclaimed Aerith.
“He looks much better in person than he does in the pictures," Tifa muttered.
“I'm sure he'll be a better president than his father," said Jesse drooling.
"Oh, girls," Lydia thought, staring at her friends in anger as the guy gave her a bad feeling and turning to look at him more closely, seeing that he was a monster like his father as his aura was shedding pure evil.
Rufus introduced himself and told them in a megalomaniacal way about his future plans as president.
“My father was a fool, he wanted to control everything through money, I'll do it through terror, so they'll obey me faster and I won't spend so much money.”
This time the older girls changed their expressions and looked at him with disgust.
"Correction," thought Lydia. "He's not as evil as his father, he's much worse."
Cloud, angry with Aerith's previous reaction when she first saw Rufus, decided to stay and fight him alone and without help from anyone.
The other members decided to leave the building despite Lydia and Percy's criticism of not leaving Cloud alone.
“There's nothing to do, Lydia, that's the way Cloud wanted it," Percy said.
“What is he thinking? that attitude is so "macho" and stupid," complained Lydia.
The group took one of the huge elevators and began to descend when suddenly, the next elevator reached them and they saw that inside them there was a machine that started shooting at them.
“This is not a role-playing game, so attack everyone!” Percy shouted at them and the nine members began to fight back.
The enemy was tough, but the numerical superiority and lightning strikes of Percy were key to destroying the infernal machine.
“Where's Cloud?, why isn't he coming yet? Tifa asked in anguish as Jesse and Aerith looked forward to the elevator in case Cloud showed up.
They didn't have to wait long because Cloud came down the stairs on a spectacular motorcycle.
The group "borrowed" two vehicles as they could not all enter in one, and together with Cloud on the bike they escaped from the headquarters of Shinra.
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The group was escaping on the highway when several Shinra soldiers on their own motorcycles attacked them. Fortunately, Cloud put himself in the rearguard and covered his friends by defeating all the bikers.
Barrett and Biggs slammed on the brakes because they had apparently reached the end of the highway.
“Damn it, the highway isn't finished yet!” Barrett roared.
“Barrett, we have bigger problems than that," Wedge pointed out to him, and indeed a huge robot was heading towards them.
Barrett decided that Percy's strategy was the most effective, so he ordered all ten members of the group to attack the new enemy.
“What are you doing? Stop taking turns and attack him at the same time!” Lydia told them.
“Don't stand in front of the robot, too, surround it and attack it from all four sides!” Percy pointed out to them.
Lydia and Percy's tactics paid off as the robot was defeated in a jiffy, because when he was about to attack someone, another member of the group would attack him from the other side and the robot would turn around and he could never strike a blow.
“Lydia, Percy. Where did you learn these tactics? They're great!” Biggs praised them and the other members exchanged glances and nodded strongly.
“It's just a matter of logic and common sense," Lydia replied strangely.
“Should I ask myself what our future course of action will be?” Nanaki asked.
“We must go on the trail of Sephiroth," said Cloud, "if he comes to the land of the elders, it will be the end of the world.”
“What does that mean?” Wedge asked him.
“I don't know, I just know that we must go after Sephiroth or the planet will face a serious risk," Cloud replied with a blank stare and everyone exchanged worried looks.
“All right," Barrett said, "I too am very intrigued by Sephiroth's presence, but first I must go and see Marlene.”
“Don't do it, Barrett," Lydia asked him worried, "all of Shinra and surely the Turks are looking for us too, you'll only put Marlene in danger, as well as Aerith's mother.”
“Lydia is right, don't worry Barrett, my mother will take good care of Marlene," said Aerith.
“I guess it's decided, but how are we going to get out of Midgar? I'm sure the whole town is closed," Jesse asked himself.
“We'll use Wedge's plan, we'll slide through the wires until we get out of town," said Tifa.
Everyone looked at the horizon, the sun was beginning to rise in the same way that a new search was beginning for the group in their goal of saving the planet.
CONTINUARÁ...
Maybe you are shocked by the attitudes of the FF7 girls, but I didn't invent them, in the game ALL the girls in the lead are drooling over Cloud, so much so that in the online comic book FF7 parody of ObstinateMelon, Aerith, angry, grabs the script of the game saying: "I have to find out why the hell I'm in love with this idiot, it doesn't make sense".
Remember that Jesse, Biggs and Wedge were saved because they trained in advance with the MATTERIA that Lydia gave them.
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