Final Fantasy VII: The First Crisis

The pilot's face grew alarmed when she spoke. "Of course, climb aboard!" He shouted as he climbed into the helicopter and began prepping it for take off. "I'll get us to Nibelheim as quickly as I can!" He shouted over the sound of the engine starting and the blades whirring. The helicopter lifted from the helipad and began moving in the direction of Nibelheim.
 
Chris climbed aboard, going over the message again in her mind, trying to make some sense of what Xanatos had been trying to tell her. She just prayed that she reached him in time to save him.
 
It would be a twelve hour flight to reach Nibelheim from Costa Del Sol, even with the pilot pushing the helicopter to it's limits. The sun was just beginning to rise over Nibelheim when the helicopter began to touch down. "Ma'am, we're here!" The pilot shouted as the helicopter came to a rest. "I'll keep her here until you call."
 
Chris was up and out of the chopper as soon as it landed. "Thanks. I really appreciate you doing this for me!" She ran off towards the town, though she didn't know where to begin looking for Xanatos. She heard the mention of sewers, but wasn't even sure if there were sewers in Nibelheim.
 
The pilot shouted after her as she ran off toward the town. "Good luck!" He sighed quietly as he rubbed his eyes. It was going to be difficult to explain this one back in Midgar.

The town itself was fairly silent as night began to descend though the Shin-Ra mansion was still alive with light. A voice that sounded very similar to that of Elochai, quickly invaded the young woman's mind. "The Mansion. Xanatos was at the mansion!" The voice sounded pained and faded after it spoke.
 
Chris wasn't sure if she should trust voices that she can hear in her mind, but she knew she had to help Xanatos. Heading for the mansion, she hoped that she wouldn't run into Hojo while searching the place for signs that her friend was there.

Slipping quietly into the house, she started searching the rooms on the first floor for signs that someone other than Hojo had been there. "Xanatos... give me some clue as to your location..."
 
A young woman stepped out of the second floor onto the balcony. Her long brown hair pulled back into a high pony tail. She looked quite tired and very worn out. "You're the second person wearing a SOLDIER uniform to come here recently." She said in a tired voice as she descended the stairs. A white lab coat decorated by a Shin-Ra ID badge was worn by the woman. "I'm Dr. Lucrecia Crescent. Is there something I can help you with?"
 
Chris looked up to see Lucrecia standing on the balcony. She hadn't noticed the woman there when she'd entered the mansion. She nodded as she moved toward the stairs. "Where did the other SOLDIER go? I was told that he would be here."
 
Lucrecia looked back and forth as a look of concern found home on her face. "He came here enraged. He stormed into the lab and and began shouting at Hojo. I don't know what he did, but the next thing I knew the man was injured. He stumbled over to a broken elevator shaft and fell in to it, towards the underground facilities that lead to the sewers."

She bit her lip, looking back at the other woman. "He mentioned someone, Elochai I think was his name." Lucrecia sighed quietly, as she feared what may come from what she was about to do. "I can take you to the elevator where your friend fell."
 
Chris had a worried look on her face when told what happened to Xanatos. "Please do. Is it a long drop down the elevator shaft?" She followed the woman to the elevator. "Can you tell me what exactly my friend was asking Hojo, Dr. Crescent?"
 
Lucrecia lead the woman down a hidden staircase from one of the top level rooms. "He was asking about project SONGBIRD." She spoke quietly. She seemed constantly vigilant so as not to get caught by Hojo. "Hojo called him... Replicant." She said. "He said something about a "Gestalt" and a "Songbird" but I had never heard of such a thing."

"I know now the evil that Hojo has become." She said quietly as she walked down the stair way, leading the woman towards the lab. "He took my newborn son, Sephiroth, away, and killed my protector, Mr. Valentine. All for the sake of his experiments..." She shook her head as they approached the lab door. "It wouldn't surprise me if the man your friend spoke of was another of Hojo's twisted experiments."
 
Chris was cautious as she followed the woman through the house, and would remain so until she was absolutely sure that Xanatos was safe. Raising a brow when they stopped, she turned to look at Lucrecia. "He probably was. The elevator my friend fell down is near here?"
 
"Uh, yes. It's just through here." She said as she lead her through to a room where a massive test tube contained a man wearing a iconic black suit of the Turks was suspended in the life sustaining liquid. Short, messy black hair cupped around his pale face. She stopped to check on his life signs on the small computer before looking up at the glass. "Hold on for me, Vincent." She said quietly. Before continuing to the opposite door. The area in the following area was a massive library.

She pointed at a pair of open metal doors on the other side of the room. "That is the elevator shaft he fell down." She said. "Please, your friend expressed concern for Mr. Valentine. I think they may have been friends. Tell him I'm doing all I can for him."
 
Chris glanced at the tube containing the Turk, shaking her head. Moving to the open doors that Lucrecia had pointed to, she leaned forward a bit to look down the shaft. "Xanatos!? Can you hear me?!"
 
Her voice would only echo into the darkened elevator shaft. Lucrecia could see her concern and sighed quietly. She walked over to a large rope that was coiled. "I can lower you in if you want." She struggled to drag the massive rope out of the corner. "Either way, Hojo will be back soon and he'll be very unhappy if he finds out another SOLDIER was here."
 
Chris sighed, hearing her voice echo down the shaft. "IS there no other way to get down there?" She didn't want this woman to get in trouble, since she didn't really know what Hojo was capable of, and she didn't really want to know. She moved to help pull the rope over to the shaft, tying one end around her waist. "Is there somewhere I can tie the other end?"
 
Lucrecia looked around quickly before pointing at the pillar located near the center of the room. "If we tie it off here you should be okay." She said with a grunt as she tried to wrap the heavy rope around the pillar. She wasn't a very strong woman, and she was suffering from fatigue.

A wicked snicker came from the other side of the room. "So the Songbird has come to save her dear Replicant?" He asked in an irritatingly crazy tone. A large pistol was in his hand as he approached. "And you Dr. Crescent. I am appalled. You would leave an experiment as intriguing as yours to lay idle to help an intruder such as this?"

"Hojo!" Lucrecia froze up at the sound of his voice. "No more of this, please!" She pleaded before he quickly slapped her across the face.

"Foolish girl. I provide you with these facilities for your research and you repay me like this?" Lucrecia fell to the floor, tears welling up in her eyes.

"As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted." He raised the gun in Chris' direction. "You have no right to intrude on our research, girl." He said as he pulled the hammer back on the pistol.
 
Chris had moved to help her tie the rope around the pillar, knowing the female scientist wasn't as strong as she was.

She had just been about to climb down the shaft after Xanatos when she heard a male voice. Standing up, she turned to look at Shin-Ra's head scientist. "What did you do to him, Hojo?!"

She was tempted to use the limit break she'd used back in Wutai, but knew that she couldn't, since there were innocent people in the room with them. "What are you going to do, Hojo? Shoot me? Is that what you did to Xanatos?" She narrowed her eyes when the man slapped Lucrecia. "You have no right to treat the woman who gave you a child in such a cruel manner!"
 
Hojo gave a sinister chuckle. "That boy... Was just the product of a very successful experiment." He kept his weapon trained on her. "But no matter, you'll be with your friend again soon." A sinister grin came onto his face.

Lucrecia struggled to her feat and reached for plank laying on the floor. She rose to her feet and took a deep breath before swinging the board at Hojo's back. The man gave a startled cry as the weapon fired into the air. He fell to his knees in pain.

"Quickly! Go after him!" Lucrecia cried. "I won't let you ruin any more lives." She said in a weak voice as she smacked him with the plank again. She looked over at Chris with pleading eyes, as if this was they only way she could repent for having assisted the madman in his schemes.
 
Chris nodded, giving Lucrecia an appreciative smiled before moving to climb down the elevator shaft. She didn't want to leave Lucrecia behind, but she had to get to the bottom of the shaft as quickly as possible.

Once she reached the bottom, she untied the rope from her waist and gave it a quick tug to let the woman know she was safely at the bottom. "Xanatos? Are you down here?"
 
Xanatos had struggled his way through most of the sewers. A small trail of blood led for several hundred feet to where the wounded SOLDIER was leaning up against the ladder to the surface of Nibelheim. He was conscious, but barely. He held his phone in one hand and his other hand colored crimson by his blood was resting over his stomach.

"Chris..." He struggled. As he pushed himself away from the ladder a little. "Chris... I'm here!" He managed to raise his voice. He tried to use the ladder beside him to pull himself up to his feet. Though painful he succeeded. He used the ladder for support. "What are you doing here?" He asked, as though disappointed that she'd come to his rescue for the second time.
 
Chris hurried through the sewers, following the trail of blood she saw. AS she got closer, she heard his voice and started running toward him. "Xanatos! I came to help you. I couldn't make sense of what you were trying to tell me when you called. There was a lot of static on my end." She glanced up the ladder, a little worried that it would bring them right back into the mansion. "The helicopter is waiting just outside of town for us. Can you get up the ladder?"
 
Xanatos sighed. He gave a quiet nod. "I may be degrading and I may have been shot. But I'm still a SOLDIER 1st class." He said in his defense as he forced himself to climb the ladder, no matter how painful it had been to do so. Once up top he looked around the darkened town. "I always hated this town anyway." He groaned as he moved out of Chris' way so that she could climb out of the manhole. Xanatos braced himself against the street lamp.

He turned to look back at the mansion. A look of rage finding home on his face. "Hold on, Vincent." He turned and began walking at a slow, painful pace toward to edge of town where she had said the helicopter was. Hojo would waste no time in reporting Xanatos' transgression, unless he had reason to keep Xanatos alive.
 
Chris followed him up the ladder, shooting a glance toward the mansion. "She told me to tell you she's doing what she can for the Turk, Xanatos." Turning away, she put an arm around him so he could lean on her as they headed for the helicopter. "I was in Costa Del Sol when I got your call, on a break sanctioned by the director. But I don't think either of us can return to Midgar now."
 
Xanatos shook his head. "You shouldn't have come. You might have thrown away what you came to Midgar to do in the first place." He said as they approached the chopper. He climbed into the helicopter and collapsed back into his seat. "Cosmo Canyon..." He muttered tiredly. "Bugenhagen will know what to do..."
 
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