By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Tifa sat in the front seat of the large sedan as an ASRIO agent drove them back toward the base. She paid no attention to the suicidal rate the driver was going as she was turned back to face Dr. Arlin and Tseng in the back seat, along with yet another agent. There was little that the doctor could do in the car and she merely sat supporting her patient, trying to prevent him from being jarred too hard by the car’s movements.

Suddenly the driver hit the brakes, forcing Tifa to face back forward. She stared in disbelief as an airplane came over the car, to touch down violently in the street in front of them. Tifa was unable to contain the squeal that escaped her as the fright of the aircraft landing in front of them caused her.

The plane hit the ground and bounced twice before sticking. Obviously the airplane was damaged as a thick black smoke was pouring from one of the engines. In its desperate attempt to keep in the middle of the road, the ends of both wings were clipped as it tried to fit between the light posts lining the street. Just shy of where the road dead-ended into a large hotel, the plane finally managed to come to a stop.

The driver of the car Tifa was in moved to put the car in reverse so that they could take another route back to the base. Tifa immediately protested knowing all too well who was in the plane that had just made the dramatic landing before them.

"Wait! Stop the car! That’s got to be Cid!" She cried, momentarily forgetting about Tseng’s situation in the back seat.

"No, absolutely not!" Dr. Arlin snapped back from the rear. "Whoever is in that plane is probably fine, Tseng is not! Let’s go!"

The driver hit the gas and gunned the car down another street, forcing Tifa to quickly lose sight of the plane. Despite Dr. Arlin’s observation of the plane’s intact status, she still couldn’t help but wonder if Cid was in fact all right or not. "This can’t possibly get any worse."

Then the radio clipped to the driver’s belt cracked to life. "Dr. Arlin? Can you hear me?"

The agent immediately grabbed the radio and handed it to the doctor in the back seat. The desperate voice on the other end sent a chill down Dr. Arlin’s spine. "This is Janice, go on."

Several seconds of quiet passed until the voice replied. "This… this is Angel… We are in the helicopter and on our way back to the base. Please get home soon, we’ve got a serious situation here…"

Tifa turned in her seat to attempt to listen in more on the conversation. Angel’s tone was alarming. "What’s going on?"

Dr. Arlin spoke into the radio. "We are on our way back to the base, we’ve got Tseng and he’s terribly injured."

There was some noise from the radio as though Angel had dropped it. Shortly thereafter, Reno’s voice took over. "Well that’s fucking great, Doc. We found Vinny."

Unable to control herself, Tifa reached back and ripped the communicator from the doctor’s hands. "You have Vincent?"

"Yeah." Reno sighed heavily enough for it to be heard over the helicopter’s rotor. "Tifa, it’s not looking good. Vince hit some jerk flying a plane and fell pretty far. Angel thinks…"

The way his voice trailed off made Tifa even more frantic. "Angel thinks what?!"

"Damn it," Reno was the last person on earth to want to deliver this news, "she thinks he’s dead."

Tifa, silent and in a state of shock, handed the radio back to the doctor. Whatever else was said in the car for the rest of the ride home didn’t matter as Tifa sank into a semi-catatonic state. The thought that all so many people that she cared for were in danger of losing their lives was too much for her to bear.

***

After a brief moment of unconsciousness, Cid awoke not certain of where he was. The smell of burning fuel soon brought him back to his senses. The cabin was dark as all of the plane’s electrical systems were dead but his mental map of the cockpit didn’t fail him. In an instant he had his seat belt undone and with in just a few more moments he had retrieved his infant son as well. Without any hesitation, he made his way to the plane’s door and leapt to the ground, then running as fast as he could from the plane until he was a safe distance away.

Only then did he dare to look at the small bundle within his arms. He pealed away the blanket and to his surprise he saw not only that his son was completely unharmed but still sleeping soundly despite all of the recent drama.

Cid’s collected and harsh exterior faltered at that moment and he fell to his knees, hugging the baby to his chest tightly. His breath came in relieved gasps and tears burned in his eyes. The fright of losing his son cut straight through him. "Thank you God…"

***

Reno put down the radio and turned to his wife who was sitting on the floor of the helicopter cradling her father. He could see the silent tears running down her face and moved to her side so that he could place an arm around her. It was unfair, he knew, that she had gotten to spend such a short time with Vincent. A feeling of helplessness washed over him as he sat there trying to comfort Angel.

As he stared down at Vincent’s still form, he noticed something. There was a strange gap between some of the panels on his chest and Reno couldn’t help but reach down with his free hand and pry it open.

Angel caught his movement through tear blurred eyes. "What are you doing?"

Reno took his other arm off her shoulders and leaned closer to see what was inside. There seemed to be something moving within, and there was a dim light coming from a small LED screen. "What the hell is this?"

When the metal flap finally gave way, he saw something like nothing else. A clear plastic encased motor seemed to be turning very slowly. There were tubes inside that were being compressed by small rollers being driven by the motor. The screen that was emitting the light had a few words flashing on it:

Reno turned to Angel, his eyes wide. "I don’t think he’s dead."

Angel gasped and looked to see for herself. Inside, she saw the small pump running and noticed that it looked very much like a heart/lung bypass machine used during cardiac surgeries to keep patients alive. "Oh my God!" She turned frantic eyes to her husband. "Reno! Hand me my medical bag! Hurry!"

He responded instantly and got her what she had asked for. At once she set to work mixing a vial of some medication. Angel shook the bottle gently for several seconds while staring at her father in disbelief. "I couldn’t feel a pulse in his neck… but there wasn’t one because this machine keeps his blood flowing at a constant rate! I can’t believe it!"

"What are you going to do?" Reno asked as he watched her begin to draw up her selected drug into a large syringe.

"That fall has to have caused some trauma to his head. This is a steroid that will hopefully help control his intra-cranial pressure." She said as she got to the task of finding a vein within Vincent’s neck through which to give him the injection.

"English?" Reno asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn’t like when people talked over his head, including his wife.

"He hit the ground, and this should help him from suffering anymore damage in his head than he has already sustained." Angel replied quietly, while driving the needle into the vein she had found.

"Like Vinny ever had a brain to damage." Reno scoffed to himself.

Angel shot a glare up that could have killed. "Watch your mouth! This isn’t funny!"

Immediately he felt bad for his comment and shrunk away, hoping that the chopper would land soon.