#Tifa's bamf attacks

[choco-glow]

Dance With Me Pt. 5

The air raid siren was a hell of a wake-up call, and Tifa rolled out of bed wide-eyed, confused, and worried…and felt a lump in her throat when Cid did the same thing, growling under his breath. She shot him a glance and he jerked his head towards the rocket, throwing on jeans and a tee shirt heedless of her blushing company and shoving his feet into his boots, grabbing up the spear. He pulled her into a gentle kiss though, blue eyes worried.

“Shin-Ra.” He growled out before darting out the door, and Tifa ran to the bathroom, shucking off her night clothes and pulling on her clean gear, glad she’d thought to bring up her gauntlets and boots herself the night before. She was the second to hit the stairs, right behind Cid, with Cloud, Barret, Vincent, Yuffie, and a sleepy Aerith trailing behind. Red simply grabbed Cait Sith in his mouth and leapt down to the first floor, and Cloud led the charge towards the rocket out Cid’s back door. Tifa’s heart was pounding in her throat as they fought the crowds of tourists and techs, panicking as they fled whatever horrible things Shin-Ra had brought to bear on their wayward outpost.

Cid’s roar of anger was the first sign that all was not well, and Cloud wordlessly turned on his heel, running backwards now and reached out a hand to offer her a boost; she took his arm without a second thought, both of them the strongest aerial fighters, and he swept her up, turning and leaping for the launch center roof. He let her go at the midpoint of their arc; he landed hard, while she turned her fall into a blur of somersaults, eyes closed to the centrifugal forces and hit the roof feet first in a run. They’d practiced the move in Midgar dozens of times, both in private at the quarry and in their own battles with Shin-Ra, and when they hit the edge of the roof, Tifa bit back her scream of worry; Cid had said he could fight...

She hadn’t met Palmer yet, of the Shin-Ra heads; Cloud had, however, and he growled, blue eyes glowing even in the dawn light, pointing to the gun in Palmer’s hands. Below them, Cid was fending off a trio of the lower level Turks, swinging his spear in a whirlwind over his head before bringing it down before him, still spinning it as a shield to knock them back. Their electrostaves and batons were no match for the ancient weapon, and with a graceful twirl, Cid knocked out one, slammed the second into a dumpster, and stunned the third one with a well-placed blow to the stomach…

And then Palmer fired his weapon.

A burst of electrical energy, glowing yellow from a powerful Thundara materia, arced out of the weapon and caught Cid’s spear; too late, he tried to let go and let out a howl of agony as he shuddered and shook with the electrical shocks, dropping to his knees and falling back, clearly stunned. Tifa glanced at Cloud, her heart frozen, and he snarled, giving her the gesture she’d been hoping for.

They both leapt off the roof together, and Cloud swung the flat of the blade forward as he leapt a moment after her, catching Tifa’s boots and giving her the boost she needed to perform a full divekick, one of her more powerful moves that they’d already perfected on this journey. She slammed into Palmer, bouncing off the portly director as she sent him flying into the debris at the base of the rocket, and landed next to Cid, gauntlets up and glowing with her golden Chakra materia, while Cid shot her a weak grin and Palmer hissed, picking himself up with a shake. Tifa glared him down, and Cloud landed on Cid’s other side, growling as he helped the Captain up.

“What’s going on here, Captain?” He snapped out, his anger barely contained at Palmer, and Cid twirled his spear, wincing a little as he settled back into a fighting stance. Tifa watched him out of the corner of her eye, worry melting into relief; he was angry, and definitely hurting, but he was going to be okay. and she tried to calm the fluttery feeling in her stomach. Not right now, butterflies, we have a fight ahead of us.

“This lil’ fuck’s tryin’ ta steal my goddamn plane, is what’s goin’ on here.” Cid rasped out, and Palmer gave a hideous little giggle, gesturing widely with the large materia gun in his hand. It was definitely a new design, something Scarlet’s researchers had created, and Tifa resolved to try and get it off him; Vincent had his enormous Cerberus handgun, but the sniper needed better gear, and if they could use this against Shin-Ra…

“It’s too good for the likes of you, Windbag! You know you owe everything to the President! Especially the new President; Rufus Shinra wants results, and even when we got you the metals you needed to rebuild that airship…you couldn’t even manage to get it fully operation. Now…hand over the plane like a good little stooge and we’ll let you keep your rocket. Hell, we might just get you that fuel stipend you’ve been begging for!” He burst into high-pitched laughter, and Tifa bit her lip against swearing at him, glancing at Cid…and the agony in Cid’s eyes was enough to make her heart ache. He looked like a man torn between two worlds

Cid glanced up at his rocket, his dreams…then his glance fell on his plane, and Tifa could see that though the rocket was his lifelong dream…the Bronco was his freedom. Barret had tried to buy it off Cid the night before, and Cid had simply smiled and with the foulest words imaginable, told Barret exactly where to shove his offer. He wanted to do that to Palmer too, Tifa could read it in the set of his jaw, and for a long moment, she was afraid he’d choose one or the other…but his eyes darkened with rage, and he took up his fighting stance, spear at the ready.

“Fuck off, Palmer, you ain’t takin’ shit from me, or from this town. I’ll get that rocket up in th’ stars my own damn way, fuck you and fuck Shin-Ra. I’m done with you motherfuckers forever. Now get th’ fuck outta my town, ya cowardly yella bastard.” He snarled out, and Palmer’s giggles stopped, eyes narrowing over his florid nose.

“Wrong answer, Windbag.” He brought the gun up fast, too fast for Cloud to deflect it, but Tifa was there, Aerora and her gauntlets dispelling the flames of a powerful Fira casting, and glancing over her shoulder, she was shocked to see Cid…gone. No…not gone; airborne. Cid came screaming back down out of the sky not a moment later, spear slamming into the earth just after Palmer leapt back, squawking, and as two more Turks ran up to fight, Tifa leapt up to one of the support struts and slammed into one Turk with another divekick, Cloud a whirlwind of blades with the second, while Palmer was swearing and sputtering over his gun, working on a second spellcasting.

As Cid prepped to go airborne again, he let out a sharp whistle to her, holding out his hand, and Tifa bounced into his arm as she deflected the Turk’s baton, heart leaping as he wrapped his arm around her waist and leapt. For a moment, the world fell away and Cid’s lips were on her cheek, then on hers as she turned to face him. The kiss was searing, as bright as the sun, and he grinned a little when they pulled apart, nearly to the apex of his leap.

“Can I have this dance, darlin’?” She grinned back, laughter bubbling up out of her, and he spun her around, again and again, a flick of his boots controlling their descent now, her hair tossing out in a wide arc as they gauged the fall together. Cid’s hand held hers tight as they picked up speed, and they twirled together, the very winds themselves making music as they neared their landing. Cid angled the spear just so, and Tifa clutched the handle with him, bracing her boots next to his, and when they slammed into the ground, she executed a backwards somersault kick that took out the Turk in an instant, and the impact knocked Palmer into the roadway, the gun thrown far enough that he couldn’t reach.

The gun itself began to shake and rattle, and another electrical blast, this one larger than before, pulsed out of the now broken weapon and slammed into a large truck. The whole vehicle came alive with the excess energy, and fired up, picking up speed fast as it barreled down the road now. Cloud cut down the second Turk with a swear, and Tifa, heart pounding, grabbed Cid and pointed to the Bronco, screaming at Cloud.

“INTO THE PLANE!” For once, he didn’t question her, and the three of them piled into the tiny cab, Cid swearing as his hands flew over the controls, and they started rolling with a jolt, just in front of the truck’s path. Palmer went down with a squeal behind them, but Tifa didn’t care; she clung to Cid’s shoulders and squeezed herself in behind his seat, praying they’d make it out to sea, at least…and then they were airborne.

To say it was an experience was massively understating it; martial artist though Tifa was, she’d never actually flown anywhere, and as the rolling grasses faded into sandy beach, then bright blue sea, she stared below them, eyes huge. Cid let out a whoop as they cleared the tide, and Tifa closed her eyes, tucking her head into his shoulder, breathing easy now…

When Cloud snarled out a swear and something impacted the side of the Bronco. Cid was all rage all over again as he guided them into the sea, Tifa’s stomach dropping sickeningly at the fall. They landed hard, but not so badly that they were sunk; shakily, Tifa glanced over the side of the plane, and blinked as sturdy pontoons dropped from the body of the plane, the battered wheels spinning weakly in the clear waters.

“Well, fuck.” Cid muttered, taking out his battered pack of smokes and lighting one up.

“Highwind, please tell me we’re able to get back to the mainland.” Cloud growled, and Cid sighed, reaching his free hand up to stroke Tifa’s arm where it was still around his shoulders, giving her a soft squeeze that she returned, shaking all over still from the fear and the adrenaline.

“Hold yer horses, Strife. Yeah, we can get back ta th’ town, but my plane’s wrecked; she ain’t flyin’ nowhere now. She can float, but that’s about all. Lemme get th’ prop restarted.” He finished his cigarette in record time, and hauled himself out of the seat, turning to face Tifa. “Tifa, hon, can you hit the gas when I say? Not to th’ floor, just halfway.” He held out his hand to help her into the seat, and she gave a weak smile, nodding.

“Of course, this pedal here?”

“That’s the one, darlin’. Thank you.” His kiss was as warm as before, and Tifa melted into it, surprised that Cloud wasn’t glaring at him…in fact, glancing over her shoulder, she realized he was looking out to sea, giving them a little privacy. With care, she settled in the seat, foot on the gas, and Cid carefully laid down on the upper wing of the plane, one hand on the propeller. “Alrighty, Tifa, on the count of three. One…Two…Three!” He pulled hard on the prop, and she put her foot down just halfway, like he’d asked…and the little engine roared back to life. Cid rolled back over to the cab, and settled behind her, leaning over the back of the seat to help her learn how to steer the handle.

With his careful coaching, Tifa guided the Bronco back to the beach, where the rest of AVALANCHE was waiting, anxious and worried, and as they pulled up the sands, Cid showed her the switch that killed the engine, then leapt down and trudged through the wet sand to grab something off the side of the plane…that something was an honest to god anchor, which he hauled halfway up the beach and dropped, waving for Cloud and Tifa to follow. Tifa was first out of the plane, Cloud right behind her, and as she headed up the beach, it was Cid she looked to first, still so worried about the repercussions of his beloved plane being trashed…but he just gave her a smile, warm and sweet as he leaned on his spear…His next words might have been for Barret, but his eyes never left Tifa’s, and her heart sang.

“Well then, Wallace, looks like you jus’ got a new member o’ th’ team.”