The Bar Under Attack

Tifa and Cecil arrived to find a humanoid hovering mecha attacking the bar. More of Corneo's men were cheering as Ace, Quistis, and Biggs fought the machine. Ace was currently fending it off with a barrier, but it was cracking and sweat could be seen shimmering on his face. Behind him, the bar had a huge hole in the side. Tifa could see Wedge laying **** inside.

Quistis moved around behind the mecha and lashed at the pack on its back with her whip. It turned and began firing at her from guns mounted in the fingers of its hands. Quistis quickly moved to the side and avoided the attack while Biggs took the chance to get behind it again. He aimed a pistol and opened fire, hitting the hinge holding a door on the pack. Before he could get a good aim at the circuits inside, the mechanical beast turned again and attacked him. Quistis yelled for Ace to hit it with magic, but Ace shook his head. His barrier shattered and he dropped to one knee.

"I'm drained! I can't call anymore magic."

Cecil was now moving to join the combat. Several of the thugs turned at his battle cry and charged. he whipped out his arm and concentrated, launching a fireball that impacted into the front runner and sent him screaming as flames began to engulf him. Before Cecil could feel any sense of satisfaction, he felt an immense drain on his magical power. He knew he was stronger than this but for some reason, he couldn't muster much more power than that. He probably had enough for one more blast, but he needed to save it. He lifted his shield to prepare for the first attack, but lightning came out of nowhere, hitting all the thugs and the mecha. The Thugs were left reeling with only a few managing to keep on their feet while the machine seemed to stall for a moment and droop in its hovering.

"Cecil hit it now! I can't give you another opening!" Tifa was shouting from behind him. Her right arm was raised to the sky and a quick glance over his shoulder let him see green and blue glowing orbs inside of her skin. He nodded and resumed his charge, bulling over one of the few standing thugs with his shield and leaping at the last moment to stab his sword into the circuitry that Biggs had exposed. He planted his feet on the mecha's back and pushed off, pulling his sword free and jumping clear as it began to spark. Biggs grabbed Ace and pulled him back while Quistis was quick to get to Cecil and pull him to his feet. The group backed off in time to avoid the explosion.

As Tifa jogged up to the group, many of Corneo's surviving thugs were already hastily retreating. She grabbed one of the stunned men up off the ground and pulled him to his feet and slapped him hard to get his attention.

"How did you get Shinra tech? Answer me dammit!"

"W-we found it in an abandoned storage facility! Shinra's pulled most of their troops back to the tower and left a lot of their stuff behind. We found it and decided to use it to spread our control."

Tifa gave an angry roar and punched the man, knocking him out before she tossed him away. Cecil was already checking on the others. Ace was alright, but like Cecil, he hadn't been prepared for the drain on their powers. That meant that they were going to be considerably weaker until they could build up their strength. Quistis was swearing angrily about her ruined dress, but at least she still had the leathers Jessie had brought her. Biggs was in the best condition, having only some minor scraps.

Cecil went over to Wedge and was glad the pudgy man was still breathing. Cecil used the last of his magic to cast Cure and took care of the bleeding wound to Wedge's head. It seemed he had been caught in the blast that took out the wall. But then Cecil looked around and realized that Jessie and Fran were absent.

"Where are the others?"

"Taken. Those men grabbed Jessie as soon as the wall was taken out. Fran charged them and did some real damage, but didn't see the machine. It back handed her and the men took advantage. They **** them off while we were busy with the machine." Quistis was breathing heavily and tearing off strips of her dress to bandage Biggs' injuries as she explained. Cecil turned to Tifa.

"We've got to get them back! Any ideas?"

"A few. Corneo is gathering women to work at the Honey Bee. He'll probably have them taken there to be cleaned up and then tonight all the women will be brought to his mansion so he can pick one for his own amusement. We can either try to break them out and simply fight our way out, or..."

"Or?"

"Or we could infiltrate his mansion. We've still got Quistis and myself. We can get brought into the mansion with the rest of the women and reunite with Fran and Jessie. We'll try to break out and save the other women while you guys make a distraction outside."

"You know if that fails, you guys could be trapped with a pack of horny thugs right?"

"If we attack head on, the innocent people could be injured. Cosmos picked you to lead Cecil, so its your call."