Disclaimer= Final Fantasy VII does not belong to me in any way. Although I do own a copy of it ^.^
A flower girl stood quietly in a dark alleyway of the floating city of Midgar. A neat braid hung down her back and green eyes shone as bright as the mako sparks she was silently staring at. She thought for a minute before continuing down the dark corridor, her steps echoing through the night.
Loveless Avenue was bustling with traffic and cars just as it always was during this time of night. People were just going on with their everyday lives as usual. Little did they know of the nightmare that was soon to come.
The Mark II Shinra Express screeched to a stop at the sector 1 station. Two rebels jumped off the train quickly disposing of the two guards clad in their red uniforms standing ready at the station. The third to clumsily fall off the train followed the other two as they made their way down the small space between the station and the train.
Next was the leader of the rebel group. A large black man with a mini gun grafted into his right forearm. And finally there was a spikey-headed blonde with piercing blue mako eyes.
"C'mon newcomer. Follow me," the leader said in a gruff voice before running down the ramp the same way the others had gone.
The Ex-SOLDIER nodded and ran down the metal platform soon getting stopped by two low ranking guards who were both struck down within a matter of seconds. He ran quickly up the stairs and headed over to the other three rebels.
"Wow! You used to be in SOLDIER all right! …Not everyday ya find one in a group like AVALANCHE." Biggs greeted the blonde who stood silently. He just wanted to get this mission over with.
Jessie, the only girl in the group, turned and stopped her work briefly. "SOLDIER? Aren't they the enemy?" she questioned Biggs. "What's he doing with us in AVALANCHE?"
"Hold it, Jessie. He WAS in SOLDIER. He quit them and now is one of us." Biggs turned to the Ex-SOLDIER. "Didn't catch your name…"
"…Cloud."
"Cloud, eh? I'm-"
Cloud shook his head and glared at the young man. "I don't care what your names are. Once this job's over… I'm outta here."
"The hell you all doin'!?," the leader of AVALANCHE, Barret, loudly interrupted. "I thought I told you never to move in a group! Our target's the North Mako Reactor. We'll meet on the bridge in front of it," he commanded.
Jessie soon got the door open and headed off with the other three towards the bridge to Mako Reactor 1. Barret turned to Cloud for a moment and looked over the man of about 20. "Ex-SOLDIER, huh? Don't trust ya!"
Cloud shrugged and took off down the winding maze of brick corridors leading to the bridge.
The bridge to the reactor was relatively easy to get across, seeing as there weren't many guards on patrol. In fact, there were only two or three at the most, who were all easily dispatched of by the giant Buster sword that Cloud carried with him at all time.
"Yo! This your first time in a reactor?" Barret yelled as Cloud made his way up the steps to the reactor.
The blonde scratched his head and thought for a second. "No. After all, I did work for Shinra, y'know."
"The planet's full of Mako energy. People here use it every day."
Cloud shrugged, not caring about the situation at all.
"It's the life blood of this planet. But Shinra keeps suckin' the blood out with these weird machines." Barret waved his arm in the air as if it would show more emphasis on what he was trying to explain.
"I'm not here for a lecture. Let's just hurry."
Barret glared at the much shorter man. "That's it! You're comin' with me from now on."
Biggs then pressed a few buttons on the terminal next to the door and deciphered the code. The industrial metal door opened with a loud screech. Jessie then did the same with the next two doors giving them access to the elevator, which they hoped would take them to the reactor itself.
Barret, Cloud and Jessie piled into the cramped elevator. Jessie motioned to Cloud and pointed to the far side of the room. "Push that button over there!"
Cloud nodded and pushed the button. The elevator started it's slow descent into the heart of the reactor.
"Little by little the reactors'll drain out all the life. And that'll be that." Barret tried to continue his explanation to Cloud. Who once again simply shrugged, not caring in the least bit.
"It's not my problem."
"The Planet's dyin', Cloud!"
"The only thing I care about is finishin' this job before security and the Roboguards come."
The elevator soon came to a stop at the bottom floor of the reactor, signaling to the group that the argument was over.
The trek down the multiple flights of stairs could have been a lot easier had it not been for the 1st Rays that ambushed the two, seemingly every 10 seconds. Who were more of an annoyance than an actual threat.
They jumped over the gaps in between where concrete had fallen and made their way down the numerous ladders and cat walks. After seemingly hours of descending they finally made it to the last bridge. A straight shot to the heart of the beast. The sickening smell of burned mako hung over them like a thick blanket.
Cloud and Barret carefully made their way across the narrow bridge, holding onto the railings that lined each side. One slip would mean a certain death, burning in the steaming pits of mako that boiled underneath them.
They continued on their way until something shiny caught Cloud's eye. He reached down to pick it up and examined the glowing green sphere for a few seconds. 'Materia…'
He quickly shoved it in his pocket and crossed the rest of the bridge. He stepped onto the large platform at the other side and stared up at the large machine in front of him.
"When we blow this place, this ain't gonna be nothin' more than a hunka junk." Barret yelled over to Cloud as he ran up to the machine. "Cloud, you set the bomb."
Cloud raised a brow at the request. "Shouldn't you do it?"
"Jus' do it! I gotta watch to make sure you don't pull nothin'."
Cloud shrugged. "Fine, be my guest."
Just as he was about to set the bomb his vision went black and the only thing he could here was a faint ringing.
'Watch out!' a voice said.
'This isn't just a reactor!!'
Suddenly his vision was back and he could hear the roar of the Reactor once again.
"……What's wrong?" Barret waved his hand in front of Cloud's face.
The blonde shook his head. "Huh?"
"What's wrong, Cloud? Hurry it up!"
"…Yeah, sorry." Cloud set the bomb on the machine and pressed a few buttons setting it for 10 minutes.
Alarms suddenly began to sound around the chamber.
"Heads up, here they come!" Barret turned around to get into a fighting stance when a giant robot scorpion clad in thick plates of red armor dropped down from the ceiling in front of them. The ground shook around them and the robot aimed the two machine guns on it's sides, straight at the intruders.
Barret opened fire on the beast and Cloud rolled out of the way just in time as a few bullets narrowly missed his head. The thing showered Barret in blue and yellow smoke, targeting him for it's next attack. It shot a single missile in his direction just missing him as he shot at another one of it's six metal legs.
Cloud shook his head and drew his massive Buster Sword. He sliced sideways at another one of it's legs, effectively taking the tip off. He repeated the same move on all of the legs, but even with Barret continuing to fire at it. It still wouldn't stop it's relentless attack.
'normal attacks don't seem to be working well on it…' Cloud thought trying to figure out how to hurt this monster.
The scorpion lashed it's tail out at Barret, ripping a gash through his arm. The ex-SOLDIER caste bolt at the beast and rolled away as it flung it's tail out again, this time trying to hit him instead.
The scorpion finally stopped attacking and raised it's tail up, pointing at the two.
"Barret, be careful!" Cloud yelled over to Barret. "Attack while it's tail's up, It's gonna counterattack with its laser!" Cloud threw a potion over to Barret for his arm and waited for the scorpion to lower its tail back down.
A few minutes later it's tail finally went down and Cloud immediately cast another bolt at it, making smoke pour out of it's insides. Barret charged up a fireball from his gun and fired it in the direction of the beast. The shot distracted the scorpion from Cloud long enough for him to bring his sword down on it one last time.
The guard scorpion shook and convulsed as it backpedaled, and finally went over the railing, falling into the dark depths of the Reactor where it would disintegrate in the great pools of mako.