I guess it's the standard disclaimer. I don't own the property. Just using it for my story. This is my first fic so please R&R to tell me what you think.
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Shinra has always left the slums to fend for themselves. Sure, there are a few people who work above the plate. But the fact is as soon as they get off work, they ride the train home. That's why we get strange looks when we come down here. Nothing makes you stand out in the crowd like a Shinra logo on your jacket.
I was walking through Wall Market and I got stopped by a woman who asked me what I did for the company. She was probably making sure I wasn't coming to collect money. Shinra is worse than Don Corneo when it comes time to collect. Most of the people in the slums are smart enough not to owe anything and to use as little as possible. I'm trained to tell her that I am a Shinra Field Technician. That I go out from Midgar all over the world to service the Mako Reactors and make sure everything runs right. In a way, it's almost true. My actual duties are a little more sinister. But without my services, I'm told there would be utter chaos.
You see, I do go all over the world. But it's not to service the Mako reactors. It's to cover up the problems. They were in such a hurry to get the energy out of the ground Shinra threw these things up literally overnight. The only stable reactors are in Midgar. They know all of the others are sub par. That's why I am on the payroll. There are 93 of us total. If the world found out about every reactor explosion or every big problem that was explained away as a minor maintenance issue they might revolt. That AVALANCHE group might have more than a handful of members.
I've worked for Shinra for a long time and I've seen some crazy things. I'll never forget the Gongaga explosion. A lot of people died in that one. The town lost a lot. But the townspeople refused to let the clean up crews do any repairs. Even now, you can see bits of reactor embedded in houses. That was my first leader role. I had just been promoted. The reactor didn't last very long at all. I think it had just been installed a few months. Lucky for me it had stormed that night. All we had to do was say AVALANCHE snuck in and set a bomb that caused the core explosion. The best part was the people bought it. Shinra PR was up and a whole town was against those rebels. I assured everyone that the city wouldn't lose much trade and Shinra would help in any way they could. Then I left and never looked back. One problem down. What could happen next?
In my line of work it's all about quick explanations. I've only had two incidents I couldn't explain away. Corel and Nibelheim. Corel is still an ongoing problem. Those people will never trust Shinra again. Forced to live in tents and threatened with death if they even try to cause a problem. They're definitely kept in check. From what I hear the Turks go about every six months just to shoot some guns and keep them scared. Bad deal all around. That wasn't my call though. Scarlet heard the reactor failed and blamed the townspeople. Not crappy materials. Not quick work by a town they talked into putting the reactor in. But the townspeople. How dare they let HER reactor explode? Someone liked how she handled the problem. She still has her head.
Then there's Nibelheim. A quaint little village in the mountains. Shinra's greatest soldier set the town ablaze and took off for the reactor. Talk about bad publicity. At least if anyone knew. They called all 93 of us in on that one. There was nothing more important. A small town with no survivors. We had to think fast. One of the Shinra scientists came up with the plan. Rebuild the town. Make it exactly identical to the last cobblestone. Make sure it looks old and well worn. Any traders that would come wouldn't know any different. But how do you rebuild a town without anyone finding out about it? The short answer is work fast. We had 18 people stationed out side the town on any possible path with the excuse that the town was under religious celebration. Kept people out for a full two weeks why the rest of us worked night and day. When it was done the route to the mako reactor was cut off and 30 people stayed behind to repopulate the town. An entire town on the payroll. Pretty nice.
That knocked our number from 93 to 63. That's when the rest of us became expendable. The less people that know, the better is what the Turks were told. Keep only 10 "field technicians." Hand picked by Rufus Shinra, the president's son. He kept the 10 with the best track record. Those of us who never had to order in "accidents" to witnesses. Some people just can't talk. I've never been more happy to be good at my job. It really was a wake up call. The 10 of us left walk a fine line. But hey, there are worse jobs….