Read and Review! I appreciate knowing my story was read. Thanks in advance.
This will adhere fairly close to Final Fantasy 7's main plot, with a few major changes and many minor ones.
Midgar. An insanely huge industrialized city, circular in design, and miles in diameter. Anyone who had seen it for the first time would instantly agree that it was possible the largest city they had ever seen. It was separated into a top and bottom half, the top half was the city, and just fifty meters beneath it sat the slums. The city and the slums beneath were divided into eight equal sections, all numbered accordingly.
It was 10:00 pm, but that did nothing to alleviate the activity. The streets were filled with people clamoring about various shops, hoping to find bargains. Still others could be seen pushing their way through the crowds, attempting to reach some unknown destination. Elsewhere came the hum of trains, their engines toiling away endlessly. It was on one of these trains that a blonde spiky haired man, Cloud, sat watching out a window at the city that stood below him, for the train rails were not bound to the ground.
In his eyes, the buildings were nothing but a blur as the train whizzed past them all. Not that he cared. He was on the train for one reason, and one reason only. The only building that caught his eye was the Shin-Ra headquarters. It was difficult to miss. It stood in the very center of everything and was easily the tallest building in Midgar, and at the top, was the man who owned the city. President Shinra himself.
"Hey, don't go screwin' this up, ya hear, new guy!? You may have agreed to this, but I don't trust you!" Cloud merely turned his head to the one who had spoken and gave a shrug. He was a middle sized man with a buzz cut and black skin tone color, but he had a ridiculous muscle build that would've put professional body builders to shame. Even more interesting than his physique was his right arm, or rather his lack thereof. Instead of an arm, there was only a gatling gun grafted there. He had never bothered to ask how or where he had gotten such an operation, but he didn't really care. He was just a mercenary hired by this group. He only had to do his job and get payed after they destroyed a reactor located in sector eight of Midgar. They had hijacked the train they were currently on and had killed the guards with ease because only certain trains traveled to reactors for security reasons.
There was one reactor in each sector if memory served him correctly. They were designed to draw energy up out of the earth, named Mako energy. His job was pretty simple. If it was bad, destroy it. Mako energy kept the city running, so there would definitely be plenty of security to guard the reactor. Plenty of things for him to worry about. They weren't the only ones though. There were three other members with them. One was a short and pudgy man wearing unassuming clothes and a red bandana. One was another small man of average build, equally dressed in casual clothing. The last member was actually a girl.
"Yo Biggs, how much longer are we gonna have to sit here?" It was the gun for an arm man again. If nothing else, he was certainly impatient. Apparently the small man was Biggs.
"We should arrive at the station in just a couple minutes, Barret." Came Biggs' reply. Giving a sigh of defeat , the man named Barret sat back down again. Cloud unhooked his sword from his back in preparation. It was funny how no one in Midgar really cared about people carrying weapons. It was actually not uncommon considering the high crime rate in the slums of the city.
"Hey, is it true? Are you really an ex-SOLDIER?" The question came from the pudgy man. Cloud only gave a nod of affirmation. He didn't really enjoy his time in the SOLDIER program and didn't like to think about it.
"Wow! We're really lucky to have found you! It's not every day one can find an ex-SOLDIER in AVALANCH!" The pudgy man marveled. AVALANCH was the name of their little group.
"Wait a minute, I thought SOLDIER was with the enemy. What in the world is he doing here?" Now it was the small girl.
"No no no. He's an ex-SOLDIER. He quit them, and now he's with us." Biggs answered hastily. "By the way, I never did catch your name…"
"I'm Cloud." He answered.
"Nice to meet you!" The fat man answered. "I'm-"
"I don't care what your names are. Once this job is over and I get payed, I'm out of here." The rest of the time was spent in silence, much to Cloud's happiness. He didn't have long to relax, though.
"And here we are." Biggs announced. Everyone tensed. The train brakes screamed as the massive machine began slowing down. Before the guards on the platform could react, Barret popped out of the roof hatch and sprayed bullets down on all of them. Cries of agony rang through the station as the train kept moving forward, bringing forth more new targets for Barret to take down. Barret mowed down the guards, fitting into the black stereotype more and more with each passing second. Cloud waited with the others below. After silence filled the room for what seemed like forever, Barret finally motioned for everyone else to climb up quickly. If the gun hadn't alerted any other guards, the screams of the now deceased guard's certainly did. Cloud and Biggs quickly rushed for the only entrance into the reactor to hopefully get it open, but that proved unnecessary.
The door swung wide open and three more guards, all armed with what appeared to be assault rifles, entered the room. A quick swing from Cloud's sword sent two heads rolling instantly, but the third had ducked under. Thankfully, Biggs was no slouch himself. A swift kick to the gut followed by one to the head ensured the guard wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. Barret and the other two reached the door just as Biggs had finished opening it.
"Shall we?" Biggs said as they all entered. The group proceeded cautiously the rest of the way to the reactor. Biggs and the other two unknown members headed the front, followed by Cloud, then Barret, but they didn't encounter any other resistance. When at least they reached the entrance, the man in the red bandana elected to stay behind and keep an exit open. After all, they didn't want to stick around to see what would happen after they destroyed the reactor.
Biggs and the girl immediately sat down to begin work on opening the metal door. Cloud could only stand and wait for them to finish. At least now he knew why they were brought along. While they were waiting, Barret turned to Cloud.
"So, is this your first time in a reactor?" Cloud resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and settled on a simple answer instead.
"No, after all, I did used to work with Shin-Ra." At this Barret snorted, but continued speaking.
"The planet's full of Mako energy. People in both the cities and the slums use it every day, but Shin-Ra keeps sucking it all out with these machines of theirs. These reactors." Barret spat out the last word in disgust, but Cloud couldn't have cared less, and he wasn't afraid to admit it.
"I'm not here for a lecture." At this, Barret's face flashed a brief image of rage, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. His rough voice didn't conceal his feelings to well though.
"Don't you understand?! Little by little these reactors will suck away until there's nothing left! And then what!? The planet is gonna die if we allow this to continue!"
"Look, I just want to get this job done before the guards and roboguards show up. I don't care about anything else, understand?" As if in response, Barret slammed his gun into the nearest wall, leaving a rather large indentation. His face no longer concealed his anger.
"That's it! You're coming with me from now on!" As if Cloud cared. Barret had already proven himself annoying, but he was certainly helpful in a fight, of which there was sure to be some before they reached the core of the reactor.
"Code deciphered." The girl said. In response, the doors slid open. Barret apparently decided to drop the conversation as he stalked by Cloud into the next room, giving his compliments to the girl.
"Good work, Jesse." The girl, Jesse, quickly moved into the next room and entered the code on the next set of doors. Cloud followed behind. He had been in a reactor before, but it was still amazing how big they were. Each room seemed as though it could fit a small house. Well, they would all get to see for themselves soon enough. In the next room was only an elevator. 'Perhaps it'll take us straight to the core.'
Not likely, but he could always hope. Biggs elected to also stay behind and guard the entrance, so now it was just him, Barret, and Jesse. Entering the elevator, Cloud pressed the button for the bottom floor, B4.
Upon seeing the bottom floor, Cloud's initial impression was that someone had not been keeping up proper maintenance. They were in a much larger room than before, but Cloud had no time to study. They had to get this job done as soon as humanly possible. The three of them rushed down a flight of stairs and into the only available room. They had already mapped out this place, so they knew where they were going, but that still didn't make the next part any easier.
Heading through the door, they found themselves on a rather narrow ledge. Taking care to jump over the hole in the floor, they made their way to a ladder and went down another floor. It was here that Jesse elected to stay behind, and neither Barret nor Cloud argued. One more floor later and they found what they were looking for. A door that would lead them straight to the core. Sure enough, they stepped through to find exactly what they had hoped.
"Alright Cloud, set up the bomb. When we blow this place, it won't be anything more than a hunka junk."
"Shouldn't you do it?"
"No way. I'm gonna stand right here and make sure you don't try anything funny!" Cloud sighed internally. He didn't really expect Barret to completely trust him. 'So what? What do I care if he trusts me or not? I'm still getting payed either way.'
"Fine." Taking the bomb case Barret had left on the ground, Cloud opened it up. He entered the code and immediately it started beeping and started a countdown from ten minutes. It was strange how the bomb's beeping could carry so far. In fact, it almost sounded like-
"Head's up! We've got company!" Barret shouted. Cloud whipped his head so fast he heard something crack. A giant, scorpion shaped robot was standing between them and the only exit out of the reactor. It looked like something straight out of a comic book, one where the evil villain is a joke and probably fat and balding too. 'Shit! They had a guard robot waiting here!'
There was nothing left to do now but to fight whatever the robot. A quick glance at the bomb told Cloud they had better hurry. Of course the robot would've waited until after the bomb was armed to attack. Taking up his sword, he was thankful that he had prepared his lightning materia for this job. Cloud still had his lightning and ice materia from his days as a SOLDIER.
Before either person could react, a beam of light emitted from the robot and passed over both of them. Cloud had seen enough robots to know exactly what it was doing. 'It's locking onto us!'
They both rolled out of the way just as it whipped its tail by where they had been standing just moments ago.
"To hell with this, eat lead!" Barret shouted as he opened fire on the robot. The bullets that found their target just bounced off harmlessly. This robot was definitely built with stronger armor than a standard. In fact, it simply swung its tail around again, but Barret was unable to dodge it this time. It then turned its sights on Cloud, but he had already finished working his lightning spell.
A single bolt of lightning appeared only a few feet above the robot, but it struck just as fast. As he had hoped, the electricity coursed through the robot. For the moment at least, it wasn't functioning properly, but Cloud only needed a moment. Grasping his sword, he rolled around to the back of the malfunctioning pile of scrap and with a single stroke, severed the tail.
"Barret, take it out now!" In response, Barret pulled himself up, and before Cloud's very eyes, morphed his gun from a gatling gun, to what looked like a cannon. Apparently there was even more to him than met the eye.
"Suck on this ya pile of scrap!" Cloud dove out of the way as Barret let loose a single powerful blast. Cloud covered his head in a classic fetal position as pieces of metal rained down around him. Smoke from the explosion covered the room, making it so Cloud couldn't see a thing. When it settled, he saw that the blast had literally blown the head right off the bot. He turned to look at Barret, who was now wearing a grin.
"And that," Barret said, "is how you take care of business." The alarm now blaring wildly mixed in with the bomb timer reminded them that there was no time to celebrate. They had to move now unless they liked the thought of being blown to smithereens.
"Let's go!" Cloud shouted. A quick glance revealed they only had three minutes left. Dashing out of the room, they fled up the stairs as quickly as they could. Time had no meaning. All that mattered was that they got out as fast as possible. They paused. It seemed the sentry guns had been activated when the alarm had gone off.
"Cloud, we don't have any choice! We have to fight'em!" Cloud knew there was no other way, but he couldn't afford to waste any time if he liked the idea of being in one piece. Dashing forward, he cut one in half before it could even register a threat. Barret stuffed the other one full of bullets. There were several on the walls as well. Both Cloud's lightning spell and Barret's gun were not very accurate at long range. Barret took a glance at his watch.
"We've got less than two minutes, Cloud!"
"Forget them, we've gotta go!" They both turned and ran wildly out the door, trying to keep their heads covered from the bullets raining down around them. Cloud was sure he felt several whiz right by his head as the door behind them shut. He scurried up the latter right behind Barret, but they were supposed to head left at the top to the next ladder. Barret, instead headed right. Cloud was about to shout until he saw why. Jesse had apparently gotten her foot stuck.
"Come on Jesse, let's go!" Barret shouted as he forcefully yanked her foot out.
"I'm sorry. My foot was stuck." She replied. Up another floor, and they all crammed into the elevator. Cloud jammed the first floor button, silently wishing that the elevator would hurry up. The few seconds it took to get to the top seemed like an agonizing eternity for him. Eventually the elevator reached the end of its journey, and the doors slid open to the hallway that led to freedom…
..and the doors to said freedom were locked.
"What the hell!?" Barret shouted angrily at no one in particular. Jesse wasted no time in entering the code. Cloud used this time to peek at Barret's watch. 'Less than thirty seconds. We're not going to make it.'
"Got it!" Jesse shouted. They rushed in and much to their relief, found that the second door had already been opened by Biggs.
"Let's go!" Biggs shouted. "Wedge has already gone through!"
Everyone made a mad dash for the exit. 'Fifteen.'
All four of them filed out into the platform in front of the reactor, now they just had to put enough distance between them and the explosion. 'Ten.'
It was now that Cloud had wished he had a lighter sword. Everyone was ahead of him because he was being weighed down by his. Just ahead of him, he watched Jesse trip and fall over.
"My leg!" She shouted. She must've sprained something when she got it stuck. 'God damn it! I don't have the time!'
'Leave her, there's no time!'
'No, you might need her later!' Yeah, Cloud decided he could rationalize what he did next with the latter thought. Picking up Jesse, he hobbled around to the nearest corner, just as the bomb did its duty. One giant explosion engulfed the inside of the reactor, and then the whole reactor was up in a giant explosion. Cloud could feel the intensity of the heat on his face, even as he tried to shield himself and Jesse from the blast.
Then, it was all over. Cloud looked up to see the reactor burning brightly. He would've been surprised if there was one person in Midgar who couldn't see it. They needed to get out of there before Shin-Ra showed up. He nudged Jesse, who was still on top of him.
"Hey, can you get up?"Cloud asked her.
"Ugh, I think so." Jesse shakily replied. Slowly but surely she rose to her feet, just in time for Barret and the other two to arrive.
"God Jesse, don't you ever scare me like that again! I thought for sure you were cooked!" Barret exclaimed.
"Sorry. It was Cloud here. He saved me when I fell over. Thanks Cloud." Barret merely gave a small snort and a nod towards Cloud.
"Yeah, I guess you didn't do too badly, Cloud. Looks like you were worth it after all. We should get moving." He conceded.
"I've got the charges in place." The bandana man replied. Leaving by ground was a sure way to get themselves caught, so they were going to use an old tunnel nearby that had fallen into disuse years ago. The charges were going to blow it wide open for them.
"Good work, Wedge. Alright then, let's get going. We've still got more work to do." Barret said.
Next chapter should be up in a couple of days I hope.