Disclaimer=I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of it's characters.
The alarms began to blare soon after, filling the entire reactor with its' deafening scream. Cloud across the bridge to Barret motioning for the man to follow him.
"Come on, let's get outta here!"
"Ten minutes to detonation!" An automated voice warned over the speakers.
The two men ran back down the narrow bridge. The air was thick and heavy with the smell of burning mako, making it extremely difficult for them to breathe. They raced back through the obstacle course of pipes and ladders up to the exit of the reactor, getting stopped constantly by grunts and 1st rays.
"You all right?" Cloud asked running over to Jessie who was stuck at the end of one of the catwalks.
"My leg got stuck," she said freeing her leg from the metal grate. "Thanks!"
The three headed up the rest of the ladders and climbed the endless flights of stairs with only minutes before the bomb would go off.
"Two minutes to detonation!" The alarms continued to sound throughout the reactor.
The group finally rushed outside and across the main bridge as the reactor started to crackle with electricity. Just as they escaped the bridge the reactor burst into flames and exploded, sending shockwaves all through out Midgar.
Beep Beep Beep. Beep. Beep.
"That should keep the planet going… at least a little longer," Biggs sighed as they waited for Jessie to finish setting the bomb.
"Yeah." Wedge agreed, keeping a lookout just in case any Shinra troups were to pop up.
"OK! Now everyone get back," Jessie ordered as she finished with the timer.
AVALANCHE all ran back through the tunnel waiting for the bomb to go off which would clear them a path through the rubble.
The small charge went off blasting through the debris, shooting flames out of the exit along with the rest of AVALANCHE.
"All right, now let's get out of here," Barret ordered as soon as everyone was out of the tunnel and regrouped. "Rendezvous at Sector 8 station! Split up and get on the train!"
Just as he finished the command, Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie all ran off in their own separate directions, so they wouldn't seem too suspicious to anyone in the area who might be affiliated with Shinra.
"H, hey!" Cloud ran up to the leader.
"If it's about your money save it 'til we're back at the hideout," He said running up the stairs to the city.
Everything had soon turned to Chaos on Loveless Avenue as soon as the reactor had gone up. People were running around panicking over the situation, some even stealing things from stores while shop owners were busy trying to contact their families.
"Excuse me." A flower girl shyly walked up to the Ex-SOLDIER as he walked by a large pile of rubble that used to be the Loveless Theater. "What happened?"
Cloud thought for a moment trying to decide whether or not to tell the girl what had happened with the reactor. "Nothing…hey, listen… Don't see many flowers around here."
She looked down at her basket and picked up a white flower handing it to Cloud. "Oh, these? Do you like them? They're only a gil…?"
The blonde scratched his head in thought and reached out to take the flower handing her a gil piece in return.
"Oh, Thank you!" she bowed slightly and smiled giving him a small wave before walking off down the now ruined street.
Wires were broken everywhere, windows were broken in stores, and pieces of the reactor were lying around the road everywhere. Cloud walked quietly down an empty alleyway, heading towards the train station.
"Hey! You there!!" A few Shinra guards yelled over to him, most likely about to interrogate him about the blast.
Shinra guards suddenly started pouring in from all directions, machine guns blazing. They had him trapped on the bridge, nowhere to possibly run to without getting captured.
"That's as far as you go," One of the guards said as they all surrounded him in a tight circle.
"I don't have time to be messin around with you guys."
Just then the bridge began to shake and a loud whistle was heard. Cloud looked down briefly seeing that there were rails underneath the bridge that he hadn't seen before.
"Enough babbling…… Grab him!!" The guards all rushed forward as he jumped off the side of the bridge landing with a heavy thud on top of the train just as it passed by.
Inside the train
"Cloud never came," Wedge whispered leaning against some boxes in the cargo hold.
Biggs looked up for a minute and sighed, "Cloud…… Wonder if he was killed?"
"No way!!" the man with the gun arm yelled.
"Cloud……," Jessie said quietly.
They all looked up briefly after hearing some loud pounding from the ceiling.
Biggs looked up again. "Say, do you think Cloud's…… Going to fight to the end for AVALANCHE!?"
"The hell would I know!? Do I look like a mind reader?" Barret answered gruffly and hit the metal box next to him. "Hmph!! If y'all weren't such screw-ups…"
"Hey, Barret! What about our money…?" Unfortunately for Wedge, this happened to be the wrong time for him to ask the question.
Barret hit the crate again.
"Uh, nothin'…sorry."
The loud pounding was heard a few more time before the door opened and Cloud came in doing his signature backflip. He always had to make a big entrance to a scene.
"Cloud!" everyone exclaimed happy to see the ex-SOLDIER again.
"Looks like I'm a little late."
Barret jumped up and waved his arms in the air. "You damn right, you're late!! Come waltzin' in here makin' a big scene!"
Cloud casually brushed a piece of hair out of his face and crossed his arms. "It's no big deal. Just what I always do."
"Shit! Havin' everyone worried like that. You don't give a damn 'bout no one but yourself!"
The spiky-haired blonde shrugged. "Hmm…… You were worried about me!"
Barret waved his arms around in frustration. "Wha!? I'm takin' it outta your money, hot stuff!" He moved to the front of the car and yelled to the others. "Wake up! We're movin' out! Follow me!" he ordered before moving to the next car ahead.
"Hey, Cloud!! You were great back there!" Wedge congratulated Cloud on the way out of the car.
"Heh heh……Cloud! We'll do even better next time," Biggs added.
Jessie walked up to the still open door of the car. "Be careful, I'll shut this." She turned around and nodded to the man. "Oh, Cloud!! Your face is pitch-black……," she said getting out a handkerchief and wiping the grease and dirt off his face. "There you go!" She walked a few steps towards the others but turned back to Cloud again, remembering she had to thank him. "Say, thanks for helping me back there at the Reactor!"
'Last train out of Sector 8 Station. Last stop is Sector 7, Train Graveyard. Expected time of arrival is 12:23AM, Midgar Standard Time…' the conductor announced over the loudspeaker.
Avalanche piled into the next car, getting many dirty looks from the other inhabitants of the car, who eventually decided to go to the next car up.
"This is why I hate the last train. Hoo-boy…" a Shinra employee on the train said to himself before exiting the car.
Cloud made his way down the cramped isle bumping into a man sleeping on one of the seats. "Huh…? This is my house, so make yourselves at home." The man said sleepily. Cloud nodded and headed down towards where Wedge and Jessie were standing.
"Hey, Cloud. You want to look at this with me?" Jessie pointed to a small screen mounted on the side of the car. "It's a map of the Midgar Rail System. Let's look at it together. I'll explain it to you. I like this kinda stuff. Bombs and monitors…you know, flashy stuff."
Jessie pressed a few buttons under the screen as Cloud moved in to take a closer look. "Okay, it's about to start." The screen then came to life showing a green 3D model. "This is a complete model of the city of Midgar. It's about a 1/10000 scale. The top plate is about 50 meters above ground. A main support structure holds the plate up in the center, and there are other support structures built in each section…"
Jessie looked around briefly to make sure no one was listening before adding another comment in a whisper. "The No. 1 Reactor we blew up was in the northern section. Then there's No. 2, No. 3 all the way up to the No. 8 Reactor. The 8 Reactors provide Midgar with electricity. Each town used to have a name, but no one in Midgar remembers them. Instead of names, we refer to them by numbered sectors. That's the kind of place this is." The girl paused for a minute to adjust the red headband on her forehead and sighed. "Phew…, this is next! Look."
The screen then zoomed out slightly to show a better view of the city. "This is the route this train is on." She explained as dots started to appear showing the route they were on around the city. "The route spirals around the main support structure. We should be coming around the center area, right now. At each checkpoint an ID sensor device is set up. It can check the identities and background on each and every passenger on the train by linking it up to the central data bank at Shinra headquarters." She then lowered her voice to a whisper again. "Anyone could tell that we look suspicious, so we're using fake ID's."
An alarm soon began to go off in the train and red lights started to flash all throughout the car. "Speak of the devil… That light means that we're in the ID Security Check area. When the lights go off, you never know what kind of creeps'll come out… anyhow, we're almost back now. That's a relief."
The lights then went off and Cloud headed over to Barret who was looking out one of the small dusty windows. "Look… you can see the surface now. This city don't have no day or night. If that plate weren't there… we could see the sky."
Cloud sat next to the man and looked out the window. "A floating city… Pretty unsettling scenery." He said, his mako blue eyes scanning the outside structures.
Barret rose from his seat and scratched his head in confusion. "Never expect ta hear that outta someone like you…you jes' full of surprises." He squeezed his way up to the front of the car where the rest of AVALANCHE was quietly waiting. "The upper world…a city on a plate… It's 'cuz of that &^#$# 'pizza', that people underneath are sufferin'! And the city below is full of polluted air. On topa that, the Reactor keeps drainin' up all the energy."
The blonde pushed a stray lock away from his face. "Then why doesn't everyone move onto the Plate?"
"Dunno. Probably 'cuz they ain't got no money. Or, maybe… Cuz they love their land, no matter how polluted it gets."
Cloud shook his head and turned to the window. "I know… no one lives in the slums because they want to. It's like this train. It can't run anywhere except where its rails take it."
The train skidded to a halt and stopped at the small rundown station. The doors opened and everyone including AVALANCHE poured out of the train.
"Yo!! Get over here, all'ya!!" Barret yelled to the rest of the group.
Everyone rushed over to form a small circle around the leader and listened in closely for what he had to say. "This mission was a success. But don't get lazy now. The hard part's still to come! Don't y'all be scared of that explosion! Cause the next one's gonna be bigger than that!"
Barret ran off towards the other direction. "Meet back at the hideout!! Move out!"