Chapter 4
If the walk across the bridges between the sectors and the reactor had presented a dizzying view to Cloud's eyes; then what he saw within the next area of the reactor made him feel like he was on the edge of reality. The network of pathways and stairs had been replaced by a convoluted network of pipes that conjoined with one another in a pattern that stretched onwards in to infinity. Each small inner network formed a square from four individual sections of tubular metal. The reactor pipes were wide, each being at least four feet across. The trio were able to comfortably walk along them in single file.
"Sheesh! Why's anyone gonna do this shit to ge' to work?" Barret moaned from the rear of the group.
"This is the back door way in." Jessie chuckled suddenly, "we've already had fights on elevators."
"Yeah she's right." He cut in before the leader could whine again, "don't forget this is going to be the heart of the Shinra reactor. They'll have put the tightest security in place, practically no hacker can get around retinal scans and such like."
The group carefully negotiated a final network of pipes in the direction of a huge girder, at the end of which was a ladder that descended for approximately forty feet. He took point and got to the rungs, beginning a controlled descent. Barret followed, Jessie, however, did not.
"Go on ahead, I'll keep watch from up here." She called at his unasked question, he simply shrugged and moved on. It was not his plan, so not his to question.
As he stepped off the ladder, he took in a deep breath and calmly walked to the centre of the walkway. Ahead he could see part of the colossal cooling tower. Up close he realised that it must have been at least one hundred feet in diameter. He didn't even begin to guess what the circumference would be.
Due to the incredible size of the cooling tower, the Shinra had carefully designed the area before it. A narrow pathway some ten feet wide connected the tower with their side of the reactor. Before a large squared area fanned out from it in front of the tower. Evidently they wanted to minimise damage caused by any potential explosive fallout.
The pair walked along the route and were shocked at how unmanned the area was. He had deliberately avoided looking at the abyss beneath the bridge, he had seen enough bottomless pits so far. Barret thought it was christmas, his mini-gun was practically snarling for the chance to punch through armour. He had felt differently, everything about the entry into the reactor had been too easy. While the orchestrated attack involving the fight in Sector Two would have cleared some security traffic from the site; there had only been three enemy engagements up to this point, surely the situation should have been red flagged by Shinra? He thought uneasily to himself.
He was about to ponder this further when Barret suddenly strode away from him and leant back on a railing at the edge of the platform. Puzzled by this, he walked two further paces before the burly man stared straight at him.
"That thing there mus' be what Jessie wuz goin' on abou'. We's gotta get the bomb set in there somehow, get to it!" The leader huskily called to him.
"What was that?" He asked in stunned reprisal. "You're the leader here, are you sure you want me to set the bomb? If this is done wrong then everything we've done will be for nothing!"
Barret slammed his fists together. "Jus' do it! I's gonna watch from back 'ere to make sure you don' try to pull nothin'!"
He shrugged his shoulders. Yes because I can really screw up the bomb when I am not touching it! He raged silently. "All right, be my guest; if that's how you want it."
He swiftly pulled the rucksack from the ground where Barret left it and made his advance towards the foot of the cooling tower. Suddenly a chilling sensation swept through his body, as if an apparition had crossed his path. Stopping, he heard a voice creep from the depths of his mind. The words malignant and hypnotic.
"Be careful!" The voice spat viscously, "this isn't just a reactor!"
From the corner of his eyes the world began to change, it was like when someone set paper on fire, the corners curling as if flames had taken hold of his vision. The edge of his view bubbled violently before he saw a wall of red light. Tiered pods began to stack up, panicked, he forced his mind to focus on the world ahead. Drinking in the image of the wide cooling tower of reactor number one. After a moment the baffling view departed, and his eyes saw the world normally once more.
"W'a's up?" Barret asked, "you gotta set the bomb!"
He shook his head. "It's nothing, just a few nerves." Before the man could grill him about how a former Soldier would feel nervous about such a routine mission, he began to set the bomb. The base of the tower had a large grilled door and he carefully pulled it open. Swiftly the warrior tapped in the data for the explosion. Just as he made to complete the setting, a huge klaxon sounded and he pulled away.
"Head's up! Looks like we got some company!" Barret yelled, pulling his mini-gun into position.
He walked to the centre of the platform and stood back to back with the leader. Instinct had led him to the defensive move, the pair now able to view most areas of the battlefield. So long as we can trust each other to communicate the danger. In the distance a sound of scuttling movement crashed over them like a wave. It was as if insects were rushing from an inner hive. At first they believed that an entire platoon of men had been dispatched to face them.
But as the noise reached fever-pitch both men broke formation and rushed back towards the narrow bridge. A loud thud sounded from above and the pair watched as the single enemy jumped down to the platform before the cooling tower. In essence the creature was a gigantic robot guard, the shape reminiscent of a scorpion.
Eight hydraulic legs formed an arched shape at a height of around nine metres, while above it a huge red armoured exoskeleton stood for another twelve metres. The head was triangular and reminded him of a beetle. Its shape oval at the front while it rolled back to form the point of an armoured spine on the rear of the enemy.
Barret's vision was obviously arrested by the magnificent weapons that adorned the robot's arms. They had been fashioned in the vein of old rifles, the barrels easily five metres in length with the tips ridged to grant better accuracy. The arsenal was completed by a tail formed from interlocking links of metal that curled behind the machine for a distance of approximately twenty metres.
Suddenly the enemy attacked, the hydraulic limbs carrying it over to the pair in a heartbeat. They each scattered as two of the metal legs stabbed at the floor of the platform. Their points puncturing through the thick concrete like it was made of rice paper. Cloud retaliated by leaping into the air and pulling off a single swipe at the joint of one leg and bouncing clear back towards the narrow walkway. His blade had dented the armour, while the tip scraped along a shaft that pumped Mako energy to the underbelly.
The robot instantly levelled both firearms and used a blinding pair of swirling lasers to outline its target. He did not wait for the attack and simply ran towards the scorpion. Unbelievably the machine was able to recalibrate its aim without further use of the lasers. The storm of slugs smashed at the foundations as if they were meteorites. He did not look back at the holes they had left in their wake.
He prayed that Barret would take advantage of the distraction he provided. Instinctively he glanced to his left and saw the leader aiming at the cranium of the robot. The mini-gun threw bullets at the target and a constant sound of metal ringing on metal shattered the noise of the robot's rifle attack. Barret held his nerve and kept up the assault, as if he were aiming to deliver some cover for him to exploit.
He took the offer and darted through to the back of the machine. Instantly he jumped onto the back of a leg joint and used it to propel himself higher. The scorpion read the sneak attack and swished its tail furiously. he stabbed his blade into the back of the machine and hung from the handle. Before it could become obvious what he planned, he swung his weight around the blade and used the sword as if it were a gymnast's bar.
Suddenly, he vaulted upwards, dragging the sword with him. The speed of the assault had rendered the machine unable to read the move and he drove home his blade, the sword going through the machine's throat and in to some core circuitry. An electric shock flung him and the sword from the enemy's back and into the cooling tower. The violent collision rocked him as if he had been hit by a train. Winded, he began to fall towards the ground, desperately he curled in a ball as the walkway came closer to impact.
Half-stunned, he saw the machine shake violently on the spot, as if it were helpless. Through blurred vision, he caught sight of Barret smiling grimly and aim once again, this time placing the mini-gun on full auto, the bullets screamed from the six barrels at a speed quicker than the eye could register. The metal storm rang out across the reactor, holes and dents forming all around the head of the robot.
He shook the cobwebs from his mind and looked on as Barret continued his assault on the machine at the centre of the platform. Suddenly the tail of the creature shot into the air, curving like a bow that was ready to release an arrow. Still the scorpion stood still, not attacking the human beneath it.
His bewilderment turned to horror as he saw the mako energy flow up from the core of the machine. It was preparing some form of attack with the tail, evidently powered by the energy that the reactor was syphoning. He desperately called out to the tribal warrior, but the blood had gone to man's head, and he did not respond.
Anger replaced the concern that he had possessed and adrenaline coursed through him like quicksilver. Kicking his legs into the air at a sixty degree angle, he jumped up to a standing position without using his hands. Swiftly he rushed at the man and grabbed his tunic, Barret looked confused, before he shocked him further. The veins of the Soldier's arms bulged before he dragged Barret away from the battle.
Furious, the the leader launched a head butt toward him. He rolled with the blow, which drew blood, though it did not stop him dragging the man clear. Suddenly; he dropped his quarry, safe underneath the belly of the beast. Barret was about to attack him again when a blinding flash of light filled the scene and the pair watched a one foot wide energy beam shot from above and was dragged across the platform in a semi-circular fashion.
The mako driven light formed a scar and the pattern was like the aftermath of a farmer who had chopped his scythe through a field full of wheat. He stared on as Barret looked in to his eyes with a look of horror. He watched the leader shiver before he silently walked past him, picked up his fallen sword and once again vaulted on to the back of the enemy.
This time he did not hold back, the forty-two inch blade repeatedly hacked at the armour, shafts and wires; like he was a butcher smashing through meat. Beneath him, Barret ran from underneath the robot and saw the gap appear within the exoskeleton, without a second thought he began to shoot. The slugs piercing through the exterior and into the core circuitry.
Suddenly Cloud saw it, the main mako shaft was right in front of his eyes, without hesitation he thrust his sword into the exposed armour and shattered the tube. Blue fluid sloshed from within like he had just smashed an hourglass. Sparks were spat from the armour and he vaulted clear, landing roughly alongside Barret. The robot staggered before toppling from the ledge. Neither pair looked down as the machine's explosion rocked the depths of the reactor.
For two minutes the pair gathered their breath, stabilising themselves from the adrenaline that still flowed uncontrolled in their bodies. Eventually he returned to the iron door within the tower, a flashing red light telling him the bomb was armed and ready. Barret nodded at him and he pressed the button in deep, as he did so a beeping sound came from the leaders watch.
"We's got jus' ten minutes, so let's fucking go!" Barret roared and began to run along the ledge.
From the pipework above the platform Jessie had watched all of the action unfold. She partly wished that Biggs had been able to see it, the guy would have been forced to eat all his words regarding Cloud. Ahead of her some blood streaks were still fresh on the pipes from where she had fought off a small unit of guards; who had appeared from nowhere. Though she knew that what she had pulled off paled in comparison to the battle waged by Barret and Cloud.
"Hey girl!" The burly man called as he leapt off the ladder and onto the pipe. "You see the big guy at work?"
She chuckled and nodded. "It was impressive."
"Yeah, shame that running down our escape clock isn't." Cloud cut in suddenly.
"Jeez jus' piss all over my parade eh punk?" Barret snorted.
"You want to blow the reactor? That parts done, you want to escape? That isn't, so unless you want to get burned to a crisp, you'll move it!" He roared in reprisal. For a second none spoke before Barret silently nodded. "Then go!" He ordered and the trio slipped over the pipes and back to the main access point.
As the elevator slammed to the top floor Barret shouted at the top of his voice for everyone to get the doors open. Cloud led the trio on, he ignored the incessant calling of the time by Barret as best he could. Swiftly they ran down the stairs and on to the T-shaped bridge.
He was almost at the gate when he heard Jessie go down, he cursed angrily before he scooped her onto his shoulder and dived for the exit. Behind him he heard a mass of minor chain explosions, before a tremor shook the bridge and the pair spiralled into the rest of Avalanche.
He turned his head and drank in the image of the reactor. Huge fissures had formed along the outside of the column, while many gargantuan slabs of concrete and metal had broken free and smashed towards the slums below, tearing through some of the circular foundation of the upper plate as it went. The open top of the tower spewed a column of flame instead of Mako smog. The heat warped some of the girders that surrounded it. A flash of fire erupted from the entrance of the reactor, whilst the deafening noise shattered the still of the night.
On the horizon a repeated sound of helicopter rotor blades smote the booming echo of the bomb. Instantly Avalanche darted through the gate and down a subsidiary tunnel that led them away from the main sector checkpoints. The group had no idea if the helicopters were for fighting the fires or securing the perimeter. Either way, their mission had succeeded, now they had to get out of the strike zone without being captured. He knew this wouldn't be easy but silently followed the lead of the group, this was where their supposed water tight preparation would be fully tested.