Before Crisis 2: The Crisis
CHAPTER 46 – THE RAID ON MIDGAR
January 13th [ ν ] - εγλ 0008, 4:00 PM
A moment of recollection settled upon Tseng as he checked his reflection in the mirror. His clean-shaven face was accentuated by his sleek, shoulder-length hair, and his polished suit and tie clung to him nicely. For the first time in a long time, he looked and felt like himself again; a Turk, fully recovered from his injuries, and fully prepared for emergency situations.
Turning away from the mirror, he glanced at the window and walked towards it, stepping onto the balcony of his apartment room. He looked up at the Sister Ray, the Mako Cannon that was transported from Junon, and then at Meteor, its bright, mammoth body towering over the Shinra Building. It gave him chills to see the two monstrosities so close to one another.
I have to return to Shinra. I must.
He hadn't told Veld or anyone of his plans to rejoin the company, but he deemed it unnecessary at this time.
The Sister Ray was going to be fired in an hour... and with Meteor closing in, a powerful storm was expected to come later in the evening.
A tense silence fell over Reno and Rude as they wandered the streets of Sector 0. They looked up again, startled by the increasing sound of Mako energy, pumping through the pipelines that connected to the cannon. The streets had never been quieter at this time of the day, and for good reason. From where the Turks stood, it looked like an oversized weapon had been moved into everyone's backyard.
"Theoretically, it's perfect," Rude murmured, still eyeing the cannon.
Reno turned to his partner. "Theoretically? What about non-theoretically?" For once, he sounded serious.
Rude took a deep breath. "It leaves me concerned."
"Then I'm relieved."
"What do you mean?"
"I thought I was the only one worried," Reno clarified. "Are we seriously going to fire this thing? Don't we have to test it out first? Will Midgar be alright?"
Rude sighed at the torrent of questions. "Would you be reassured if I said it'll be alright?"
"Hey, don't get mad."
The President had theorized that if Sephiroth died, the nightmare that he had summoned in the skies with the Black Materia, would disappear with him. Once the Planet was no longer at risk of being destroyed by Meteor, the Weapons would return to where they came. The Great Sephiroth Plan was the company's last resort. The future of the Planet depended on Shinra and the power of the Sister Ray.
"Still holding onto that?" Rude muttered, pointing at the bomb sticking out of Reno's pocket.
The redhead nodded. "I was just thinkin' about it. Let's go find Elena."
Elena tapped her foot impatiently as she waited at the checkout line, a small pouch of candy in her hand. Curse her sweet tooth; she couldn't believe she was doing this in the middle of her shift. But patrol had been so boring, and so pointless for far too long, and she figured it wouldn't hurt to take a few minutes and get something to snack on before the launch.
"Hi," the male cashier greeted.
"Hi."
Pausing briefly, he studied her appearance before scanning the lone item. "Forty-five gil."
She gave him fifty.
And then he asked, "Aren't you supposed to be on duty?"
"Oh! Um, actually, I'm on break," Elena squeaked. "Keep the change."
"...Thanks."
She slipped out of the local store and headed for Sector 8's LOVELESS Avenue, where she could resume her patrol duties. A right turn at the next intersection would lead her there, and the steel tower that supported the weight of the Sister Ray wasn't far off.
Stopping at a red light, she glanced around the intersection. The entertainment district was quieter than usual, but still packed with civilians and Shinra personnel walking in different directions. There was a small crowd of people on the opposite end of the avenue, cautiously observing the Mako Cannon from afar. Elena continued to look around as she waited for the light, refusing to jaywalk across the empty street.
Just as she turned to go, she caught a glimpse of a familiar character, barely visible in the back alley. It was a black-haired man wearing full white, his hunched back turned to her, pulling away slowly. Moments later, he slipped into the dark and vanished. Elena's eyes widened as she thought more about the suspicious figure. Could that possibly be... no, it can't. There's no way.
She stepped onto the sidewalk and stopped, wondering if she should follow him. But then her PHS buzzed.
"Yo, you in Sector 8?" It was Reno. "We have a surprise for you. Come to Midgar Station!"
Reno's enthusiasm quickly faded as the power went out. The city had fallen into darkness, with all its power transferred to the cannon.
He and Rude were at Sector 8's Midgar Station, looking on from a distance. It was 4:39 PM, twenty-one minutes before launch, but the time had to be coming a lot sooner than expected. The final surge of Mako energy flowed through the Reactors' dedicated pipelines, and into the barrel of the Sister Ray. A purple spark of energy appeared at the tip of the cannon, growing in intensity at every passing second.
The Sister Ray fired. Twenty minutes early. Reno found himself clinging onto Rude as the deafening blast nearly knocked him off his feet. They looked up and saw the cannon releasing a scorching ray of blue light, its supporting structures breaking off and falling to the ground. Although they were nowhere close to the cannon, the people around them prayed for their safety and cowered low, bracing themselves for impact.
The cannon shot lasted a full minute, but the sequence didn't end there. Bright, yellow streaks of fire sailed across Midgar in the opposite direction, tearing through the skies at immense speed. It was Weapon. People screamed and ducked for cover as the fireballs headed for the top floors of the Shinra Building.
"Sir, no!"
An explosion erupted. The Turks could do nothing but watch in horror as the top floors of the Shinra Building began to crumble.
