Chapter Two: Aftermath
As the train sped away from the main train station of Midgar, Barret Wallace stared out the window at the scaffolding and tracks outside. The beams holding up the tracks extended above the outer wall of the city, allowing the trains their own space for transportation. This train in particular was about to switch to a lower track that would lead into the Sector 7 Slums.
Barret looked away from the window and walked toward the other three of his group. They had boarded the train right before it had left, but they had left one member short. He honestly wouldn't care if Cloud was left behind and tortured by the Shinra. The prick deserved it. The only thing that bothered him was the fact that Cloud knew more than Barret was comfortable with about their little insurrection, and he would just as soon tell it to the Shinra. He tried not to worry about it, though, because there was nothing he could do about it.
They were the only passengers aboard the car, and they could talk with relative confidence that no one would overhear them. Biggs and Wedge were deep into a discussion about the probability that humankind would ever conquer space and reach the stars. Jessie was typing into a computer console next to the door on the left side of the car. She had opened up a 3D map of the city, and she was already planning how they would make their next attack. Barret had already decided that the eighth reactor would be the best target, but it was up to Jessie to decide the past plan of action. She was the only one of them that could hack into the computer and get confidential information on the reactor.
Wedge had become silent for a moment, and then suddenly became somber.
"I wonder why Cloud didn't make it. I hope he's okay." He said, with earnest concern for his new idol.
"Who cares what happened to him." Barret answered coldly. "All he cares about is money. He doesn't stand for anything that we do. He lives only for himself. I hired him because I respect his skills, but his loyalty is questionable at best. As far as I'm concerned, if he doesn't think that making this train ride is important enough, than he can go fuck himself."
When Barret had finished his mini-speech, it became silent again. It was convenient that the only sound they could hear was the steady, rhythmic movement of the train's wheels on the tracks and the occasional whistling. It made it easier to hear the loud thump on the top of the train.
"What the hell was that?" Wedge asked.
"I don't know, but I 'd like to find out." Barret answered him. He walked to the door on the right side of the train. He was just about to grab the handle and slide open the door when the door slid open of its own volition. Or at least it seemed that way until a human figure swung inside the train. It was silent again, except for the louder noise of wheels on the track because of the open door.
"Hey Cloud." Wedge greeted the visitor with a childish tone to his voice. "Where have you been?"
"I like to make an entrance." Cloud said, grinning. It faded when he saw Barret's face. He was on the verge of blowing up at him again.
"Do you know what would have happened if they caught you?" Barret asked furiously, and then answered his own question. "They would have tortured you and gotten every piece of information out of you. You would have completely betrayed Avalanche. Is that what you want to happen?"
Cloud chuckled.
"Is that what you're calling the group? Avalanche? What a gay name!"
This annoyed Barret even more, as Cloud knew it would.
"It stands for our plan of attack. When one rock falls from a mountain, it may start an avalanche." He spoke through clenched teeth. "If we destroy one reactor, which we just did, we may start our own avalanche."
"I get it." Cloud said, still laughing lightly. "But I still think it's gay."
Jessie had walked to the open door, mumbling along the way about everyone's carelessness. It became a lot quieter after she finally closed it. Then she gestured to Cloud.
"Come here, Cloud. I want to show you something." She said, walking back to her console. Cloud followed her, and soon they were both looking at the map. She pointed to a part of the screen that showed a bunch of intertwining beams that looked oddly familiar, although distorted because of the green hue of the screen.
"That's where we are now. This track leads into the Sector 7 slums."
Cloud looked puzzled for a second.
"But that looks like it leads below the city." He said.
"It does." Jessie said matter-of-factly. "The top plate of the city is the industrial part. It's divided into eight sectors corresponding with the eight Mako Reactors. Beneath the top plate of the city are the slums, also divided into eight sectors. Barret's house, and our base of operations, is in the Sector 7 slums."
Cloud still looked puzzled. This was the first day that he had ever spent in the Shinra's capital city, even though he had fought for them for most of his young life. He didn't fully comprehend the city's structure yet.
"Why do people live under the plate? Why don't they just come up to the top?" He asked.
Barret walked over to them and entered himself into the conversation.
"Because those people don't want to give up their homes. That's where they're ancestors lived before the Shinra built that plate for the top part of the city. Those people don't care how polluted their land gets. They don't care that they can't see the sun because they live beneath a giant fucking pizza. They just don't want to give up their land." He said, very emotionally.
For a minute he thought that perhaps he had gotten through to Cloud, because he was silent. Then Cloud walked away from the computer and Jessie, yawning as he did.
"Oh well. The quicker I get my money and get away from this crazy city the better." He sighed, and then walked over to a seat to sit down.
Barret threw his arms in the air and growled. Jessie couldn't help but laugh. Biggs and Wedge simply stared at each other in mild amusement. And the train sped on its way.
* * *
It didn't take the train long to loop downward beneath the upper plate of the city and arrive at the old run-down train station of the Sector 7 slums. The station itself was simply a platform for the train to drop its passengers off at. Next to the station was a huge wasteland of old and discarded trains and train parts. Long ago, when the upper plate and the train systems were first being built, many of the extra pieces were placed there. It had become the discarding area for such pieces since then, and had been affectionately name "The Train Graveyard." It was both a part of the slum's history, and a playground for young (and brave) children.
As the first car's doors opened, only a few people exited. It was still very late at night, and not many people were coming to or leaving from the slums. On this train, only six people were exiting (Avalanche plus the conductor who was leaving the train for the night) and no one was entering.
Barret was the first to exit, and as soon as everyone else had gotten off he directed them where to go.
"In case you nitwits forgot, my house is that way." He said, pointing to his right as he faced directly away from the train. "Make sure you don't get lost, Cloud. You're the only one who's never been down here before."
Cloud nodded, still taking in the scene that surrounded him. . It was hard to tell how late it was. Artificial light was always necessary in the slums beneath the upper plate, leaving the slums in a constant man-made daylight. He had always heard of Midgar as being an industrious and desirable place to live. What he saw before him was the epitome of urban poverty. There was no pavement beneath his feet. The floor was uncovered dirt. There were a few vagabonds lying around the train station holding liquor bottles to their lips. The few people that were still walking around were wearing clothes made of miscellaneous pieces of fabric that were sewn together. These people obviously had very little. He wondered how Barret was ever going to be able to pay him.
Barret had already begun walking toward his house, and everyone else had followed. They were not far along the way before they reached a large caged in area. There was a man looking straight up, so Cloud did the same. He didn't realize that he was the only one doing it, since everyone else had seen it before. What Cloud saw was really very amazing. He was looking at a huge tower that extended from the ground within the caged area all the way to the upper plate above them. A maintenance stairway circled around the entire tower all the way up to the platform at the top of the tower, just below the point where the tower met the upper plate.
The man who had first been staring upward saw that Cloud had done the same. By the look of wonderment in Cloud's eyes, he could tell that Cloud had never seen it before.
"It's the Sector 7 Pillar." He explained, as Cloud turned away from the awesome sight to look at the man. "It holds up the entire 7th sector of the upper plate. If it ever collapsed, that section of the upper plate would land on top of the slums and kill us all. Kind of an unpleasant thought." He said, chuckling to himself.
Cloud nodded, but said nothing. This was all very new to him. He nodded again to the man, and then followed the rest of his party as they began to walk away. Barret's house was actually very close to the train station (about five minutes away) and it had always made travel easy for him. As they neared his home, Barret could see that there were young teenagers hanging out on his front porch.
He immediately pounded his chest, as he did on occasion when he was really pissed off.
"I told Tifa to keep those goddamn hooligans away from my house and the bar! They're too young to drink and I don't want them at my house!" He yelled angrily.
The others hung back as he ran up to the group of teens and waved them away from the porch. They were quick to do as he said, especially since he was waving his gun-arm at them. Then, regaining his composure, he calmly walked through the swinging doors that led into the bar.
Wedge, Biggs, Jessie, and Cloud followed, although the only one who was a little anxious about their return was Cloud. By his yelling, Barret had reminded him that Tifa was going to be there. He hadn't seen Tifa Lockheart since he was a young boy, and he was a little nervous about meeting her again.
As he stepped through the swinging doors, he immediately saw that Tifa was not so nervous.
"Cloud!" She said cheerily, running toward him. She practically jumped at him as she hugged him tightly. He embraced her warmly, as he hadn't done for almost ten years. She had gotten a little taller since he had last seen her, but otherwise she hadn't changed much. She was still slender and agile, and she was still very beautiful. Her long, brown hair hung loosely about her shoulders and blew in the breeze. The mere sight of her flooded his brain with long forgotten memories.
"Hi, Tifa. Long time no see."
"Wow! It's so good to see you. I got so excited when Barret told me that you were gonna join Avalanche!"
"Now hold on a minute. I'm real happy to see you, but don't get used to me being around. I didn't join Avalanche, I'm just in this until Barret is finished with his little crusade and can't pay me anymore. Then I'm out of here just as quickly as I came." He said. He hoped he hadn't insulted her, but she had struck a chord by implying that Barret and he had actually formed an alliance.
Tifa was taken aback, and she let go of her hugging grip on Cloud. She tried not to let his impatience get to her. It had been a very long time since they'd last seen each other. They had a lot of catching up to do.
"Well, it's still good to see you." She said, although clearly not as cheerfully as before. Cloud saw this and immediately felt bad for lashing out at her. Then he remembered something. He reached into his pocket and withdrew the flower he had bought from the flower girl. It was still in pretty good shape. He handed it to Tifa, who took it with a beaming smile.
"I bought this when we were on the upper plate. It's a nice flower, and I thought you might like it." He said as he handed it to her. She just smiled, and then hugged him again. He had done more to greet her and apologize for yelling than he could have done with a thousand words. She walked back to the bar, still a little stunned, and prepared a makeshift vase out of an empty liquor bottle to put the flower in.
Cloud looked around the room he was in. It was the bar area of Barret's house that he had opened to make some money to fund Avalanche. Tifa had conveniently named it the Seventh Heaven bar. The bar was actually quite nice and modern. Behind Tifa was a wall with shelves covered with various liquors and beers. On the right side of the room was a pinball machine, which Wedge seemed to be playing with. Jessie and Biggs had sat down at chairs on the patron side of the bar. Barret had walked over to Wedge, and appeared to be showing him how to work the pinball machine.
Suddenly, the pinball machine began to lower into the floor. Barret smiled, and Wedge stepped back. He had never been very good at operating the secret elevator, and Barret always wound up attempting to show him how. Cloud had never seen it before and was a little amused by it. Barret brought the elevator back up, but only to ground level so that they could step onto it.
"Okay, everybody on. Except Tifa. You stay up here and watch for those teenagers. You know the plan anyway."
Tifa nodded. Wedge, Biggs, and Jessie stepped onto the top of the pinball machine that was now at the level if their feet along with Barret. Cloud was walking to join them, but Tifa motioned for him to stay back. Barret's daughter, Marlene, had joined Tifa behind the bar and was scurrying around like a lost animal. She ran up to Cloud as Tifa approached him. Cloud guessed she was about eight or nine. Tifa held the little girl's hand.
"This is Marlene." She said, introducing the girl to Cloud. Marlene managed a smile, but it was labored. She was obviously very shy.
"Hi Marlene." Cloud spoke to her, now on his knees so that he was at her level. "I'm Cloud. Wow, what a pretty little girl you are. You're big old daddy must be very proud." Marlene smiled again, and then squirmed out of Tifa's light grip. She had apparently become tired of that short conversation.
Tifa grinned, and almost thought of retrieving the young girl, but then thought better of it. She had something more important to do.
"Do you remember the night before you left to join Soldier?" She asked as if it were a normal, everyday question.
"Vaguely." He answered. "But that was seven years ago. I must have been about…"
"Fourteen." She finished. "I know it was long time ago, but try to remember. Can you think of what you said to me?"
He frowned, and then seemed to go into deep thought. Finally, some memory came to him and he answered her.
"I think I told you that I'd come back again."
She nodded.
"Yeah. You did. Go on"
"I can't remember anything else."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
She sighed. She thought this conversation was as important to him as it was to her. Apparently it wasn't.
"You told me that you would rescue me. You were gonna come back and be my knight in shining armor."
"I did come back. Once"
"That was with Soldier! And when you left, the whole town was burnt down!"
"That wasn't my fault! You know Sephiroth did that!"
"Well he's dead now, so who else am I gonna blame?"
Cloud shrugged.
"What's the point of this conversation anyway?" He asked.
"I need you to live up to your promise! Look at me. I need rescuing! Barret and I have started this revolution, and we can't do it without you. You can't just leave after you get paid. We need you!"
"I told you. This doesn't matter to…"
"Yes it does! Don't you see, Cloud? The planet is dying!" She screamed at him. Why didn't he understand?
"I see someone's been talking to Barret." He replied, in an annoyed tone.
"Yes I have been talking to Barret, because what he says makes a lot of sense. And if his plans are ever going to happen, we'll need your help. You have to stay!"
Maybe it was because he had known Tifa for so long and couldn't bring himself to go against his wishes. Maybe it was because deep down inside, he really respected Barret. Or maybe it was because he was just tired of fighting. Whatever the reason, he gave in.
"All right. I'll think about it."
Tifa's face of anger and frustration was immediately replaced by a smile.
"Good. Now go join the rest of them downstairs. You're gonna need to hear about the next mission."
Cloud nodded, and headed for the pinball machine/elevator. He quickly found the lever that operated it, and pulled it down. The pinball machine sunk into the floor, and he got on as it reached the level of his feet. The basement to which it led was directly under the floor of the bar area.
Barret had re-furnished his hidden basement to serve as a headquarters for Avalanche. There was a large TV on the far wall from the elevator, and in front of the right wall a personal computer had been installed. On the left wall was a message board with various plans and city schematics on it. It had the aura of a professional headquarters, and Cloud was impressed by it in spite of himself.
Biggs was using the computer, and had a bomb design opened on the screen. He swiveled around in his chair as Cloud got off the elevator.
"Hey man." He greeted Cloud. "I think I figured out why my bomb automatically set for timer delay. I wired the damn thing the wrong way. I'm fixing the design though, so don't worry about it happening next time."
Cloud nodded and walked over to the table in the middle of the room. Wedge and Jessie were watching the news on the TV to find out about the commotion surrounding the bombing. Just as Cloud sat down, the news reporter mentioned that the "local terrorist group Avalanche" was suspected to have orchestrated the bombing. Jessie gasped.
"Oh my God! They know it was us!" She said with despair, holding her hand to her mouth.
Barret, who had been busy posting something on the message board, shook his head without turning away from his work.
"They don't know that we're Avalanche, though." He said calmly. "They have no proof. Right now we're an enigma to the public. It's better that we get publicity this way."
This seemed to satisfy Jessie, and the look of terror that had occupied her face was replaced by her usual calmness. Wedge turned to look at Cloud.
"I once thought about being a news reporter. Do you think I would have been good at that, Cloud?" He asked, his idolizing of Cloud painfully obvious in the way he asked it.
Cloud really wanted to give him a negative answer and tell him what a pain in the ass he was, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was through fighting for the day. There was still some level of decency left in his heart.
"I think you probably would have been a decent reporter." He answered, realizing of course that it wasn't much of a compliment. "But its better that you didn't, because now you're here fighting with us." He added.
The smile that came across Wedge's face looked as though it spread from one ear to the other. Cloud was immediately glad that he had complimented him. He had forgotten how great it felt to be nice to people. He patted Wedge on the shoulder, and then got up from the table.
"You're a good man, Wedge." He said, and then walked toward the computer, which Jessie had already commandeered from Biggs. She had brought up a 3D map similar to the one on the train, but this one was a schematic plan of one of the Mako reactors. Cloud leaned over her shoulder to take a closer look. She noticed him, and decided it would be a good time to explain the next mission to him.
"That's Mako Reactor number five." She explained, pointing to the plan. "That's the one we're gonna blow up next."
"The same way as we blew up this one?" He asked.
"Yeah, although we may have a harder time on this one. They're definitely going to have beefed up the security."
Cloud nodded. It was going to be an even harder job to take out the next reactor, and he was going to need rest for it. He walked back toward the elevator.
"Well, if no one needs me for anything else then I'm going to sleep." He said, yawning as he did.
"Go ahead, Cloud." Barret said, still intently facing the message board. "You'll need your rest."
There were scattered "good nights" from everyone else, and then he finally went back up the elevator. He said goodnight to Tifa and Marlene, found his room, and got in the bed without even changing his clothes. He was fast asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. He dreamed well that night, although his dreams seemed to center around the events of the day. Most of all, however, he dreamed about a flower girl in a pink dress, with a beautiful smile on her face.
* * *
Cloud woke up early in the morning to the smell of eggs and bacon. It immediately made him hungry, and he went downstairs from his room to find Tifa cooking breakfast on the bar's stove for everyone.
"Good morning, Cloud." Wedge greeted him enthusiastically. He was already sitting at one of the tables in the bar eating, and he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it. "I think Tifa's cooking is what keeps me so fat. I can't get enough of it!"
Tifa smiled.
"Don't blame me for your fatness." She said, chuckling. "I don't make you eat it!"
Wedge laughed, and Cloud couldn't help but join in. He looked around the bar. The others weren't there.
"Where's everybody else?" He asked Tifa.
She turned away from her frying pan to look at him.
"Barret is getting a few things together to bring with us, and Biggs and Jessie are putting the final touches on his bomb."
"Us? You're not coming with us, are you?" He asked, concerned.
"Yes, I am." She answered indignantly. "Why? Do you think I can't handle it?"
"No, I just…"
"Well, I'm coming whether you like it or not. We're all in this together. Plus, I just got a new pair of brass knuckled fighting gloves and I want to try them out on some of those Shinra guards."
Cloud just stared at her. He had forgotten how powerful and dangerous she had once been. He had gotten out of many a close call with her fighting at his side as a kid. Perhaps having her along would be a good idea.
Tifa sighed, and turned back to her frying pan. Just then, Barret walked down the stairs. He was carrying a very tired Marlene in his arms.
"Smells good, Tifa. Making me hungry." He said as he reached the floor. Marlene woke herself up just enough to wave to everyone. Barret sat her down on a chair in front of the bar, then turned to Tifa.
"Since you're coming with us, I think I'm gonna leave Marlene with one of the neighbors." He said.
She nodded.
"I'm sure that's fine. Actually, as soon as everyone finishes eating I think we should get going. The less time we give them to recover from the last reactor the better.
"You read my mind, Tifa." He said, smiling. He turned around to face Cloud. "How's our resident Soldier member doing?" He asked jokingly.
Cloud cringed.
"I told you, I'm not with Soldier any more!" He answered angrily. "I have no loyalty to the Shinra anymore. If anything, you can trust me. As long as you pay me well enough."
"Whoa! Touchy, touchy." Barret said, laughing. "Speaking of which, I owe you money for the first job." He walked behind the bar and reached into one of the shelves behind it, withdrawing a jar. He opened it and began counting out a bunch of large coins.
"I think we said 1500 Gil for each job." He said as he counted. "So I'll pay for both right now."
Cloud shook his head.
"The last job was harder than I thought it would be. I want at least 3000 for the next one."
"What?" Barret asked incredulously. "I ain't giving you that much!"
"Then you don't get my help."
Tifa turned away from her frying pan and walked over the Barret. She put his hand over his shoulder, which had suddenly gone tense with anger.
"Let him have the money, Barret. That's the only thing important to him now." She walked back to her food, but frowned at Cloud on the way to it. His face remained serious and unemotional.
Barret clenched his teeth, but reached back into the jar and counted out more coins. He reluctantly handed them to Cloud, and then walked made his way back up the stairs. They could hear him say, "Dammit. I was saving that money for Marlene," on the way up.
When Wedge, Cloud, and Marlene had finished eating, they all began to gather outside the house. Biggs and Jessie had brought their bomb upstairs with them, and were confident that it would work without incident. Barret quickly dropped off Marlene with the neighbors, and then returned to the group. His temper had calmed a bit. He walked up to Cloud while Jessie explained the plan of attack to Tifa and the others.
"Listen, Cloud. I need to ask you a favor." He said softly.
Cloud nodded.
"Sure, what do you need?" He asked, still keeping his voice very unfriendly in front of Barret.
Barret held up a small blue ball that appeared to be made out of glass. Cloud immediately recognized it as a materia crystal, the source of magical energy for casting spells.
"I've got this materia crystal. I think it's for casting an ice spell. The only problem is I don't know how to use it. I know they show you how to use materia in Soldier so I figured you might know."
Cloud nodded again.
"Yeah I know." He said, suddenly much more friendly. Materia had always fascinated him. He reached behind him and withdrew his sword from its sheath. "Watch this."
He held the sword in front of him with his right hand, making sure that Barret could see it. Then he held his right hand over the blade of the sword and closed his eyes. As Barret watched in wonder, a green glowing ball began to emerge from the blade as though it were made of liquid. As it coalesced to form a solid materia crystal in Cloud's hand, Barret held his up to compare the two. They were identical, except for color.
"How the hell did you do that?" He asked, thoroughly amazed.
Cloud smiled. He always enjoyed the reaction that people had to seeing that done for the first time.
"That's how materia works. It fills a weapon with its magical energy and gives the person using that weapon the ability to cast its spell. This one is my favorite: a lightning bolt spell." He explained. When he saw that Barret was still confused, he elaborated.
"Hold up your gun-arm." He ordered.
Barret did as he said.
"Okay. Now hold your ice materia right up next to it."
Again, Barret did as he was told.
"Now try to block out all thoughts in your mind. Concentrate only on imagining that material crystal going inside your gun-arm."
Barret closed his eyes. His brow furrowed as he concentrated, but nothing seemed to happen.
"Keep trying." Cloud encouraged him.
Suddenly, as if by magic (which it basically was), the materia crystal merged into the gun-arm and disappeared.
"Very good!" Cloud approved.
"I can cast an ice spell!" Barret shouted happily. "I don't know how, but I can. I can just feel it."
"Part of the materia's power is that it let's you know how to use it only after you've let it merge with your weapon." Cloud explained. "Actually, it can be merged with certain armor, too." He said, pointing to an armlet he had on his wrist. "I've got a curative materia in that one."
"Thanks a lot, Cloud." Barret said, gratefully. "I've always wanted to know how that worked. That will help a lot against the Shinra."
"No problem." Cloud answered, and then walked away to join the group.
They had finished planning and were anxious to leave. Barret did a few final checks, made sure the bomb and hacking equipment were ready, and then set off. The others followed. They reached the station without incident, and soon they had boarded the train. The doors closed, and soon the train was on its way to the surface. Midgar was about to get its second taste of Avalanche's power. The train reached the surface, leveled out on the track for the fifth Mako Reactor, and rode off into the morning sun.
As the train sped away from the main train station of Midgar, Barret Wallace stared out the window at the scaffolding and tracks outside. The beams holding up the tracks extended above the outer wall of the city, allowing the trains their own space for transportation. This train in particular was about to switch to a lower track that would lead into the Sector 7 Slums.
Barret looked away from the window and walked toward the other three of his group. They had boarded the train right before it had left, but they had left one member short. He honestly wouldn't care if Cloud was left behind and tortured by the Shinra. The prick deserved it. The only thing that bothered him was the fact that Cloud knew more than Barret was comfortable with about their little insurrection, and he would just as soon tell it to the Shinra. He tried not to worry about it, though, because there was nothing he could do about it.
They were the only passengers aboard the car, and they could talk with relative confidence that no one would overhear them. Biggs and Wedge were deep into a discussion about the probability that humankind would ever conquer space and reach the stars. Jessie was typing into a computer console next to the door on the left side of the car. She had opened up a 3D map of the city, and she was already planning how they would make their next attack. Barret had already decided that the eighth reactor would be the best target, but it was up to Jessie to decide the past plan of action. She was the only one of them that could hack into the computer and get confidential information on the reactor.
Wedge had become silent for a moment, and then suddenly became somber.
"I wonder why Cloud didn't make it. I hope he's okay." He said, with earnest concern for his new idol.
"Who cares what happened to him." Barret answered coldly. "All he cares about is money. He doesn't stand for anything that we do. He lives only for himself. I hired him because I respect his skills, but his loyalty is questionable at best. As far as I'm concerned, if he doesn't think that making this train ride is important enough, than he can go fuck himself."
When Barret had finished his mini-speech, it became silent again. It was convenient that the only sound they could hear was the steady, rhythmic movement of the train's wheels on the tracks and the occasional whistling. It made it easier to hear the loud thump on the top of the train.
"What the hell was that?" Wedge asked.
"I don't know, but I 'd like to find out." Barret answered him. He walked to the door on the right side of the train. He was just about to grab the handle and slide open the door when the door slid open of its own volition. Or at least it seemed that way until a human figure swung inside the train. It was silent again, except for the louder noise of wheels on the track because of the open door.
"Hey Cloud." Wedge greeted the visitor with a childish tone to his voice. "Where have you been?"
"I like to make an entrance." Cloud said, grinning. It faded when he saw Barret's face. He was on the verge of blowing up at him again.
"Do you know what would have happened if they caught you?" Barret asked furiously, and then answered his own question. "They would have tortured you and gotten every piece of information out of you. You would have completely betrayed Avalanche. Is that what you want to happen?"
Cloud chuckled.
"Is that what you're calling the group? Avalanche? What a gay name!"
This annoyed Barret even more, as Cloud knew it would.
"It stands for our plan of attack. When one rock falls from a mountain, it may start an avalanche." He spoke through clenched teeth. "If we destroy one reactor, which we just did, we may start our own avalanche."
"I get it." Cloud said, still laughing lightly. "But I still think it's gay."
Jessie had walked to the open door, mumbling along the way about everyone's carelessness. It became a lot quieter after she finally closed it. Then she gestured to Cloud.
"Come here, Cloud. I want to show you something." She said, walking back to her console. Cloud followed her, and soon they were both looking at the map. She pointed to a part of the screen that showed a bunch of intertwining beams that looked oddly familiar, although distorted because of the green hue of the screen.
"That's where we are now. This track leads into the Sector 7 slums."
Cloud looked puzzled for a second.
"But that looks like it leads below the city." He said.
"It does." Jessie said matter-of-factly. "The top plate of the city is the industrial part. It's divided into eight sectors corresponding with the eight Mako Reactors. Beneath the top plate of the city are the slums, also divided into eight sectors. Barret's house, and our base of operations, is in the Sector 7 slums."
Cloud still looked puzzled. This was the first day that he had ever spent in the Shinra's capital city, even though he had fought for them for most of his young life. He didn't fully comprehend the city's structure yet.
"Why do people live under the plate? Why don't they just come up to the top?" He asked.
Barret walked over to them and entered himself into the conversation.
"Because those people don't want to give up their homes. That's where they're ancestors lived before the Shinra built that plate for the top part of the city. Those people don't care how polluted their land gets. They don't care that they can't see the sun because they live beneath a giant fucking pizza. They just don't want to give up their land." He said, very emotionally.
For a minute he thought that perhaps he had gotten through to Cloud, because he was silent. Then Cloud walked away from the computer and Jessie, yawning as he did.
"Oh well. The quicker I get my money and get away from this crazy city the better." He sighed, and then walked over to a seat to sit down.
Barret threw his arms in the air and growled. Jessie couldn't help but laugh. Biggs and Wedge simply stared at each other in mild amusement. And the train sped on its way.
* * *
It didn't take the train long to loop downward beneath the upper plate of the city and arrive at the old run-down train station of the Sector 7 slums. The station itself was simply a platform for the train to drop its passengers off at. Next to the station was a huge wasteland of old and discarded trains and train parts. Long ago, when the upper plate and the train systems were first being built, many of the extra pieces were placed there. It had become the discarding area for such pieces since then, and had been affectionately name "The Train Graveyard." It was both a part of the slum's history, and a playground for young (and brave) children.
As the first car's doors opened, only a few people exited. It was still very late at night, and not many people were coming to or leaving from the slums. On this train, only six people were exiting (Avalanche plus the conductor who was leaving the train for the night) and no one was entering.
Barret was the first to exit, and as soon as everyone else had gotten off he directed them where to go.
"In case you nitwits forgot, my house is that way." He said, pointing to his right as he faced directly away from the train. "Make sure you don't get lost, Cloud. You're the only one who's never been down here before."
Cloud nodded, still taking in the scene that surrounded him. . It was hard to tell how late it was. Artificial light was always necessary in the slums beneath the upper plate, leaving the slums in a constant man-made daylight. He had always heard of Midgar as being an industrious and desirable place to live. What he saw before him was the epitome of urban poverty. There was no pavement beneath his feet. The floor was uncovered dirt. There were a few vagabonds lying around the train station holding liquor bottles to their lips. The few people that were still walking around were wearing clothes made of miscellaneous pieces of fabric that were sewn together. These people obviously had very little. He wondered how Barret was ever going to be able to pay him.
Barret had already begun walking toward his house, and everyone else had followed. They were not far along the way before they reached a large caged in area. There was a man looking straight up, so Cloud did the same. He didn't realize that he was the only one doing it, since everyone else had seen it before. What Cloud saw was really very amazing. He was looking at a huge tower that extended from the ground within the caged area all the way to the upper plate above them. A maintenance stairway circled around the entire tower all the way up to the platform at the top of the tower, just below the point where the tower met the upper plate.
The man who had first been staring upward saw that Cloud had done the same. By the look of wonderment in Cloud's eyes, he could tell that Cloud had never seen it before.
"It's the Sector 7 Pillar." He explained, as Cloud turned away from the awesome sight to look at the man. "It holds up the entire 7th sector of the upper plate. If it ever collapsed, that section of the upper plate would land on top of the slums and kill us all. Kind of an unpleasant thought." He said, chuckling to himself.
Cloud nodded, but said nothing. This was all very new to him. He nodded again to the man, and then followed the rest of his party as they began to walk away. Barret's house was actually very close to the train station (about five minutes away) and it had always made travel easy for him. As they neared his home, Barret could see that there were young teenagers hanging out on his front porch.
He immediately pounded his chest, as he did on occasion when he was really pissed off.
"I told Tifa to keep those goddamn hooligans away from my house and the bar! They're too young to drink and I don't want them at my house!" He yelled angrily.
The others hung back as he ran up to the group of teens and waved them away from the porch. They were quick to do as he said, especially since he was waving his gun-arm at them. Then, regaining his composure, he calmly walked through the swinging doors that led into the bar.
Wedge, Biggs, Jessie, and Cloud followed, although the only one who was a little anxious about their return was Cloud. By his yelling, Barret had reminded him that Tifa was going to be there. He hadn't seen Tifa Lockheart since he was a young boy, and he was a little nervous about meeting her again.
As he stepped through the swinging doors, he immediately saw that Tifa was not so nervous.
"Cloud!" She said cheerily, running toward him. She practically jumped at him as she hugged him tightly. He embraced her warmly, as he hadn't done for almost ten years. She had gotten a little taller since he had last seen her, but otherwise she hadn't changed much. She was still slender and agile, and she was still very beautiful. Her long, brown hair hung loosely about her shoulders and blew in the breeze. The mere sight of her flooded his brain with long forgotten memories.
"Hi, Tifa. Long time no see."
"Wow! It's so good to see you. I got so excited when Barret told me that you were gonna join Avalanche!"
"Now hold on a minute. I'm real happy to see you, but don't get used to me being around. I didn't join Avalanche, I'm just in this until Barret is finished with his little crusade and can't pay me anymore. Then I'm out of here just as quickly as I came." He said. He hoped he hadn't insulted her, but she had struck a chord by implying that Barret and he had actually formed an alliance.
Tifa was taken aback, and she let go of her hugging grip on Cloud. She tried not to let his impatience get to her. It had been a very long time since they'd last seen each other. They had a lot of catching up to do.
"Well, it's still good to see you." She said, although clearly not as cheerfully as before. Cloud saw this and immediately felt bad for lashing out at her. Then he remembered something. He reached into his pocket and withdrew the flower he had bought from the flower girl. It was still in pretty good shape. He handed it to Tifa, who took it with a beaming smile.
"I bought this when we were on the upper plate. It's a nice flower, and I thought you might like it." He said as he handed it to her. She just smiled, and then hugged him again. He had done more to greet her and apologize for yelling than he could have done with a thousand words. She walked back to the bar, still a little stunned, and prepared a makeshift vase out of an empty liquor bottle to put the flower in.
Cloud looked around the room he was in. It was the bar area of Barret's house that he had opened to make some money to fund Avalanche. Tifa had conveniently named it the Seventh Heaven bar. The bar was actually quite nice and modern. Behind Tifa was a wall with shelves covered with various liquors and beers. On the right side of the room was a pinball machine, which Wedge seemed to be playing with. Jessie and Biggs had sat down at chairs on the patron side of the bar. Barret had walked over to Wedge, and appeared to be showing him how to work the pinball machine.
Suddenly, the pinball machine began to lower into the floor. Barret smiled, and Wedge stepped back. He had never been very good at operating the secret elevator, and Barret always wound up attempting to show him how. Cloud had never seen it before and was a little amused by it. Barret brought the elevator back up, but only to ground level so that they could step onto it.
"Okay, everybody on. Except Tifa. You stay up here and watch for those teenagers. You know the plan anyway."
Tifa nodded. Wedge, Biggs, and Jessie stepped onto the top of the pinball machine that was now at the level if their feet along with Barret. Cloud was walking to join them, but Tifa motioned for him to stay back. Barret's daughter, Marlene, had joined Tifa behind the bar and was scurrying around like a lost animal. She ran up to Cloud as Tifa approached him. Cloud guessed she was about eight or nine. Tifa held the little girl's hand.
"This is Marlene." She said, introducing the girl to Cloud. Marlene managed a smile, but it was labored. She was obviously very shy.
"Hi Marlene." Cloud spoke to her, now on his knees so that he was at her level. "I'm Cloud. Wow, what a pretty little girl you are. You're big old daddy must be very proud." Marlene smiled again, and then squirmed out of Tifa's light grip. She had apparently become tired of that short conversation.
Tifa grinned, and almost thought of retrieving the young girl, but then thought better of it. She had something more important to do.
"Do you remember the night before you left to join Soldier?" She asked as if it were a normal, everyday question.
"Vaguely." He answered. "But that was seven years ago. I must have been about…"
"Fourteen." She finished. "I know it was long time ago, but try to remember. Can you think of what you said to me?"
He frowned, and then seemed to go into deep thought. Finally, some memory came to him and he answered her.
"I think I told you that I'd come back again."
She nodded.
"Yeah. You did. Go on"
"I can't remember anything else."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
She sighed. She thought this conversation was as important to him as it was to her. Apparently it wasn't.
"You told me that you would rescue me. You were gonna come back and be my knight in shining armor."
"I did come back. Once"
"That was with Soldier! And when you left, the whole town was burnt down!"
"That wasn't my fault! You know Sephiroth did that!"
"Well he's dead now, so who else am I gonna blame?"
Cloud shrugged.
"What's the point of this conversation anyway?" He asked.
"I need you to live up to your promise! Look at me. I need rescuing! Barret and I have started this revolution, and we can't do it without you. You can't just leave after you get paid. We need you!"
"I told you. This doesn't matter to…"
"Yes it does! Don't you see, Cloud? The planet is dying!" She screamed at him. Why didn't he understand?
"I see someone's been talking to Barret." He replied, in an annoyed tone.
"Yes I have been talking to Barret, because what he says makes a lot of sense. And if his plans are ever going to happen, we'll need your help. You have to stay!"
Maybe it was because he had known Tifa for so long and couldn't bring himself to go against his wishes. Maybe it was because deep down inside, he really respected Barret. Or maybe it was because he was just tired of fighting. Whatever the reason, he gave in.
"All right. I'll think about it."
Tifa's face of anger and frustration was immediately replaced by a smile.
"Good. Now go join the rest of them downstairs. You're gonna need to hear about the next mission."
Cloud nodded, and headed for the pinball machine/elevator. He quickly found the lever that operated it, and pulled it down. The pinball machine sunk into the floor, and he got on as it reached the level of his feet. The basement to which it led was directly under the floor of the bar area.
Barret had re-furnished his hidden basement to serve as a headquarters for Avalanche. There was a large TV on the far wall from the elevator, and in front of the right wall a personal computer had been installed. On the left wall was a message board with various plans and city schematics on it. It had the aura of a professional headquarters, and Cloud was impressed by it in spite of himself.
Biggs was using the computer, and had a bomb design opened on the screen. He swiveled around in his chair as Cloud got off the elevator.
"Hey man." He greeted Cloud. "I think I figured out why my bomb automatically set for timer delay. I wired the damn thing the wrong way. I'm fixing the design though, so don't worry about it happening next time."
Cloud nodded and walked over to the table in the middle of the room. Wedge and Jessie were watching the news on the TV to find out about the commotion surrounding the bombing. Just as Cloud sat down, the news reporter mentioned that the "local terrorist group Avalanche" was suspected to have orchestrated the bombing. Jessie gasped.
"Oh my God! They know it was us!" She said with despair, holding her hand to her mouth.
Barret, who had been busy posting something on the message board, shook his head without turning away from his work.
"They don't know that we're Avalanche, though." He said calmly. "They have no proof. Right now we're an enigma to the public. It's better that we get publicity this way."
This seemed to satisfy Jessie, and the look of terror that had occupied her face was replaced by her usual calmness. Wedge turned to look at Cloud.
"I once thought about being a news reporter. Do you think I would have been good at that, Cloud?" He asked, his idolizing of Cloud painfully obvious in the way he asked it.
Cloud really wanted to give him a negative answer and tell him what a pain in the ass he was, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was through fighting for the day. There was still some level of decency left in his heart.
"I think you probably would have been a decent reporter." He answered, realizing of course that it wasn't much of a compliment. "But its better that you didn't, because now you're here fighting with us." He added.
The smile that came across Wedge's face looked as though it spread from one ear to the other. Cloud was immediately glad that he had complimented him. He had forgotten how great it felt to be nice to people. He patted Wedge on the shoulder, and then got up from the table.
"You're a good man, Wedge." He said, and then walked toward the computer, which Jessie had already commandeered from Biggs. She had brought up a 3D map similar to the one on the train, but this one was a schematic plan of one of the Mako reactors. Cloud leaned over her shoulder to take a closer look. She noticed him, and decided it would be a good time to explain the next mission to him.
"That's Mako Reactor number five." She explained, pointing to the plan. "That's the one we're gonna blow up next."
"The same way as we blew up this one?" He asked.
"Yeah, although we may have a harder time on this one. They're definitely going to have beefed up the security."
Cloud nodded. It was going to be an even harder job to take out the next reactor, and he was going to need rest for it. He walked back toward the elevator.
"Well, if no one needs me for anything else then I'm going to sleep." He said, yawning as he did.
"Go ahead, Cloud." Barret said, still intently facing the message board. "You'll need your rest."
There were scattered "good nights" from everyone else, and then he finally went back up the elevator. He said goodnight to Tifa and Marlene, found his room, and got in the bed without even changing his clothes. He was fast asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. He dreamed well that night, although his dreams seemed to center around the events of the day. Most of all, however, he dreamed about a flower girl in a pink dress, with a beautiful smile on her face.
* * *
Cloud woke up early in the morning to the smell of eggs and bacon. It immediately made him hungry, and he went downstairs from his room to find Tifa cooking breakfast on the bar's stove for everyone.
"Good morning, Cloud." Wedge greeted him enthusiastically. He was already sitting at one of the tables in the bar eating, and he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it. "I think Tifa's cooking is what keeps me so fat. I can't get enough of it!"
Tifa smiled.
"Don't blame me for your fatness." She said, chuckling. "I don't make you eat it!"
Wedge laughed, and Cloud couldn't help but join in. He looked around the bar. The others weren't there.
"Where's everybody else?" He asked Tifa.
She turned away from her frying pan to look at him.
"Barret is getting a few things together to bring with us, and Biggs and Jessie are putting the final touches on his bomb."
"Us? You're not coming with us, are you?" He asked, concerned.
"Yes, I am." She answered indignantly. "Why? Do you think I can't handle it?"
"No, I just…"
"Well, I'm coming whether you like it or not. We're all in this together. Plus, I just got a new pair of brass knuckled fighting gloves and I want to try them out on some of those Shinra guards."
Cloud just stared at her. He had forgotten how powerful and dangerous she had once been. He had gotten out of many a close call with her fighting at his side as a kid. Perhaps having her along would be a good idea.
Tifa sighed, and turned back to her frying pan. Just then, Barret walked down the stairs. He was carrying a very tired Marlene in his arms.
"Smells good, Tifa. Making me hungry." He said as he reached the floor. Marlene woke herself up just enough to wave to everyone. Barret sat her down on a chair in front of the bar, then turned to Tifa.
"Since you're coming with us, I think I'm gonna leave Marlene with one of the neighbors." He said.
She nodded.
"I'm sure that's fine. Actually, as soon as everyone finishes eating I think we should get going. The less time we give them to recover from the last reactor the better.
"You read my mind, Tifa." He said, smiling. He turned around to face Cloud. "How's our resident Soldier member doing?" He asked jokingly.
Cloud cringed.
"I told you, I'm not with Soldier any more!" He answered angrily. "I have no loyalty to the Shinra anymore. If anything, you can trust me. As long as you pay me well enough."
"Whoa! Touchy, touchy." Barret said, laughing. "Speaking of which, I owe you money for the first job." He walked behind the bar and reached into one of the shelves behind it, withdrawing a jar. He opened it and began counting out a bunch of large coins.
"I think we said 1500 Gil for each job." He said as he counted. "So I'll pay for both right now."
Cloud shook his head.
"The last job was harder than I thought it would be. I want at least 3000 for the next one."
"What?" Barret asked incredulously. "I ain't giving you that much!"
"Then you don't get my help."
Tifa turned away from her frying pan and walked over the Barret. She put his hand over his shoulder, which had suddenly gone tense with anger.
"Let him have the money, Barret. That's the only thing important to him now." She walked back to her food, but frowned at Cloud on the way to it. His face remained serious and unemotional.
Barret clenched his teeth, but reached back into the jar and counted out more coins. He reluctantly handed them to Cloud, and then walked made his way back up the stairs. They could hear him say, "Dammit. I was saving that money for Marlene," on the way up.
When Wedge, Cloud, and Marlene had finished eating, they all began to gather outside the house. Biggs and Jessie had brought their bomb upstairs with them, and were confident that it would work without incident. Barret quickly dropped off Marlene with the neighbors, and then returned to the group. His temper had calmed a bit. He walked up to Cloud while Jessie explained the plan of attack to Tifa and the others.
"Listen, Cloud. I need to ask you a favor." He said softly.
Cloud nodded.
"Sure, what do you need?" He asked, still keeping his voice very unfriendly in front of Barret.
Barret held up a small blue ball that appeared to be made out of glass. Cloud immediately recognized it as a materia crystal, the source of magical energy for casting spells.
"I've got this materia crystal. I think it's for casting an ice spell. The only problem is I don't know how to use it. I know they show you how to use materia in Soldier so I figured you might know."
Cloud nodded again.
"Yeah I know." He said, suddenly much more friendly. Materia had always fascinated him. He reached behind him and withdrew his sword from its sheath. "Watch this."
He held the sword in front of him with his right hand, making sure that Barret could see it. Then he held his right hand over the blade of the sword and closed his eyes. As Barret watched in wonder, a green glowing ball began to emerge from the blade as though it were made of liquid. As it coalesced to form a solid materia crystal in Cloud's hand, Barret held his up to compare the two. They were identical, except for color.
"How the hell did you do that?" He asked, thoroughly amazed.
Cloud smiled. He always enjoyed the reaction that people had to seeing that done for the first time.
"That's how materia works. It fills a weapon with its magical energy and gives the person using that weapon the ability to cast its spell. This one is my favorite: a lightning bolt spell." He explained. When he saw that Barret was still confused, he elaborated.
"Hold up your gun-arm." He ordered.
Barret did as he said.
"Okay. Now hold your ice materia right up next to it."
Again, Barret did as he was told.
"Now try to block out all thoughts in your mind. Concentrate only on imagining that material crystal going inside your gun-arm."
Barret closed his eyes. His brow furrowed as he concentrated, but nothing seemed to happen.
"Keep trying." Cloud encouraged him.
Suddenly, as if by magic (which it basically was), the materia crystal merged into the gun-arm and disappeared.
"Very good!" Cloud approved.
"I can cast an ice spell!" Barret shouted happily. "I don't know how, but I can. I can just feel it."
"Part of the materia's power is that it let's you know how to use it only after you've let it merge with your weapon." Cloud explained. "Actually, it can be merged with certain armor, too." He said, pointing to an armlet he had on his wrist. "I've got a curative materia in that one."
"Thanks a lot, Cloud." Barret said, gratefully. "I've always wanted to know how that worked. That will help a lot against the Shinra."
"No problem." Cloud answered, and then walked away to join the group.
They had finished planning and were anxious to leave. Barret did a few final checks, made sure the bomb and hacking equipment were ready, and then set off. The others followed. They reached the station without incident, and soon they had boarded the train. The doors closed, and soon the train was on its way to the surface. Midgar was about to get its second taste of Avalanche's power. The train reached the surface, leveled out on the track for the fifth Mako Reactor, and rode off into the morning sun.