Complications
Consciousness slowly came back to Cloud, his eyes opened and he sat up slowly, leaning against the corner of the wall. For the rest of the evening after his conversation with Tifa, he had a few more drinks; but mostly sat quietly away from the others. There was a dull pain in his side from how he slept, not that he would complain, and his head hurt slightly, that was from the alcohol. Shaking the cobwebs out of his head he slowly stood up and made his way for the elevator.
Everyone had already gotten up before him. The large screen TV that once had the news on it, now was full of color bars. Hitting the switch he had to hold onto the machine as his balance was tested. (I hate waking up early.), he thought quickly as the machine came to a stop. As he moved away from the wall a smile came to his face as Tifa greeted him. "Good Morning Cloud. Did you sleep well?" Her enthusiasm woke him up the rest of the way.
Quickly he took a step forward and said, "Next to you, who wouldn't?" She began to blush, but quickly said, "I don't know what you mean." Trying to change the subject she looked over at Barett and said, "I'm going this time."
Cloud wasn't too thrilled about this. (This is too dangerous) but he knew the decision wasn't up to him. Turning his attention to their leader he walked toward him. During this brief time Barett had a confused expression on his face. As Cloud approached he looked up at him, "Our target is the Sector 5 reactor. Head for the station first. I'll fill you in on the train." He looked around for a moment and quickly added, "Yo Cloud! Before the next mission I got somethin' I wanna ask you!" He paused for a, "I, uh....I don't really know how to use materia. I'll give you the materia you found. Just teach me how to use it."
Cloud took a deep breath and sighed. He looked at Barett, "Ok, I'll explain it." Barett grinned at him. The explanation Cloud gave was brief, but to the point. "The weapon you have, as well as armor has slots for materia. When you're ready to use it, take it out and place it in the slot of your choice. I'm sure you already know how to cast a spell with it?" Barett nodded and continued to listen intently. Cloud began to speak again. "Ok...now when you have materia your status changes. Most magic materia will give an increase in magical power. However it will take away from your physical strength. So materia is kinda like a double edged sword. Just try out some things and see how they work."
Barett had listened calmly through most of that speech. Once it was over he inwardly shook his head, "Shi....! What's this 'It wasn't that tough' crap! I'm clueless......Well, you handle the Materia then!"
When Tifa was sure Cloud was done she looked at him and said, "Cloud! I got a message from the Weapon Shop man upstairs. He has something he wants to give you. Don't forget!" Turning toward Marlene, who had been cleaning the bar from her position on a chair, "Marlene, you watch the store while we're gone."
Cloud looked surprised at this decision but Marlene grinned and said, "All right! Good luck." With that said all three of them moved out into the street.
The first stop the group made was in a shop just down the road, to the right of the bar. Cloud had thought of stopping in last night but he figured the place to be closed. As they walked in the shop owner took no notice of them. He just stood there looking at his supplies and said, "Ahh...Another slow day...If this keeps up, this store's goin' under...Can't sell any really good medicine in a slum like this." Cloud impatiently tapped his foot on the ground. The shop owner quickly turned around and had a large smile on his face. "Oh!! Look at this! This doesn't happen everyday. You a.......customer? Yes!! Welcome!! We sell! We buy!"
Cloud had half a mind to walk out on the guy, if he didn't need the supplies he would have. With the money he had been paid and with some more he had taken from the guards he fought during the raid in reactor 1, they bought some new materia, 'Fire' and 'Restore', and some potions. The shop keeper was very glad to take their money, almost too glad, but Cloud figured it had been awhile since he had any real business. Once he packed away his new items they went over to the weapons shop.
The weapons shop was one of the only multi-floored buildings in the immediately area. The first floor was the shop and a target range. There was a man with jet black hair inside the cage, checking out the accuracy of each weapon. Across from him was the shop keeper. Tifa and Barett bought some grenades and Cloud took care of buying the group some new armor. At the end of the room a young boy was taking a shot with a handgun. Each time he fired the weapon he ran over to his target to see where it hit. After another moment of standing around they moved off to the second floor.
The room was full of crates. There were some small ones and some large ones. A fenced in area in front of them had about six people inside. Two children were practicing some new moves on each other, much to the overall amusement of the adults nearby. Cloud turned his attention to a man directly to his right. There was a materia orb on the ground, the man nodded for Cloud to take it. Picking it up he held it in his hand for a moment. ('All' materia) he thought. (This definitely will come in handy.) 'All' materia was a very common but powerful accessory materia. Unlike magic materia it had no ill affects on the person using it; but what it did allow was for multiple targets to be hit by a spell meant for only a single one. With this addition to a slow growing collection, Cloud was sure it would simplify some fights.
The man that gave the materia to him reached back and pulled out a box. Placing it where the materia was he told Cloud to take the contents. Cloud smirked as he pulled an ether, a tonic for the mind, from the wooden box. Thanking the man Cloud waved for the others to leave with him. Once they left the shop it was time they all started toward the train station. As before there was a green mist around most of the slums. Not much changes down there. The plate keeps sunlight out, the mist never leaves and overall feel of this place was negative.
A large crowd of people had gathered around a young man that Cloud had remembered was thrown out of the bar last night by Barett. He had red hair and was wearing black pants and a white shirt. He was looking at the ground trying to gather his thoughts. As Cloud, Tifa and Barett approached, he lifted his head and spoke. "I'm leaving. Goin' far away." He looked at the people near him and smiled, "But when I come back I'm gonna be a better man! This is good bye!" He glanced over at Cloud, "Hey! Childhood friend! You better take real good care of Tifa!" Before he could change his mind he turned quickly and ran for the station.
For the most part everyone in that crowd looked surprised to see the young man go. Another young man, who had been with him yesterday, looked over at Tifa, "Ah... Johnny's gone. You look a little disappointed. I don't like to say it myself but, I'm just a lonely guy when I'm not drinking." He looked at the ground, "I hope he doesn't get hurt. That's worries me the most."
Deciding not to waste any more time Barett started to walk toward the station. Cloud and Tifa quickly followed. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie were already waiting for them at the platform. As the Barett and the others came into their sight, they all jumped onto the train. The same man, who let them out the night before was standing by the door. "Dawn comes and things never change. You all be carefull ok."
Cloud was the last to walk on the train. Tifa had waited for him at the entrance, while Barett went on ahead. Many of the people that were on the train last night were there again, including the bum that was sleeping on the seats. Barett walked to the center of the train car and looked at everyone. "Yo! Looks like this ain't no private car! So split up!"
Biggs, Wedge and Jessie quickly exited to the car in front of them, as did most of the passengers on that end. There was one man, in a brand new red suit who decided not to listen. Although he was there last night, Cloud did not take notice of him; Barett on the other hand, remembered an off hand comment the man had made. The man in the suit looked over at everyone and under his breath said, "....hoodlums again. God, don't I just have all the luck..." before taking a seat next to him.
Barett didn't exactly hear what the man said, but he was sure it was directed at him and it wasn't nice. He decided to have some fun. Moving quickly toward the front of the train, he moved past the man and looked at the door. "You say sumthin'?", he asked casually. The man in the suit began to sweat but did not dare respond. The gun on the mans right arm was what held his attention now. Without hearing a response, Barett turned toward the man and forcefully repeated, "I said, you say sumthin'!?" He walked over to the now unnerved man and place his gun arm on the shelves above the seat. Barett slowly looked around the car, the bum at the other end looked thoughtfully back at Barett; Cloud and Tifa just stood there in silence. Quickly returning his attention to the man he said, "Yo! Would you look at that! It got empty aluva sudden. What's goin' on?"
Whether it was a sudden surge of bravery or a departure of good sense the man looked up at Barett. Sweat was beading all over his forehead and his voice squeaked as he spoke. "I... it's empty because of... g, guys like you..."
This took Barett by surprise, but only for a moment. He slammed his gun arm agains the metal shelf making a large clang. What was left of the man's resolve had already been used up saying what he just said. The noise nearly made him jump out of his skin. Inwardly Barett had begun to laugh, outwardly he pointed his gun arm at the man. "You... you've seen the news, right? AVALANCHE says there'll be more bombings. Only devoted employees like me would go to Midgar on a day like today." He moved the gun a bit closer to the man, "You workin' for Shinra?"
The man had lowered his head to look away from Barett's gun arm. His body was shaking all over, he had never been quite so scared in his life. "I won't give into violence...and I won't give up my seat either."
By this time Tifa had seen enough. Cloud was content to leave this matter to Barett because he knew that he wasn't foolish; drawing too much attention to themselves would only hurt their mission. Tifa ran over to the other end of the train and very crossly glared at Barett. "Barett!!" she yelled forcefully.
He quickly looked up at her and seeing her expression told him he had gone too far. He looked down at the man, who was still shaking. "&$#%!! You lucky ^$#$,!" Without looking back he started to move towards Cloud. Tifa quickly apologized for Barett's behavior and walked back toward the other end of the car. Cloud shook his head as he noticed the huge grin on Barett's face. When he was sure no one was paying attention to them anymore he again looked at Barett, "So what are we going to do now?"
Barett looked at him slightly annoyed, "Shit! the hell you so calm about? you bustin up my rhythm..." A sudden jolt made them all brace one ond the hand rails. Cloud looked out the window and saw the platform start to move away from them. Tifa sighed, "Seems like they just finished connecting the cars. We're finally leaving."
Cloud once again asked, "So what's our next target?"
Barett laughed, "Hah! Listen to Mr. Serious-about-his-work! Awright....I'll tell ya! Jessie probably already told you, but there's a security check point at the top plate. It's an ID scan system checkin' all the trains."
Tifa quickly added, "Which Shinra is very proud of."
Barett nodded, "We can't use our fake ID's any more."
There was a quick buzz from the intercom on the wall. A friendly voice said, "Good morning, and welcome to Midgar Lines. Arrival time to Sector 4 station will be 11:45."
Tifa quickly looked at her watch. "That means we only got three more minutes to the ID check point."
Barett started for the door, "Alright, in three minutes we're jumpin' off this train. Got it!?" Both Cloud and Tifa nodded at him. Barett sat down in the seat closest to him and tried to relax. Tifa ran toward the front of the car and stood in front of the monitor. She called back to Cloud, "Cloud, come over here! Let's look at the Railway Map Monitor."
Cloud began to walk toward the front of the car. He looked down at the old man, who had just shifted his body to make himself more comfortable. He looked up at Cloud, "Hmm....? You're the only ones that talk to me or come to my house. I'm impressed." Cloud smirked and continued toward the front of the car. He took a moment to check out the man, Barett had scared earlier. He looked terrible to Cloud, (This guy is pathetic) he thought. The man looked up at Cloud, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Don... don't worry about me." He began to gain composure over himself.(oh man, oh man, oh man...!! I'm gonna brag to everyone at work about this...)
Finding this man a waste of time Cloud walked to where Tifa had been patiently waiting for him. He stood behind her and looked thoughtfully over her shoulder. She felt his warm breath on her neck and it tickled her. She noticed from the logs that Jessie and Cloud had seen this movie before. "Hmm, it looks like you've seen this already...It's alright. Come a little closer."
Cloud out of habit shrugged his shoulders and took another couple steps closer to her. He placed one hand on her shoulder and moved his head closer to hers. As she got comfortable the lights went dim and the red scan light went on. She looked up at Cloud, who had taken a few steps away and said, "That's odd. The ID check point was supposed to be further down."
Over the intercom came a computerized voice. This one was monotone, but the message was anything but that. "Type A Security Alert!! Unidentified passengers confirmed....a search of all cars will be conducted. Repeat!! Type A Security Alert!! Unidentified passengers confirmed....a search of all cars will be conducted."
Barett quickly rose to his feet. Tifa looked over at him, "What's happening?" He shook his head. He heard the door in front of him open and Jessie ran inside. He looked at her, "What's goin' on?!!"
She quickly looked at Cloud, "We're in trouble. I'll explain later. Hurry! Get to the next car!!" She quickly went back the way she came. Barett tried to hold the anger out of his voice. ""^%#@%! Someone blew it...", he yelled.
The intercom came back on. The voice from before said, "Unidentified passengers found in car #1. Preparing for lock down." Barett took the lead, "Lets Go! Keep it up!!" Quickly they ran to the next car.
As Cloud closed the door behind him, he heard a loud clicking sound from the door. (We got out of there just in time.) He looked to Barett who was standing in the center of the train. The intercom voice said, "Car #1 locked down. Upgrading to level 2 warning." Everyone knew that meant this car would be locked soon as well. Biggs looked back at them and yelled. "Hurry!!" Wedge nodded, "They're gonna lock the doors, sir!" The intercom came on again, "Unidentified passengers found in car #2. Preparing for lock down." Jessie began to run toward the other end of the car. "Just run! Changing to plan 2!" They all began running for the opposite door.
Inside the next car the intercom said, "Car #2 locked down. Upgrading to warning level 3." Just as suddenly s the lights went out before, they came back on again. Barett looked at Jessie questioningly, "Awright! We clear!?"
She shook her head, "Not yet, they're starting another search. If we're caught we're done for." This response did not please Barett or the others. She continued, "But don't worry. If we move up the train, car by car, we should get past it." Once again the intercom came on. Cloud was ready to break the little box by this point. "Unidentified passengers moving to front of train. Currently tracking possition." Without another word, they all ran toward the front of the train.
During their trek through each of the cars, only a handful of people bothered to take notice of them. Cloud figured that people trying to sneak on trains was common-place. Of the few people that did notice thought it an nuisance. In the last car before the engine room Barett ran over to the doors. "Alright!! We made it!!" He opened one of the side doors, "Yo! This way! We're gonna dive out here!"
As Cloud moved toward Barett he noticed that the Shinra guards were taking no notice of them. Looking a bit closer he saw that they were all sleeping soundly. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie were all disguised as other people. As Cloud came to the end of the car, Tifa looked back at him. "Scary...huh?" Cloud's eyes widened. "Too late to be saying that now. Why did you come along anyways?" She looked away from him, "Because..."
Barett interrupted them, "Hey you two! There ain't no time for that!"
Cloud realized that Barett was right. He quickly looked back to Tifa. She smiled at him. "Yeah!! I've made up my mind." She placed her hands at the open doorway. The wind blew her hair around. Without looking back she yelled, "Watch closely. I'm gonna jump!" With that she threw herself out of the moving train.
Cloud ran over to the door. He couldn't see Tifa anywhere. He looked at Barett, "You don't care if I go first?" Barett waved him off, "A leader always stays till the end. Don't worry 'bout me, just go!" Cloud placed his hands similarly to where Tifa had put hers just moments before. Just as he was about to jump Barett yelled over to him, "Yo! Don't go gettin' your spikey-ass hurt! It's only the beginnin' of the mission!" Cloud shrugged him off and threw himself out of the train.
Barett walked over to the door. He looked over at Biggs and the others, "Later, you take care of the rest!" With that he ran for the door and jumped into the tunnel.
It seemed to Cloud like an eternity from the time he jumped out the door, to the time he landed. There was a rush of wind as he was in the air; when he hit the ground he rolled a few times to cushion his fall. As he stood up he saw Tifa running toward him. He took a moment to catch his breath before turning his attention down the track to where Barett would be coming from. A few minutes later they saw Barett running toward them. "Good, so far everything's going as planned." He started to move down the track some more. "Better not let your guard down till we get to the Sector 5 reactor. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie got everything ready for us. So MOVE it." He pointed back towards the direction the train had come from. "Well, the reactor's just down this tunnel!"
They started to move in the direction that led back toward sector five. There was no station in that sector, which was why they had to jump off of the train. There were a few automated security devices in the area. Barett found taking them out easy because his weapon was a long range one. Tifa tried to stay out of the way the best she could. Eventually they came up to a section of the tunnel that had a beam of light all around it. Cloud looked it over for a moment, "Those light beams are the Shinra's security sensors. We can't go any further." Taking a quick look around he found a ventilation shaft leading underneath their position. In the distance he could here footsteps, (probably some soldiers looking for us.) Taking a few steps toward the shaft, Barett came up beside him. "That's one damn tiny hole. You tellin' me to squeeze into that to get under the Plate? No way!" The footsteps started to get louder. "Yo, Cloud, what're we gonna do?"
Looking at both Tifa and Barett he just pointed down, "We're going down.", he said quickly. Barett took another look down the hole. "But, damn man, that thing gives me the chills." Cloud went first into the shaft, followed by Tifa and very reluctantly by Barett.
President Shinra had been livid since the attack the night before. He wanted to find out who was responsible for the destruction of a reactor, his reactor. His city, the perfect city, was now blemished, and now so was his pride. His phone rang and he slowly picked it up. "Yes...A disturbance...near sector five...send some troops there right away and evacuate all unnecessary people." He hung up the phone and stood up. (It looks like their luck is about to run out.)
The sound of their walking in the vents was deafening to Cloud, but there was no other choice. After climbing down a few ladders and avoiding security the best they could, they finally made it to the area just outside of reactor 5. There were catwalks all over the place and beneath that was a fifty meter drop down into the slums before. Cloud looked down for a moment and was glad he wasn't afraid of heights. Looking ahead he saw two ladders and a series of vents that were big enough to crawl through. Wedge was standing by the left most ladder. Barett started to move in his direction. Wedge looked over at them, "Cloud, this way. The reactor is up this ladder." Tifa smiled at Wedge as they climbed up. Wedge turned around and went back to being on guard.
Although the vent was a good size for Tifa and Cloud to crawl through, Barett's big size made it a tight squeeze for him. As they went through they could here some cursing from the large man. Tifa held back the urge to giggle. Barett was more than relieved when they got out of the vents. Waiting for them was Jessie. She wasn't on guard, but rather just leaning against the wall she was closest to. She looked at Cloud and frowned, "I'm sorry. The ID scan problem on the train was all my fault. I made your ID card special...So that's why it happened. I put my heart into making it. But I failed."
She expected Cloud to be angry with her, but he just smiled. He waved it off and that brought both a blush and a smile to her face. "Next time, I'll give you something more decent. I'll be back at the hideout in the research room workin' on it." As she began to head toward the vents she waved at everyone. Cloud continued to smile. When she disappeared they decided to move on.
After another ladder down they walked across another catwalk to where Biggs was. He nodded quickly at them, "We're gonna pull out now. We'll meet up at the hideout. Cloud, we're countin' on you to blow the reactor!" They watched him run toward the ladder they came from, and climb back up it. Barett wasn't too happy about having to crawl through another tight vent, but he knew there wasn't much choice. The only good aspect of this for him was that the target was just passed the vent. This time he went first, quickly followed by the others.
Once again they were confronted by the strong smell of mako. Cloud realized that each time he came inside a reactor the smell was getting worse. Although it was probably in his mind, it was a feeling that he couldn't shake. They were on a large platform; next to it was a large pipe that led down into a section that looked very familiar to Cloud and Barett. (At least the design is the same), Cloud thought, (Can't possibly get lost this way.) Across from them was a large stair case, at the top was a freight elevator and at the bottom was the way to the reactor core. Cloud looked at the pipe and started to slide down to the floor below. Tifa followed and was very careful not to fall off. While she held on to the pipe Cloud went down as fast as he could. Almost at the bottom there was a shear drop in the pipe so Cloud placed his feet on the pipe and jumped off.
It wasn't long before he was joined by the others. Barett looked at Cloud with a grim look, (Showoff) he said to himself. They went to where the stairs ended and walked through the door. In the first reactor there was a faint green glow, very similar to the glow in sector seven. In this reactor the glow was more blue. There was a crack in one of the coolant pipes so steam was spewing out, it did not seem to block their path so the continued on.
Once again Cloud was able to see a large mako pool. The warmth he felt from the first reactor was here as well. He walked slowly trying not to let himself go unalert. Up ahead was the core. Tifa was in the lead and Barett was in the rear. As they moved closer the world seemed to go black around Cloud. His head felt like it was being crushed from all sides. Tifa turned around in time to see Cloud place his hands on his head and collapse to his knees.
Cloud looked around him. (Where am I? This isn't Sector five reactor? No...this is...) He could see he was in another reactor. In front of him were two people. Around him he could hear the sound of gears spinning. There was a long sword next to the people in front of him. One of the people, (Tifa?), he thought. It was Tifa, but she was younger. She was wearing a white blouse with a brown skirt and hat. She was kneeling over someone. He listened to her, "Papa...Sephiroth!" She sat up some, Cloud could see the tears in her eyes. "Sephiroth did this to you, didn't he!?" Her sadness had suddenly become anger. He watched her fist begin to shake; the tears in her eyes falling freely, she looked up toward the ceiling. "Sephiroth.... SOLDIER... Mako Reactors... Shinra... Everything!" She stood up and grabbed the sword next to her, "I hate them all!"
The last thing he saw before things faded back to normal was Tifa running into the next room with the sword. The pain in his head bagan to lessen and slowly things back to focus. He could hear Barett yelling at him distantly. "Damn, man. Get ahold of yourself!" He slowly blinked his eyes, although the pain was gone Cloud found it difficult to concentrate. Tifa was kneeling next to him, "You all right?", she asked, the concern in her voice was apparent.
Cloud looked up at her, "....Tifa." He started to get up slowly. She thought he was going to continue so she looked thoughtfully at him. He shook his head as he got to his feet. "No...forget......Come on, let's hurry!"
Tifa and Cloud moved over to the core itself. Once again Cloud was assigned the task of planting the bomb. This time he was ready for an alarm to go off and was very surprised when none came. He started walking back down the catwalk, with Tifa right behind him. With a quick nod Barett and the others began running back toward the top level of the reactor. The trip was much like the first time, a few more monsters attacked them heading up than down; but this time security was almost non existant. Barett figured it to be because Shinra had all the guards protecting the entrance instead of the interior of the reactor. Cloud wasn't sure if that was right, but it sounded like a fair assumption.
At the top level they noticed the main door was closed. To their left was an open area with a computer terminal. Tifa looked to Barett and motioned for him and Cloud to follow. They walked over to the terminal. Cloud walked around one side while Tifa and Barett took the other. Tifa looked at Cloud, "Jessie said we all have to the buttons at once."
It took a few tries, either being too early or too late on Cloud's part; but they finally got the timing down right. The door suddenly but slowly openened up, and they all began to run. There wasn't too much time left on the explosive. The slums below could clearly be seen from their position. Although it didn't look too bad, Cloud knew that was a long fall below. "This way!", Barret commanded. Barett ran ahead and took a left. The plan now was to fight the few guards at the entrance and make their way to a train station. It came as a surprise to them all to see twenty plus Shinra guards blocking their path.
"Shinra soldiers!? SHIT! What the hell's goin' on?" Barett raised his gun arm to the newcomers.
Cloud put it together, (No wonder there was no security), "...a trap..." he said matter of factly. The sound of footsteps was now heard behind them. They were getting louder. Everyone turned their attention to the direction from which they came. Barett's jaw dropped as he recognized the man that came. "President Shinra?"
Tifa had never seen the man before, but her first impression of 'the most powerful man in the world' was less than she expected. (This is the man who has caused so much suffering) "Why is the President here?", was all she could manage to ask.
President Shinra continued to walk forward. His confidence in the situation was quite apparent. He was going to enjoy this. "Hmm...so you all must be that...what was it?"
Barett had gotten over his initial surprise and now his pride had taken over. "AVALANCHE! And don't ya forget it! And you're President Shinra huh?"
Cloud inwardly shook his head at Barett. Taking a step forward he stated, "Long time no see, President."
President Shinra looked at the man who spoke. Although he couldn't remember the young man his glowing eyes told him much more than a name would. "...Long time no see? Oh... you. You're the one who quit SOLDIER and joined AVALANCHE. I knew you were exposed to Mako, from the glow in your eyes... Tell me, traitor... what was your name?"
Cloud didn't expect Shinra to remember him so he calmly stated, "Cloud." President Shinra smiled, "Forgive me for asking, but I can't be expected to remember each persons name. Unless you become another Sephiroth." He fondly thought of his old field general. "Yes, Sephiroth... He was brilliant. Perhaps too brilliant."
A sudden burst of fear filled Cloud's mind. He took a step back. "Sephiroth.....?" Barett didn't understand the conversation and quite frankly he didn't want it to continue. "Don't give a damn 'bout none of that! This place's goin' up with a big BANG soon! Serves y'all right!"
President Shinra began to laugh. "And such a waste of good fireworks, just to get rid of vermin like you..."
Barett began to shake with anger, "VERMIN? That's all you can say... VERMIN! Y'all Shinra're the VERMIN, killing the planet! And that makes you King VERMIN! So shu'up jackass!"
President Shinra saw how angry Barett had become and casually looked away. "...You are beginning to bore me. I'm a very busy man, so if you'll excuse me... I have a dinner I must attend."
The calmness of Shinra made Barett even madder. He ran right over to Shinra. He was very tempted to end the pathetic looking man's life right there. The only problem was the soldiers behind him. All he could manage was, "Dinner!? Don't gimme that! I ain't even started wit' you yet!"
He smiled at the enraged man in front of him, "But, I've made arrangements for a playmate for you all." Before Barett understood the sentence President Shinra snapped his fingers. For a moment nothing happened, but for only a moment. Then the sound of a motor could be heard. Within seconds a large robot passed by Cloud and stood in the middle of them all. Unlike the guard scorpion this robot looked much tougher. It had multiple gun turrets and weapon slots. The two large arms and its overall bulky size made it look clumsy; but the way it moved through the air told Cloud that was only the way it looked. Barett clinched his teeth, "The hell is this!?"
"Meet 'Airbuster,' a techno-soldier. Our Weapon Development Department created him." He took a long look at Tifa and smiled, she looked away from him. "I'm sure the data he'll extract from your dead bodies will be of great use to us in future experiments."
Cloud had never heard of such a thing, "...Techno-soldier?" He continued to look at the robot, trying to figure out a way to beat it. President Shinra started to chuckle as a helicopter landed next to him. "Now then, if you'll excuse me." As he climbed onto the skid Cloud ran toward him; but it was too late. As the helicopter began to climb, Cloud stopped running toward it, "Wait, President!" He stepped foward and tride to make the President notice.
"Yo, Cloud! We've gotta do somethin' about him!" Cloud turned his attention back to the matter at hand. Airbuster started to move toward Barett and Tifa. Tifa wasn't sure what to make of all this but she didn't like the way that thing looked. "Help, Cloud!"
Cloud moved quickly behind the machine. With someone being able to get it from behind, due to the limited room on the catwalk, the advantage was theirs. Tifa continued to glare at airbuster. She looked quickly at Cloud, "THIS is from SOLDIER?" He quickly shook his head, "Now way! It's just a machine."
Barett began to smirk, "I don't care what it is! I'm gonna bust him up!" Very quickly he took aim and fired at the robots head. Sparks flew as his bullets from the assault gun did some quick damage. Once again Cloud had to resort to using bolt spells, hoping that one would over-load its systems. Tifa had the 'Restore' materia, so it was her job to take care of any wounds that may come.
Cloud quickly found out that attacking this machine's rear wasn't as easy as he had hoped. More than once he was hit by a counter attack that sent him flying back. Tifa and Barett weren't having much more luck. Using its mass and speed it knocked Barett over and sent Tifa ducking for cover. Barett and Cloud had their fill of this machine along with everything else that had happened. Barett couldn't control his anger anymore. He ran toward the robot, aimed his assault gun at its body, and started to fire. In mostly a daze started to increase his shooting speed, faster and faster. The barrel of the gun arm began to glow bright red. With one final shot the built up heat exploded, in a fireball, toward the machine. The affect was traumatic, the armor pannels that surrounded its chest were blown off.
Seeing the opening Cloud, with explosive speed, ran toward the robot. He raised his sword high above his head and jumped into the air. As he came down the sword went clean through the robot's body. Electricity began to surge around the robot. Beginning to shake, the engine that held the machine in the air failed and it crashed into the catwalk, exploding on contact.
Cloud was too close to the explosion and the catwalk crumbled beneath his feet. He looked quickly for some way to stop from falling, and at the last instant was able to grab a hold of a piece of sticking out pipe. Tifa and Barett were on the other side of the gap. Tifa rushed over to the edge; but Barett stepped back. "It's gonna blow! Let's go, Tifa!"
She couldn't believe what she just heard, "Barret! Can't you do something?"
He slowly shook his head, "Not a damn thing." Tifa looked over the hole and realized it was just too far for them to reach Cloud. She began to cry, "Cloud! Please don't die! You can't die! There's still so much I want to tell you!"
Cloud smiled at her. Even though it didn't look good to him, he wasn't about to show that to her. "I know Tifa....." Barett looked over at him, "Hey, you gonna be awright?"
Cloud began to laugh. He took a look down below. ".....You worry about yourselves! I'm all right, but take care of Tifa." Barett nodded, "...Alright. Sorry 'bout all this."
Cloud felt his grip beginning to give. "Stop talkin' like this is the end!" Barett smiled at him, "Alright then, later."
As Cloud began to get a better grip the bomb in the reactor went off. There was a jolt that shook Cloud off the catwalk. It seemed like slow motion to him. Slowly he began to sink away from everything above. He could see Tifa run over to the edge and look helplessly down at him. He just smiled at her, with a relieved smile, and at that instant time seemed to go back to normal. Soon he couldn't see Tifa or Barett anymore, then he couldn't see the catwalk. With a sudden jolt throughout his entire body, he couldn't see anything.
