At first there was darkness. Dense, unyeilding darkness. There was no
definition of anything; it was as though time itself had never existed.
Slowly, stars appeared, the way stars do. They twinkled to life, then they
were followed by more, until the darkness looked like the night sky. From a
divine silver to an earthly green the stars changed. The woman, aglow with
the gaian stars, was beautiful, a true daughter of the planet. She looked
young, but there was something ancient about her, with chestnut hair and
neat bangs perfectly framing her face. Her most outstanding feature from a
visual point were her eyes. The dark emerald depth had no limits, nor did
they betray what was inside except gentility and kindness.
Her body was slim and petite, still fresh with youth. She was dressed in a light pink skirt that fell to her ankles and added to her innocence. She appeared to be praying in a deserted alleyway, as the tiny green stars were lazily being blown out of a Mako vent. She looked up suddenly, as though she had been in a trance, and picked up a basket of delicate flowers that she had set beside her. Walking slowly, she came out of the alley and onto a street corner, where people bustled about in the bliss of normality. It wasn't light out, but she and everyone on the street knew that no matter what the time, it would always be eternally dark in the slums. The city on top of them, supported in sectors by pillars, blocked all sunlight and caused pollution underneath. This was the famous city, Midgar. She walked across the street and disappeared into the crowds. In the distance, a train roared by
It sped quickly to reach its destination on time, like the train did every single day since the system went up. It screeched to a halt right on schedule at two forty-five in the morning. Two tired looking guards watched lazily as the train's doors opened. They realized something was amiss when a dark haired man leapt off the roof of the train and landed in front of him. He was very young, in his late teens, early twenties; and he was dressed in street rags consisting of a red shirt and gray pants. He swiftly grabbed the other man, flipped him over his head, it immediately knocked him unconscious. The other guard barely had time to yell when a girl the same age dressed in similar clothes also jumped from the train and kicked him the chest; knocking him out as well.
Another man also jumped from the train. He was overweight, but looked like he had seen his share of battles. He was older than the last two but it was difficult to tell for sure since his clothes hid most of his features and a bright red bandanna concealed his hair. A second man hopped out of the train, he stood out from his three companions because of his size and aura of authority. He looked somewhere in his thirties and had dark skin. He wore a beat up brown sleeveless vest without a shirt underneath, revealing a few tattoos. He was also wearing drab pants and oversized boots that reinforced his large size. He waved his gun-arm up at a man who had just emerged on the roof from within the train.
"C'mon! Newcomer!" His deep voice echoed, "Follow me!" His tone of voice suggested he had already been annoyed at the other man before their endeavors had even started.
The new man jumped down as the first four ran around a corner, his spikey blond hair barely moving. No sooner had he taken a step, two security guards ran out in front of him and attacked. The first drew his gun quickly and aimed it at the nameless man. He didn't get a chance to fire his weapon because the blond intruder had slashed him across the chest with his huge sword. He was dead almost instantly. The second man fired, but only succeded in grazing the blonde man across his shoulder. The swordsman barely winced, and thrust the long, wide blade through the guard's torso.
Not wasting a second, the blond man with the sword followed the direction the others had left. He caught up with them easily. The large man was nowhere to be seen, but the other three were struggling to break the security code on a door into the Mako Reactor. As he waited, the thinner of original three looked up at him. "Wow! You used to be in SOLDIER all right! Not everyday you find one in a group like AVALANCHE." He smiled.
The girl looked up from her work, "SOLDIER? Aren't they the enemy? What's he doing with us in AVALANCE?"
The man glanced at her and explained further, "Hold it, Jessie, he WAS in SOLDIER. He quit them and is one of us." He turned back up to the unfamiliar man. "Didn't catch your name..."
The blond man looked at him, and scowled, "...Cloud."
He started to reply, happy in succeeding in making Cloud talk. "Cloud, eh? I'm-"
"I don't care what your names are," Cloud snapped, "Once this job's over... I'm outta here."
Suddenly the dark-skinned man ran around the corner. "The hell you all doin'!? I thought I told you never to move in a group! Our target's the North Mako Reactor. We'll meet on the bridge in front of it."
Jessie broke through the code and went through with her two companions, leaving her leader and their hired assassin behind. "SOILDER, huh?" The big man growled, "I still don' trust ya."
"Hey! Barett! Let's go!" The fat one yelled behind him. Barett scowled briefly at Cloud one last time before following his companions down the alley with ShinRa Headquarters looming over the skyline. Cloud shrugged, and raced after them.
The sword-carrying warrior caught up with them in the ground level of Mako Reactor #1. He approached his employer and his crew suspiciously, as though they could be the enemy. Barett glared at him, and crossed his arms, "Yo! This your first time in a reactor?"
Cloud put his gloved hands on his hips, "No. After all, I did work for the ShinRa, y'know."
The larger man looked like he wanted to hurt him, but it was obvious that fighting their mercenary wouldn't be the best idea. "The planet's full of Mako energy. People here use it everyday. It's the life-blood of 'dis planet. But ShinRa keeps suckin' it out with these machines."
"I'm not here for a lecture. Let's just hurry." Cloud retorted.
Barett snarled, "That's it! You're comin' with me from now on." He stormed through the opened door closest to him. Cloud ran followed him in, then Biggs and the girl, the fat one stayed out as a sentry. They jogged to the next doorway and Jesse glance back at her leader.
"Biggs and I got the code for this door."
"Code deciphered..." Biggs mumbled as the door slid open. "Think of how many of our people risked their lives, just for this code..."
Jessie opened the next and absently muttered the same thing Biggs just had. "Code deciphered." They ran through the second door and work their way deeper into the reactor. Biggs stayed as a sentry when the makeshift renegades reached an elevator.
"Push that button over there, Cloud." She directed absently. He obeyed her and hit a large yellow button with a symbol pointing upward. The elevator rumbled and began to move up. Barett leaned up against the side.
"Little by little the reactors'll drain out all the life, and that'll be that." He said pointedly to Cloud.
"It's not my problem."
Barett stood up straight and waved his bulky gun-arm in the shorter man's face. "The planet's dyin', Cloud!!"
He glared at Barett with intense blue eyes that seemed to glow. "The only thing I care about is finishing this job before security and the Roboguards come."
The tall man growled and went back to the side and glared morosely at the far wall. The elevator soon stopped and the three of them ran down a couple of hallways and onto a catwalk. This time Jessie stayed behind.
Barett and Cloud climbed down a metal ladder and carefully made their way across the final catwalk. Cloud had an easier time since he was smaller and quicker that the bulky Barett, but they both reached the outer core wall in no time. Barett studied the wall for a moment, "When we blow this place, this ain't gonna be nothin' more than a hunka junk." He growled with contempt at the complex equipment. "Cloud, you set the bomb."
The other glanced at him curiously. "Shouldn't you do it?"
Barett sighed, exasperated. "Jus' do it! I gotta watch to make sure you don't pull nothin'." He crossed his arms smugly.
Cloud shrugged. "Fine, be my guest. As Cloud approached it, a male voice rang through his head.
"Watch out!" The voice warned, "This isn't just a reactor!"
Cloud gripped his head in pain and sank to his knees. The voice was horribly familiar, but he couldn't fit it with a name. He came to his senses a second or two later, with Barett staring at him curiously. ".... What's wrong?"
Cloud shook his head, "Huh?"
"What's wrong, Cloud?" The other urged, "Hurry it up!"
"Yeah, sorry." He took the small device from the hulking Barett and began attaching wires to the monitoring equipment attached to the wall. In no time, the ex-SOILDER had hooked up the bomb.
"Done," he said, examining his handiwork. His companion was about to say something when an alarm suddenly flared up.
"Here they come!" Barett yelled, loading his gun-arm. Cloud unsheathed his sword and waited. A tiny rumbling sounded down the far corridor. The two warriors tensed, past experiences glowing from their eyes. The noise grew louder and louder until the tiny rumbling became a screaming roar. Finally the ground-shattering noise became a Guard Scorpion, as it burst from the hallway.
Although the beast was completely mechanical, it seemed to have a lifelike presence to it. It glared at the renegades for a moment before charging. Cloud agilely leapt out of the way while Barett clumsily rolled. Cloud clenched his teeth and pulled a tiny green orb from his pocket. As Barett unloaded bullets in the creature's underbelly, the spiky haired man carefully secured the sphere to a slot in his sword. As he concentrated, the sword glowed and burst into a glowing yellow light that quickly transformed into racing electrical currents that ran up and down the blade. Shouting a battle cry, the man charged the mechanical monster and sliced it across the chest.
The monster seemed to squeal in pain as wires began to dangle and smoke was pouring out of the 'wound'. Barett, nearly consumed by the heat of battled, began to concentrate heavily. Slowly but surely, flecks of orange energy gathered at the end of his gun. The ball grew bigger and bigger, until he launched it at the scorpion. Cloud attacked one last time, and it completely gave way. The monster collapsed and twitched spastically.
Before the two warriors could breathe a sigh of relief, another alarm sounded, along with a pre-recorded human voice on the bomb. "Six minutes until detonation..."
"I thought you set it for ten minutes!" Barett exclaimed.
"I did!" Was his response. "We don't have time to argue, let's get out of here, fast!"
The other man nodded and began to run as best he could across the narrow little catwalk. By the time Cloud reached the ladder, Barett was already through the upper doorway. As he made his way up, he heard a female voice cry out. Glancing over his shoulder he saw Jessie being attacked by a Roboguard.
Without thinking, Cloud performed and agile backflip off the ladder while at the same time drawing his sword. He landed with a loud 'whump' on top of the elite security officer and in one neat movement, he thrust the wide blade into the other man.
Helping the frightened young woman, he noticed that her foot was caught in the support they were standing on. Yanking her foot out, they both took off down the hall. "Thanks!" She managed to shout to him.
They reached the bridge across a great abyss and yet another low rumbling was heard. Cloud watched as Barett, Biggs, and the fat one ran out on the left side.
Running at full force, Cloud and Jesse turned the corner. Jessie slipped and fell, skidding almost over the side of the unstable bridge. She panicked and began clawing at the floor to make it back up. The Ex-SOILDER roughly grabbed her wrist and wrapped an unnaturally strong arm around her waist as he sprinted away. The heat inside was rising rapidly. As soon as he made it to the doorway, the reactor exploded, sending a wall of flames outward.
The explosion rocked the entire city and threw Barett and his companions to their knees. The smell of Mako and melting metal was immediately present. Cloud followed Barett and the others into a small hallway that was covered in graffiti. The exit was blocked with debris. Biggs looked to his friends and smiled. "That should keep the planet going... at least a little while."
The fat one smiled grimly. "Yeah." Barett stared at them for a moment. His teammates nodded and Jessie began to hook up another bomb to the wall. She set it and backed up,
"Okay! Now everyone get back." The rebels stand back as the wall is blown to bits and the five escaped through the flames. They made it through unscathed, save for the fact that the seat of the fat man's pants were on fire.
After he put the flames out, Barett gathered his three buddies and the lone mercenary for a post-mission briefing. "All right, now. Let's get out of here. Rendezvous at Sector 8 station! Split up and get on the train".
"H-hey! Cloud started.
"If it's 'bout the money, save it till we're back at the hideout." With that, Barett climbed a nearby stairway and was gone. Wedge took off in the opposite direction, with the other two trailing him. Cloud sighed, aggravated at Barett. He had only known him for a day or so, but he constantly grated on the younger man's nerves. He absently followed the direction in which the other three had gone.
Following the corridor he came out in a plaza littered with debris from the massive explosion that had just happened. Cloud watched emotionlessly as people ran by in terror, wondering what had caused the mammoth explosion. As he approached a destroyed fountain he saw a girl that stood out from anyone he had ever seen.
She was shorter that he was, but only by about four inches and she looked his age. He felt drawn to her and compelled to help her to her feet, as a panicked passerby had bumped into her. She looked up at him with deep, glittering green eyes and thanked him. "Excuse me. What happened?" She asked him.
He hesitated before answering. "Nothing... hey, don't see many flowers around here." He observed, indicating to her basket.
"Oh, these? Do you like them? There only a Gil..." she offered. Cloud thought for a moment and dug up a coin from his pocket and handed it to her. She smiled widely and handed him a small delicate orange flower. He thanked her as she made off down the street. Taking one last look at the fascinating stranger, he jogged down to the other end of the avenue.
He was nearly at the train station and coming out of an alley, when two ShinRa guards ran up behind him. "Hey! You there!" they yelled.
"ShinRa soldiers..." he spat. Cloud dashed ahead of him and veered right- directly into two more guards who had their rifles aimed at his chest. Turning around, he made a break for the last alley. Two more guards stepped in front of him as the last four closed him into the side of a bridge overlooking train tracks.
All six guards trained their rifles at his head. One of them spoke through his blue helmet. "That's as far as you go."
"I don't have time to be messing around with you guys!" Cloud growled, frustrated.
"Enough babbling! Grab him!" One of the others yelled.
Cloud jumped up on the railing and drew his sword. As a train horn blared in the distance, an idea came to him. He held out his hand, concentrating on the orb attached to his sword, and a twisted tree of lightning crashed into the ground before the soldiers. Startled they watched, speechless, as the strange man turned and jumped just as a train roared out of the tunnel. He landed smoothly on the roof and ducked as he and the train dropped underground.
Barett, Wedge, Jessie, and Biggs all sulked in the cargo area of the train. "Cloud never came." Wedge sighed in despair.
"Cloud..." Biggs thought out loud. "I wonder if he was killed."
Barett shook his head, "No way!!"
Jessie looked sadly at the train wall. "Cloud..."
They looked up suddenly as a loud thumping was heard on the side of the car. After a tense second or two, they looked back down again.
"Say," Biggs asked, "Do you think Cloud's going to fight to the end for AVALANCHE?"
Barett sighed impatiently, "The hell would I know! Do I look like a mind- reader?" He emphasized his statement by pounding a heavy fist into a wooden crate. "Hmph. If y'all weren't such screw-ups..."
Wedge looked at his boss for a moment. "Hey Barett! What about our money...?" The larger man slammed his fist on the crate again, startling the room's occupants. "Uh... nothin'.... Sorry." He added hastily with a sigh of relief. The pounding sounded again and this time, the door to the outside world was flung open. A figure flipped in.
"Cloud!!" The trio yelled.
"Looks like I'm a little late."
"You damn right, you're late!! Come waltzin' in here makin' a big scene!" Barett fumed.
"It's no big deal," Cloud answered cockily, shrugging his shoulders. "Just what I always do."
"Shit! Havin' everyone worried 'bout you like that; you don' give a damn 'bout no one but yourself!" Barett's enunciation grew more sloppy when he was angry.
The younger smirked, "Hmm... You were worried about me?"
"Wha-?" Barett clenched his fist, and then pointedly aimed his gun-arm at the younger man. "It's comin' outta your money, hot stuff." There was a tense silence. "Wake up! We're movin' out! Follow me!"
They watched as the disgruntled man left the car and headed out. Wedge heartily clapped Cloud on the back. "Hey Cloud! You were great back there." He smiled warmly, while the other glanced at him a bit oddly.
Biggs jogged up next to him and pumped a fist in the air, "Heh heh... Cloud! We'll do even better next time." Wedge and his younger counterpart left, leaving Jessie and Cloud.
She walked up to him, closing the door, and smiled. "Oh, Cloud! Your face is pitch black!" She untied her headband and wiped Cloud's cheeks with it, taking off some of the dirt and soot that had caked onto his handsome face.
"There you go!" she smiled "Say, thanks for helping me back there at the reactor!" Blushing and grinning at him with girlish admiration, she followed Biggs and Wedge out. Cloud took a moment to make sure he still had everything he had originally left with and followed the members of AVALANCHE out.
He and the others emerged in an empty guest car, save for a man in a business suit. Barett flopped down next to him and the smaller, meeker man got up and nervously began to exit. "This is why I hate the last train." He muttered darkly. "Hoo-boy..."
The train's intercom system suddenly blared to life. "Last train out of Sector 8 Station. Last stop is Sector 7, Train Graveyard. Expected time of arrival is 12:23 AM, Midgar standard time."
Cloud sauntered over to his employer; the two had a bit of a staring contest before Barett rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Stop actin' like a damn kid. Si'down an' shu'up." Cloud turned moodily and made his way over to Wedge and Biggs who, yet again, smiled up at him. "Someday," Wedge began, "AVALANCHE's gonna be famous...and me too!"
Biggs shook his head, smirking sadly. "It seems this train hasn't switched to security mode yet. I'm sure that'll change by tomorrow."
"Hey Cloud!" Jessie beckoned from in front of a monitor. "You want to look at this with me?" Cloud nodded, and walked up to her and the glowing monitor. "It's a map of the Midgar Rail System. Let's look at it together. I'll explain it to you." She seemed to beam with happiness at the Ex- SOLDIER's choice to join her. "I like this kinda stuff. Bombs and monitors... you know, flashy stuff."
The two rebels looked at the monitor as a green ShinRa logo appeared. "Okay it's about to start." Jessie said in anticipation. A wire frame model of Midgar was depicted on the aging screen. The girl continued. "This is a complete model of the city of Midgar. It's about 1/1000 scale. The top plate is about 50 meters above ground. A main support structure holds the plate up in the center, and there are other support structures built in each section." She lowered her voice to a whisper; "The No. 1 Reactor we blew up was in the northern section." She spoke normally again as she continued with her lecture. "Then there's No. 2, No. 3, all the way up to No. 8 Reactor. The eight reactors provide Midgar with electricity. Each town used to have a name, but no one in Midgar remembers them. Instead of names, we refer to them by numbered sectors. That's the kind of place this is." She offered a grim smile. The model of Midgar now showed a dotted line that spiraled up through the city.
"This is the route the train is on. The route spirals around the main support structure. We should be coming around the center area, right now. At each checkpoint, an ID sensor device is set up. It can check the identities and background on each and ever passenger on the train by linking it up to the central databank at ShinRa Headquarters." She lowered her voice again. "Anyone can tell we look suspicious, so we're using fake ID's."
Suddenly, a red light started flashing. "Speak of the devil..." Jessie muttered, "That light means that we're in the ID Security Check area. When the lights go off, you never know what kind of creeps'll come out... Anyhow, were almost back now. That's a relief."
Cloud thanked her explanation of the city, but her only response was her furious blushing. The hired mercenary walked back over to Barett. "Look..." He directed, too engrossed in the scenery to argue with the younger man. "You can see the surface now. This city don't have no night or no day. If that plate weren't there, we could see the sky."
Cloud nodded his agreement. "A floating city... Pretty unsettling scenery." Barett looked up at him, his dark eyes holding back old pain. He stood up, and smiled smugly.
"Never expected to hear that outta someone like you... You jes' full of surprises." Cloud glared indignantly at him, but the other continued anyway. "The upper world... a city on a plate... It's cuz of that fucking 'pizza', that people underneath are sufferin'! And the city below is full of polluted air. On topa that, the reactors keep drainin' up all the energy."
The mercenary nodded, reluctantly understanding. "Then why doesn't everyone move onto the plate?"
Barett shook his head sadly. "Dunno. Probably 'cuz they ain't got no money. Or maybe... cuz they love their land, no matter how polluted it gets."
"I know," Cloud agreed solemnly, "No one lives in the slums because they want to." He paused, staring hypnotically out the window, "It's like this train. It can't run anywhere except where the rails take it.
Her body was slim and petite, still fresh with youth. She was dressed in a light pink skirt that fell to her ankles and added to her innocence. She appeared to be praying in a deserted alleyway, as the tiny green stars were lazily being blown out of a Mako vent. She looked up suddenly, as though she had been in a trance, and picked up a basket of delicate flowers that she had set beside her. Walking slowly, she came out of the alley and onto a street corner, where people bustled about in the bliss of normality. It wasn't light out, but she and everyone on the street knew that no matter what the time, it would always be eternally dark in the slums. The city on top of them, supported in sectors by pillars, blocked all sunlight and caused pollution underneath. This was the famous city, Midgar. She walked across the street and disappeared into the crowds. In the distance, a train roared by
It sped quickly to reach its destination on time, like the train did every single day since the system went up. It screeched to a halt right on schedule at two forty-five in the morning. Two tired looking guards watched lazily as the train's doors opened. They realized something was amiss when a dark haired man leapt off the roof of the train and landed in front of him. He was very young, in his late teens, early twenties; and he was dressed in street rags consisting of a red shirt and gray pants. He swiftly grabbed the other man, flipped him over his head, it immediately knocked him unconscious. The other guard barely had time to yell when a girl the same age dressed in similar clothes also jumped from the train and kicked him the chest; knocking him out as well.
Another man also jumped from the train. He was overweight, but looked like he had seen his share of battles. He was older than the last two but it was difficult to tell for sure since his clothes hid most of his features and a bright red bandanna concealed his hair. A second man hopped out of the train, he stood out from his three companions because of his size and aura of authority. He looked somewhere in his thirties and had dark skin. He wore a beat up brown sleeveless vest without a shirt underneath, revealing a few tattoos. He was also wearing drab pants and oversized boots that reinforced his large size. He waved his gun-arm up at a man who had just emerged on the roof from within the train.
"C'mon! Newcomer!" His deep voice echoed, "Follow me!" His tone of voice suggested he had already been annoyed at the other man before their endeavors had even started.
The new man jumped down as the first four ran around a corner, his spikey blond hair barely moving. No sooner had he taken a step, two security guards ran out in front of him and attacked. The first drew his gun quickly and aimed it at the nameless man. He didn't get a chance to fire his weapon because the blond intruder had slashed him across the chest with his huge sword. He was dead almost instantly. The second man fired, but only succeded in grazing the blonde man across his shoulder. The swordsman barely winced, and thrust the long, wide blade through the guard's torso.
Not wasting a second, the blond man with the sword followed the direction the others had left. He caught up with them easily. The large man was nowhere to be seen, but the other three were struggling to break the security code on a door into the Mako Reactor. As he waited, the thinner of original three looked up at him. "Wow! You used to be in SOLDIER all right! Not everyday you find one in a group like AVALANCHE." He smiled.
The girl looked up from her work, "SOLDIER? Aren't they the enemy? What's he doing with us in AVALANCE?"
The man glanced at her and explained further, "Hold it, Jessie, he WAS in SOLDIER. He quit them and is one of us." He turned back up to the unfamiliar man. "Didn't catch your name..."
The blond man looked at him, and scowled, "...Cloud."
He started to reply, happy in succeeding in making Cloud talk. "Cloud, eh? I'm-"
"I don't care what your names are," Cloud snapped, "Once this job's over... I'm outta here."
Suddenly the dark-skinned man ran around the corner. "The hell you all doin'!? I thought I told you never to move in a group! Our target's the North Mako Reactor. We'll meet on the bridge in front of it."
Jessie broke through the code and went through with her two companions, leaving her leader and their hired assassin behind. "SOILDER, huh?" The big man growled, "I still don' trust ya."
"Hey! Barett! Let's go!" The fat one yelled behind him. Barett scowled briefly at Cloud one last time before following his companions down the alley with ShinRa Headquarters looming over the skyline. Cloud shrugged, and raced after them.
The sword-carrying warrior caught up with them in the ground level of Mako Reactor #1. He approached his employer and his crew suspiciously, as though they could be the enemy. Barett glared at him, and crossed his arms, "Yo! This your first time in a reactor?"
Cloud put his gloved hands on his hips, "No. After all, I did work for the ShinRa, y'know."
The larger man looked like he wanted to hurt him, but it was obvious that fighting their mercenary wouldn't be the best idea. "The planet's full of Mako energy. People here use it everyday. It's the life-blood of 'dis planet. But ShinRa keeps suckin' it out with these machines."
"I'm not here for a lecture. Let's just hurry." Cloud retorted.
Barett snarled, "That's it! You're comin' with me from now on." He stormed through the opened door closest to him. Cloud ran followed him in, then Biggs and the girl, the fat one stayed out as a sentry. They jogged to the next doorway and Jesse glance back at her leader.
"Biggs and I got the code for this door."
"Code deciphered..." Biggs mumbled as the door slid open. "Think of how many of our people risked their lives, just for this code..."
Jessie opened the next and absently muttered the same thing Biggs just had. "Code deciphered." They ran through the second door and work their way deeper into the reactor. Biggs stayed as a sentry when the makeshift renegades reached an elevator.
"Push that button over there, Cloud." She directed absently. He obeyed her and hit a large yellow button with a symbol pointing upward. The elevator rumbled and began to move up. Barett leaned up against the side.
"Little by little the reactors'll drain out all the life, and that'll be that." He said pointedly to Cloud.
"It's not my problem."
Barett stood up straight and waved his bulky gun-arm in the shorter man's face. "The planet's dyin', Cloud!!"
He glared at Barett with intense blue eyes that seemed to glow. "The only thing I care about is finishing this job before security and the Roboguards come."
The tall man growled and went back to the side and glared morosely at the far wall. The elevator soon stopped and the three of them ran down a couple of hallways and onto a catwalk. This time Jessie stayed behind.
Barett and Cloud climbed down a metal ladder and carefully made their way across the final catwalk. Cloud had an easier time since he was smaller and quicker that the bulky Barett, but they both reached the outer core wall in no time. Barett studied the wall for a moment, "When we blow this place, this ain't gonna be nothin' more than a hunka junk." He growled with contempt at the complex equipment. "Cloud, you set the bomb."
The other glanced at him curiously. "Shouldn't you do it?"
Barett sighed, exasperated. "Jus' do it! I gotta watch to make sure you don't pull nothin'." He crossed his arms smugly.
Cloud shrugged. "Fine, be my guest. As Cloud approached it, a male voice rang through his head.
"Watch out!" The voice warned, "This isn't just a reactor!"
Cloud gripped his head in pain and sank to his knees. The voice was horribly familiar, but he couldn't fit it with a name. He came to his senses a second or two later, with Barett staring at him curiously. ".... What's wrong?"
Cloud shook his head, "Huh?"
"What's wrong, Cloud?" The other urged, "Hurry it up!"
"Yeah, sorry." He took the small device from the hulking Barett and began attaching wires to the monitoring equipment attached to the wall. In no time, the ex-SOILDER had hooked up the bomb.
"Done," he said, examining his handiwork. His companion was about to say something when an alarm suddenly flared up.
"Here they come!" Barett yelled, loading his gun-arm. Cloud unsheathed his sword and waited. A tiny rumbling sounded down the far corridor. The two warriors tensed, past experiences glowing from their eyes. The noise grew louder and louder until the tiny rumbling became a screaming roar. Finally the ground-shattering noise became a Guard Scorpion, as it burst from the hallway.
Although the beast was completely mechanical, it seemed to have a lifelike presence to it. It glared at the renegades for a moment before charging. Cloud agilely leapt out of the way while Barett clumsily rolled. Cloud clenched his teeth and pulled a tiny green orb from his pocket. As Barett unloaded bullets in the creature's underbelly, the spiky haired man carefully secured the sphere to a slot in his sword. As he concentrated, the sword glowed and burst into a glowing yellow light that quickly transformed into racing electrical currents that ran up and down the blade. Shouting a battle cry, the man charged the mechanical monster and sliced it across the chest.
The monster seemed to squeal in pain as wires began to dangle and smoke was pouring out of the 'wound'. Barett, nearly consumed by the heat of battled, began to concentrate heavily. Slowly but surely, flecks of orange energy gathered at the end of his gun. The ball grew bigger and bigger, until he launched it at the scorpion. Cloud attacked one last time, and it completely gave way. The monster collapsed and twitched spastically.
Before the two warriors could breathe a sigh of relief, another alarm sounded, along with a pre-recorded human voice on the bomb. "Six minutes until detonation..."
"I thought you set it for ten minutes!" Barett exclaimed.
"I did!" Was his response. "We don't have time to argue, let's get out of here, fast!"
The other man nodded and began to run as best he could across the narrow little catwalk. By the time Cloud reached the ladder, Barett was already through the upper doorway. As he made his way up, he heard a female voice cry out. Glancing over his shoulder he saw Jessie being attacked by a Roboguard.
Without thinking, Cloud performed and agile backflip off the ladder while at the same time drawing his sword. He landed with a loud 'whump' on top of the elite security officer and in one neat movement, he thrust the wide blade into the other man.
Helping the frightened young woman, he noticed that her foot was caught in the support they were standing on. Yanking her foot out, they both took off down the hall. "Thanks!" She managed to shout to him.
They reached the bridge across a great abyss and yet another low rumbling was heard. Cloud watched as Barett, Biggs, and the fat one ran out on the left side.
Running at full force, Cloud and Jesse turned the corner. Jessie slipped and fell, skidding almost over the side of the unstable bridge. She panicked and began clawing at the floor to make it back up. The Ex-SOILDER roughly grabbed her wrist and wrapped an unnaturally strong arm around her waist as he sprinted away. The heat inside was rising rapidly. As soon as he made it to the doorway, the reactor exploded, sending a wall of flames outward.
The explosion rocked the entire city and threw Barett and his companions to their knees. The smell of Mako and melting metal was immediately present. Cloud followed Barett and the others into a small hallway that was covered in graffiti. The exit was blocked with debris. Biggs looked to his friends and smiled. "That should keep the planet going... at least a little while."
The fat one smiled grimly. "Yeah." Barett stared at them for a moment. His teammates nodded and Jessie began to hook up another bomb to the wall. She set it and backed up,
"Okay! Now everyone get back." The rebels stand back as the wall is blown to bits and the five escaped through the flames. They made it through unscathed, save for the fact that the seat of the fat man's pants were on fire.
After he put the flames out, Barett gathered his three buddies and the lone mercenary for a post-mission briefing. "All right, now. Let's get out of here. Rendezvous at Sector 8 station! Split up and get on the train".
"H-hey! Cloud started.
"If it's 'bout the money, save it till we're back at the hideout." With that, Barett climbed a nearby stairway and was gone. Wedge took off in the opposite direction, with the other two trailing him. Cloud sighed, aggravated at Barett. He had only known him for a day or so, but he constantly grated on the younger man's nerves. He absently followed the direction in which the other three had gone.
Following the corridor he came out in a plaza littered with debris from the massive explosion that had just happened. Cloud watched emotionlessly as people ran by in terror, wondering what had caused the mammoth explosion. As he approached a destroyed fountain he saw a girl that stood out from anyone he had ever seen.
She was shorter that he was, but only by about four inches and she looked his age. He felt drawn to her and compelled to help her to her feet, as a panicked passerby had bumped into her. She looked up at him with deep, glittering green eyes and thanked him. "Excuse me. What happened?" She asked him.
He hesitated before answering. "Nothing... hey, don't see many flowers around here." He observed, indicating to her basket.
"Oh, these? Do you like them? There only a Gil..." she offered. Cloud thought for a moment and dug up a coin from his pocket and handed it to her. She smiled widely and handed him a small delicate orange flower. He thanked her as she made off down the street. Taking one last look at the fascinating stranger, he jogged down to the other end of the avenue.
He was nearly at the train station and coming out of an alley, when two ShinRa guards ran up behind him. "Hey! You there!" they yelled.
"ShinRa soldiers..." he spat. Cloud dashed ahead of him and veered right- directly into two more guards who had their rifles aimed at his chest. Turning around, he made a break for the last alley. Two more guards stepped in front of him as the last four closed him into the side of a bridge overlooking train tracks.
All six guards trained their rifles at his head. One of them spoke through his blue helmet. "That's as far as you go."
"I don't have time to be messing around with you guys!" Cloud growled, frustrated.
"Enough babbling! Grab him!" One of the others yelled.
Cloud jumped up on the railing and drew his sword. As a train horn blared in the distance, an idea came to him. He held out his hand, concentrating on the orb attached to his sword, and a twisted tree of lightning crashed into the ground before the soldiers. Startled they watched, speechless, as the strange man turned and jumped just as a train roared out of the tunnel. He landed smoothly on the roof and ducked as he and the train dropped underground.
Barett, Wedge, Jessie, and Biggs all sulked in the cargo area of the train. "Cloud never came." Wedge sighed in despair.
"Cloud..." Biggs thought out loud. "I wonder if he was killed."
Barett shook his head, "No way!!"
Jessie looked sadly at the train wall. "Cloud..."
They looked up suddenly as a loud thumping was heard on the side of the car. After a tense second or two, they looked back down again.
"Say," Biggs asked, "Do you think Cloud's going to fight to the end for AVALANCHE?"
Barett sighed impatiently, "The hell would I know! Do I look like a mind- reader?" He emphasized his statement by pounding a heavy fist into a wooden crate. "Hmph. If y'all weren't such screw-ups..."
Wedge looked at his boss for a moment. "Hey Barett! What about our money...?" The larger man slammed his fist on the crate again, startling the room's occupants. "Uh... nothin'.... Sorry." He added hastily with a sigh of relief. The pounding sounded again and this time, the door to the outside world was flung open. A figure flipped in.
"Cloud!!" The trio yelled.
"Looks like I'm a little late."
"You damn right, you're late!! Come waltzin' in here makin' a big scene!" Barett fumed.
"It's no big deal," Cloud answered cockily, shrugging his shoulders. "Just what I always do."
"Shit! Havin' everyone worried 'bout you like that; you don' give a damn 'bout no one but yourself!" Barett's enunciation grew more sloppy when he was angry.
The younger smirked, "Hmm... You were worried about me?"
"Wha-?" Barett clenched his fist, and then pointedly aimed his gun-arm at the younger man. "It's comin' outta your money, hot stuff." There was a tense silence. "Wake up! We're movin' out! Follow me!"
They watched as the disgruntled man left the car and headed out. Wedge heartily clapped Cloud on the back. "Hey Cloud! You were great back there." He smiled warmly, while the other glanced at him a bit oddly.
Biggs jogged up next to him and pumped a fist in the air, "Heh heh... Cloud! We'll do even better next time." Wedge and his younger counterpart left, leaving Jessie and Cloud.
She walked up to him, closing the door, and smiled. "Oh, Cloud! Your face is pitch black!" She untied her headband and wiped Cloud's cheeks with it, taking off some of the dirt and soot that had caked onto his handsome face.
"There you go!" she smiled "Say, thanks for helping me back there at the reactor!" Blushing and grinning at him with girlish admiration, she followed Biggs and Wedge out. Cloud took a moment to make sure he still had everything he had originally left with and followed the members of AVALANCHE out.
He and the others emerged in an empty guest car, save for a man in a business suit. Barett flopped down next to him and the smaller, meeker man got up and nervously began to exit. "This is why I hate the last train." He muttered darkly. "Hoo-boy..."
The train's intercom system suddenly blared to life. "Last train out of Sector 8 Station. Last stop is Sector 7, Train Graveyard. Expected time of arrival is 12:23 AM, Midgar standard time."
Cloud sauntered over to his employer; the two had a bit of a staring contest before Barett rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Stop actin' like a damn kid. Si'down an' shu'up." Cloud turned moodily and made his way over to Wedge and Biggs who, yet again, smiled up at him. "Someday," Wedge began, "AVALANCHE's gonna be famous...and me too!"
Biggs shook his head, smirking sadly. "It seems this train hasn't switched to security mode yet. I'm sure that'll change by tomorrow."
"Hey Cloud!" Jessie beckoned from in front of a monitor. "You want to look at this with me?" Cloud nodded, and walked up to her and the glowing monitor. "It's a map of the Midgar Rail System. Let's look at it together. I'll explain it to you." She seemed to beam with happiness at the Ex- SOLDIER's choice to join her. "I like this kinda stuff. Bombs and monitors... you know, flashy stuff."
The two rebels looked at the monitor as a green ShinRa logo appeared. "Okay it's about to start." Jessie said in anticipation. A wire frame model of Midgar was depicted on the aging screen. The girl continued. "This is a complete model of the city of Midgar. It's about 1/1000 scale. The top plate is about 50 meters above ground. A main support structure holds the plate up in the center, and there are other support structures built in each section." She lowered her voice to a whisper; "The No. 1 Reactor we blew up was in the northern section." She spoke normally again as she continued with her lecture. "Then there's No. 2, No. 3, all the way up to No. 8 Reactor. The eight reactors provide Midgar with electricity. Each town used to have a name, but no one in Midgar remembers them. Instead of names, we refer to them by numbered sectors. That's the kind of place this is." She offered a grim smile. The model of Midgar now showed a dotted line that spiraled up through the city.
"This is the route the train is on. The route spirals around the main support structure. We should be coming around the center area, right now. At each checkpoint, an ID sensor device is set up. It can check the identities and background on each and ever passenger on the train by linking it up to the central databank at ShinRa Headquarters." She lowered her voice again. "Anyone can tell we look suspicious, so we're using fake ID's."
Suddenly, a red light started flashing. "Speak of the devil..." Jessie muttered, "That light means that we're in the ID Security Check area. When the lights go off, you never know what kind of creeps'll come out... Anyhow, were almost back now. That's a relief."
Cloud thanked her explanation of the city, but her only response was her furious blushing. The hired mercenary walked back over to Barett. "Look..." He directed, too engrossed in the scenery to argue with the younger man. "You can see the surface now. This city don't have no night or no day. If that plate weren't there, we could see the sky."
Cloud nodded his agreement. "A floating city... Pretty unsettling scenery." Barett looked up at him, his dark eyes holding back old pain. He stood up, and smiled smugly.
"Never expected to hear that outta someone like you... You jes' full of surprises." Cloud glared indignantly at him, but the other continued anyway. "The upper world... a city on a plate... It's cuz of that fucking 'pizza', that people underneath are sufferin'! And the city below is full of polluted air. On topa that, the reactors keep drainin' up all the energy."
The mercenary nodded, reluctantly understanding. "Then why doesn't everyone move onto the plate?"
Barett shook his head sadly. "Dunno. Probably 'cuz they ain't got no money. Or maybe... cuz they love their land, no matter how polluted it gets."
"I know," Cloud agreed solemnly, "No one lives in the slums because they want to." He paused, staring hypnotically out the window, "It's like this train. It can't run anywhere except where the rails take it.