The next morning, Cloud awoke to Tifa lightly tapping his shoulder. "It's
almost time. How'd you sleep?" He mumbled unintellibly, and stretched.
"I'm going with you both this time." As Cloud blinked the sleep out of his
eyes, he noticed that Tifa was dressed for the occasion. She wore a white
cropped t-shirt, a short skirt, and metal plated boots and gloves.
Although her appereance made her very attractive, Cloud knew that behind
Tifa's seemingly weak looks, she was an extremely apt martial artist, and
was very capable of taking care of herself.
Barett sauntered around the corner, already dressed and armed to the teeth. "Our target's the Sector 5 Reactor. Head for the station first, and I'll fill you in on the train." He looked at his gun-arm and focused on fiddling with if for a few minutes.
As Cloud got dressed himself, Barett looked up with a sudden thought. "Yo, Cloud!"
"What?"
"Before the next mission, I gots to ask you somethin'." The big man stopped tuning his gun. "I don't know how to use materia, I'll let you keep the one we found yesterday, but teach me how to use it."
Just to annoy Barett, Cloud sighed, exasperated. "Okay. Its not too tough." He pulled out his sword and green sphere of materia. "You know about the different kinds right? Colors and uses and stuff?"
Barett answered him with a blank look.
Smirking slightly, the young man held his green one to the light. "This is magic material, and the concentration of Mako makes it green. Just like with the other kinds, different levels of Mako make it different colors. "There are _ types of materia. Green, like this one." He handed Barett the small sphere. "Also, there's blue, yellow, red, and purple. The blue materia is the weakest kind alone, but it can act like an amplifier and it makes other materia stronger. Yellow materia actually makes you faster and smarter, making it easyier to use stronger techniques in battle. Red allows you to summon one of the Gods' avatars in battle. Purple changes the environment around you."
"What do mean environment?" The dark-skinned man asked, still looking confused. "Does it change the weather, or, like the plants an' stuff?"
The young mercenary was loving this, Barett was completely at his mercy. "No, not like that." He noted with smug satisfaction that the other man seemed disappointed. "They alter things about you... Like, there's one that repels monsters, one that attracts them, and even one that attracts chocobos."
Barett scratched his head, and Tifa, behind him, could barely suppress a giggle. "So how do you use it?"
"Concentration."
"That's it?"
"Yeah, basically." Cloud held out his hand, and small flame flickered to life. "The more you use it the better you get at controlling it. Instead of just creating fire, you could shoot it at someone, or you could even shield yourself with it." Cloud's hand turned, and the small burst of fire elongated and it swirled over his hand and arm, looking like a red ribbon floating above his flesh. "Materia can also make you weaker, though, so be careful. It can slow down your recovery from an injury, and even make you more susceptible to pain."
"Shit!" the bigger man swore, "What's this 'it's not tough' crap?"
"The only tricky thing about it is what to equip it to."
"What do you mean?" Tifa prompted from the corner table, where she had been sitting quietly the whole time.
Happy to be able to impress her, Cloud hefted his sword, and placed the fire material into one of the small slots. "If you leave a material on your weapon long enough, your weapon will start to adopt the attributes of the materia. Right now, this fire materia has been on my sword for a good while, that means my sword would be twice as effective on an ice monster, than a fire one. It also makes it easier to do magic attacks through a weapon." To demonstrate, Cloud held his sword at a ready position. The blade ignited in a glowing rage. Fire lapped up the sides of the smooth steel, and seemed eager to cut into flesh. "It works the same way for armor, too. Equip certain kinds long enough, and an ice spell could actually heal you."
"I think I'm more lost than before." Barett sighed. "Oh well, you handle it." Tifa and Cloud both chuckled.
After a light breakfast, Cloud left the Seventh Heaven and walked out into the dark morning. He crossed the way to an old shop and decided he had a little time before he would have to be at the station. Opening the door, the blond man glanced at the heavy weaponry hung around the room. He walked up to the counter and hit the service bell. A man in need of a shower sauntered out of a doorway and glared at him supisciously. "Never seen you around here..." The man said, eyeing him.
"I know." Cloud avoided the subject. "Do you sell materia here?"
"People don't usually take vacations in the slums... Yeah, we got materia." He pulled out a small box and opened it. Cloud began picking through it.
"How long would it take you to sharpen my sword?" he asked absently, picking through the meager selection of Materia.
"Coupla' minutes, it'll cost you eight hundred."
Cloud waved a dismissive hand, and unsheathed his sword and handed it to the dirty little man. He picked it up and winced at attempting to carry its full weight on his own. Sticking the blade in an oversized machine, he counted the money the other man had paid with.
The spikey haired stranger showed the man the materia he had picked out, and the shopkeeper nodded. "Six-fifty."
Cloud cocked a blond eyebrow, "For this crap? There are two Cures and an Ice!"
"We live in the slums, you stupid outsider!" the man screeched, "I need all the money I can get! You'd be lucky if I didn't shoot you-" He pulled out a handgun from underneath the counter, "-and stole your money and that sword!"
Cloud narrowed his eyes dangerously. He had hoped someone would mess with him. Ever since he went on the first mission with Barett, he'd wanted to take his annoyance and frustration out on something. Now he had this stupid little bum wanting to pick a fight with an ex-SOLDIER, and a First Class one at that. He doubted the man was much of a match for him, even with a gun. Suddenly, a blaring noise erupted from the machine his sword was stuck in, letting them know that it was done. He walked behind the counter and pulled the sturdy sword out of the machine.
The shopkeeper still had his handgun trained on the stranger, but he didn't seem to notice. Cloud swung the heavy sword in a few experimental swipes, and suddenly brought the wide blade crashing down on his adversary's gun.
The shopkeeper looked at the other in disbelief. The barrel of the gun had been split in two. The strange man left without another word.
Feeling smug and cocky as ever, Cloud trotted up to the train station, and the rest of AVALANCHE was waiting out in front. Barett nodded to him and signaled for everyone to board the ShinRa DOT vehicle. As they made there way into the passenger car the huge man noticed that they were not alone. In the corner, there was a man in a business suit, obviously in his way to work, which was more than likely the ShinRa Headquarters.
Barett's loud voice barked to his crew behind him. "YO! Looks like this ain't no private car! So split up!"
The well-dressed man in the corner, looked nervously at his feet. "...Hoodlums again. God, don't I just have all the luck..."
Barett flopped down on the seat and watched as Cloud walked up to him. "So, what are we going to do now?" The mercenary asked.
The bigger man broke into an annoyed frown. "Shit! The hell you so calm about? You bustin up my rhythm."
Tifa looked up as the train finally started to pull out of the station. "Seems like they just finished connecting the cars. We're finally leaving."
Cloud nodded and looked back to Barett. "So what's our next target?"
He smiled, and crossed his arms smugly. "Ha! Listen to Mr. Serious-about- his-work! Awright..... I'll tell ya!" He grinned wider when an aggravated look slowly spread across Cloud's still-boyish features. "Jessie's 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 interrupted, "Which ShinRa is very proud of."
The other continued, "We can't use our fake ID's anymore-" He was cut off again when the train intercom system blared to life.
"Good morning, and welcome to Midgar Lines. Arrival time at Sector 4 Station will be 11:45am."
Tifa glanced at her watch. "That means we've only got three more minutes to the ID checkpoint."
Barett nodded. "Alright. In three minutes we're jumpin' off this train. Got it?" He sat back down as Tifa wandered over to the mapping monitor, and beckoned Cloud to follow.
"Cloud, come over here! Let's look at the Railway Map Monitor."
She smiled brightly when he came over. "Hmm, it looks like you've already seen this," She said, "It's all right, come a little closer."
As the two began to look at the monitor, a brilliant red light flashed to life. "That's odd," She shouted over the commotion. "The ID Checkpoint was supposed to be further down!"
The intercom sprang to life again. "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!"
"What's goin' on?" Barett boomed as a panic-stricken Jessie raced in.
"We're in trouble," She panted, "I'll explain later. Hurry! Get into the next car!"
Barett swore violently, "Fuck!! Someone blew it..."
"Unidentified passengers located in car number one. Preparing for lockdown."
"Let's go!" Barett waved his gun-arm. "Keep it up!"
The three of them rushed into the next car, and right into Biggs. "Hurry!" he panted.
"Car #1 locked down. Upgrading to Level 2 warning."
Wedge raced up behind Barett, and continued for the door to the next car. "They're gonna lock the door!"
"Unidentified Passengers located in Car #2. Preparing for lockdown."
"Just run!" Jessie yelled in a panic behind them. "Change to plan two!" Cloud took a second to feel the utter pandemonium that grew thick around him as he ran blindly into the next car.
Just as they set foot inside, the intercom buzzed to life again. "Car 2 locked down. Upgrading to Warning Level 3." Suddenly, the flashing red light died off, much to the relief of the Ex-SOLDIER.
Barett sighed in relief, "Awright! We clear!?"
Jessie shook her head, "Not yet. They're starting another search. If we're caught, we're done for!" She looked up, trying to be a bit optemistic. "But don't worry. If we move up the train, car by car, we should get past it."
As she raced off to the next car, the annoying red lights began to flash again, and the intercom decided to speak, "Unidentified passengers moving to front of train. Currently tracking location."
AVALANCHE finally made it to the fourth and final car, much to their relief. "All right!" Barett shouted, "We made it. This way!" He heaved open the door on the side, his dark muscles straining. The howling wind was deafening, and the train seemed to be going extremely fast. "Let's go! We're gonna get out of here!! Biggs, Wedge, Jessie, I want you to stay on the train, and follow through with the original plan!"
Tifa cautiously glanced out the door, the force of the wind blowing her thick brown ponytail. She looked back to Cloud, "Scary...huh?"
Cloud smiled a bit, "Too late to be saying that now. Why'd you come along anyway?"
She turned her head sadly, "Because..."
Barett glared back at them, "Hey you two! There ain't no time for that!"
Tifa nodded and pumped a gloved fist into the air. "Yeah!! I've made up my mind. Watch closely, I'm gonna jump!" Before Cloud could really worry about her safety, she had already leapt from the train and was gone from sight. He shook his head, clearing out whatever fear may already be there, and looked over his shoulder to the leader of AVALANCHE.
"You don't care if I go first?"
The other waved a dissmisive hand. "A leader always stays to the end! Don't worry, just go!" Cloud nodded and jumped from the speeding train.
Barett glanced back at his original members. "Later! You take care of the rest!" With that he ran forward and launched from the train.
Tifa landed with a deafening thud, and rolled right into the concrete wall. After a few moments, she pulled herself to her knees and examined the minor cuts and bruises that resulted from her daring leap from the speeding train. She stood up shakily, and fixed her long ponytail as she jogged down the tunnel in hopes of finding Cloud and Barett. She had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. The mission had barely begun and things had already taken a turn for the worse.
As she rounded a bend in the tunnel, she came across the form of Cloud, sprawled awkwardly across the hard cement floor. She ran to his side as he sat up. He groggily shook his head, blond spikes waving with him. "Damn..." He smiled weakly at her. "Are you alright?"
She nodded, glad that he didn't get hurt. "Yeah, I'm fine. Can you stand? We gotta find Barett." He pulled himself sorely to his feet, and walked next to her. They only walked for a few minutes before they came across Barett. He was sitting, but propped up against the wall, tending to a nasty looking gash on his left shoulder. When he saw the two, he stood up and winced a bit.
"Good, so far everything's going as planned." He said, mostly to himself. Cloud answered his statement with a roll of his deep blue eyes, but Barett continued anyway. "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. The reactor's just down this tunnel."
The trio walked for what seemed like hours. They turned a corner and into a dead end; there were security lasers stretched across the hallway. Cloud let out a loud annoyed sigh and shook his head. "Those light beams are the ShinRa's security sensors. We can't go any further."
Tifa glanced to her right, and caught sight of a ventilation duct. "Could we get through that vent?"
Barett put his hands on hips. "That's one damn tiny hole." He eyed it skeptically, "You tellin' me to squeeze into that to get under the Plate? No way!" He turned to the Ex-SOLDIER expectantly. "Yo, Cloud, what're we gonna do?"
He leaned forward and searched thoroughly for something that might trap them. Tifa followed his gaze, "There seems to be nothing that'll get us stuck in there."
Cloud nodded in agreement, "Yeah. But if we go down there, we won't be able to come back up."
Barett growled, impatient as ever. "Don't be wastin' time. Never know when the ShinRa'll find us. Cloud, you jes' gotta go."
The shorter man shrugged, and backed down into the little duct, followed by Tifa. He could vaguely hear Barett swear a bit as he attempted to stuff his bulk into the shaft. "But, damn man, this thing gives me the chills..."
They made their way through a series of ducts and finally into the Reactor. Since its construction was identical, they made it to the core with little difficulty. Cloud shifted the weight of his sword as they walked up the final catwalk to the center of the core.
Cloud followed Tifa and Barett towards it, until, without warning, his vision went red and he blacked out. -Or rather, he experienced a flashback.
He remembered climbing the ladder and looking down at a younger Tifa. She was hunched over the body of an older man, sobbing desperately. He noticed a particularly long sword on the floor next to her, and it brought a sudden drop into his stomach.
The girl looked up, her amber eyes brimming with tears. "Papa...." She sniffled, "Sephiroth..."
She sat up, glaring with all the hate she could muster. "Sephiroth did this to you, didn't he!?"
She sobbed again, "Sephiroth... SOLDIER... Mako Reactors... ShinRa... Everything!!" She stood up, crying uncontrollably. "I hate them all!!" She screamed, and lifted the heavy sword, half-carrying, half dragging it into the next room.
Cloud suddenly came out of his hallucination. He looked up dazedly from the dirty floor of the catwalk. Barett hid his concern for the younger man with a smart-assed little comment, "Damn man, get a hold of yourself."
Tifa was loyally at his side, for which he was briefly thankful. "You all right?" She asked, possibly fighting off tears.
Feeling guilty for making her worry, he stood up and leaned on the railing for support. "...Tifa?"
She smiled at him, "Mmm?"
He shook his head yet again. "No... forget... Come on, let's hurry up."
Tifa let him walk toward the control panel, a bit hurt by his inability to talk to her. 'Even though I admit this isn't exactly the time...' she thought.
He hurriedly planted the bomb, and the trio raced back down the hallways. As they ran down the hallway that would lead them to street level, they nearly ran into a group of ShinRa soldiers. Barett stopped dead in his tracks.
"ShinRa soldiers? SHIT! What the hell's going on?"
Cloud drew his sword and brandished it menacingly, "...a trap."
It was dead silent for a long minute, then someone walked up the plank they had just came from. Barett whirled around, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. "President ShinRa...?"
Tifa cringed back a bit, "Why is the President here?"
The fat man walked slowly, angering Barett even more with each step. "Hmm... So you all must be that... ... what was it?" he asked, waving a careless hand.
"AVALANCHE!!" Barett nearly exploded, "And don't ya forget it! And you're President ShinRa, huh?"
Cloud stepped in front of the seething renegade, and locked eyes with the man who basically owned the entire world. "Long time no see, President."
The wealthy man cocked a thinning eyebrow. "...Long time no see? Oh...you." He spat. "You're the one who quit SOLDIER and joined AVALANCHE. I knew you'd been exposed to Mako from the glow in your eyes. Tell me, traitor... what was your name?"
"Cloud Strife."
"Hmm, yes, well forgive me for asking, but I can't be expected to remember each person's name. ...unless you become another Sephiroth. Yes, he was brilliant. Perhaps too brilliant..."
Cloud stepped back as though he had been physically hit. "Sephiroth.....?"
Barett pushed the smaller man behind him, unable to control himself any longer. "Don't give a damn 'bout none of that! This place's goin' up with a BANG soon! Serve's y'all right!" He roared at the well-dressed man.
"And such a waste of fireworks, just to get rid of vermin like you." He smiled evilly.
Barett lost his cool completely and started yelling with such poor grammar that it wasn't difficult to miss what he was saying entirely. "Vermin!! That's all you can say! Vermin! Y'all ShinRa are the vermin! Killin' the planet! And that makes you King Vermin! So shu'up jackass!"
"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."
"Dinner!!?" the dark man shouted, infuriated. "Don't gimme none of that! I ain't even started wit' you yet!"
The President smiled knowingly. "But, I've made arrangements for a playmate for you all." He pulled a small remote and jabbed the button with a pudgy finger.
A slight whirring noise grew louder and louder until a towering robot-like beast burst out from the hallway to their left. "Meet Airbuster," the President sneered. "A techno-soldier. Our Weapon Development Department created him. I'm sure the data he'll extract from your dead bodies will be of great use to us in future experiments."
Cloud stole a sideways glance at the mechanical menace. "...Techno- soldier?" Suddenly a helicopter lumbered slowly to the catwalk and President ShinRa began to board it. The Ex-SOLDIER sprinted forward but couldn't reach him quick enough. The helicopter slowly straightened out and flew off into the darkness above them.
Cloud whirled around, and saw the Airbuster cornering Barett and Tifa. "Yo! Cloud! We've gotta do somethin' about him!" Barett yelled, firing his gunarm.
"Help! Cloud!" Tifa shouted, casting a surge of fire that didn't seem to do anything. Cloud sprinted behind it and swung his sword at the beast, knocking a chunk of metal off it. "This thing is from SOLDIER?" Tifa shouted to him.
"No way! This is just a machine!" He yelled back to her.
Barett continued firing bullets at it, "I don't care what it is, I'm gonna bust him up!" He was barely able to dodge a spray of fire that erupted from the machine. Cloud growled in contempt and fired a lightning bolt into the Airbuster's head area. A couple of fuses short-circuited, it was obviously having trouble moving. I lurched forward suddenly, ramming directly into Barett and Tifa.
They were knocked a good distance away, but to the mercenary's relief, the began to doggedly pull themselves to their feet. Thankful for the healing materia he had purchased before, he cast a restoring spell on the two of them.
They stood up and were about to continue attacking it when a loud beep sounded from within the monster. Barett was about to shout a warning, but before he could, the whole thing exploded. Bits of metal flew everywhere and shrapnel bit deeply into the flesh of the three rebels. the initial explosion also took out a large chunk of catwalk, leaving a gaping maw where about fifteen feet of metal had been before.
Tifa watched in complete horror as Cloud was thrown into the gap. He quickly reached out and grabbed hold of a protruding piece of metal. He looked over his shoulder, then closed his eyes at the dizzying height he was dangling over.
Barett put a supportive hand on her shoulder, "It's gonna blow, we gotta get out of here."
"Barett! Can't you do something?" She pleaded in near hysterics.
He solemnly shook his head. "Not a damn thing."
She leaned forword and stretched out her hand to Cloud, who was much too far to reach it. "Cloud! Please don't die! You can't die! There's still so much I want to tell you!"
He smiled at her. "I know....Tifa..." The catwalk shook violently.
Barett glanced at him, quietly admiring his determination and strength, even if he was a smart-mouthed little punk. "Hey, you gonna be alright?"
He looked down again. "You worry about yourselves. I'm alright, but take care of Tifa."
Tears began to fall from her eyes. He was about to fall to his death, and he was thinking of her safety. Barett tightened his grip on her as though he was afraid she might jump after him. "Alright...Sorry 'bout this." He mumbled.
Cloud looked up, the cocky gleam returning to his face. "Stop talkin' like this is the end!" The entire structure shook violently, and Cloud slipped and fell from the Upper Plate to the slums, an eternity below him.
Barett sauntered around the corner, already dressed and armed to the teeth. "Our target's the Sector 5 Reactor. Head for the station first, and I'll fill you in on the train." He looked at his gun-arm and focused on fiddling with if for a few minutes.
As Cloud got dressed himself, Barett looked up with a sudden thought. "Yo, Cloud!"
"What?"
"Before the next mission, I gots to ask you somethin'." The big man stopped tuning his gun. "I don't know how to use materia, I'll let you keep the one we found yesterday, but teach me how to use it."
Just to annoy Barett, Cloud sighed, exasperated. "Okay. Its not too tough." He pulled out his sword and green sphere of materia. "You know about the different kinds right? Colors and uses and stuff?"
Barett answered him with a blank look.
Smirking slightly, the young man held his green one to the light. "This is magic material, and the concentration of Mako makes it green. Just like with the other kinds, different levels of Mako make it different colors. "There are _ types of materia. Green, like this one." He handed Barett the small sphere. "Also, there's blue, yellow, red, and purple. The blue materia is the weakest kind alone, but it can act like an amplifier and it makes other materia stronger. Yellow materia actually makes you faster and smarter, making it easyier to use stronger techniques in battle. Red allows you to summon one of the Gods' avatars in battle. Purple changes the environment around you."
"What do mean environment?" The dark-skinned man asked, still looking confused. "Does it change the weather, or, like the plants an' stuff?"
The young mercenary was loving this, Barett was completely at his mercy. "No, not like that." He noted with smug satisfaction that the other man seemed disappointed. "They alter things about you... Like, there's one that repels monsters, one that attracts them, and even one that attracts chocobos."
Barett scratched his head, and Tifa, behind him, could barely suppress a giggle. "So how do you use it?"
"Concentration."
"That's it?"
"Yeah, basically." Cloud held out his hand, and small flame flickered to life. "The more you use it the better you get at controlling it. Instead of just creating fire, you could shoot it at someone, or you could even shield yourself with it." Cloud's hand turned, and the small burst of fire elongated and it swirled over his hand and arm, looking like a red ribbon floating above his flesh. "Materia can also make you weaker, though, so be careful. It can slow down your recovery from an injury, and even make you more susceptible to pain."
"Shit!" the bigger man swore, "What's this 'it's not tough' crap?"
"The only tricky thing about it is what to equip it to."
"What do you mean?" Tifa prompted from the corner table, where she had been sitting quietly the whole time.
Happy to be able to impress her, Cloud hefted his sword, and placed the fire material into one of the small slots. "If you leave a material on your weapon long enough, your weapon will start to adopt the attributes of the materia. Right now, this fire materia has been on my sword for a good while, that means my sword would be twice as effective on an ice monster, than a fire one. It also makes it easier to do magic attacks through a weapon." To demonstrate, Cloud held his sword at a ready position. The blade ignited in a glowing rage. Fire lapped up the sides of the smooth steel, and seemed eager to cut into flesh. "It works the same way for armor, too. Equip certain kinds long enough, and an ice spell could actually heal you."
"I think I'm more lost than before." Barett sighed. "Oh well, you handle it." Tifa and Cloud both chuckled.
After a light breakfast, Cloud left the Seventh Heaven and walked out into the dark morning. He crossed the way to an old shop and decided he had a little time before he would have to be at the station. Opening the door, the blond man glanced at the heavy weaponry hung around the room. He walked up to the counter and hit the service bell. A man in need of a shower sauntered out of a doorway and glared at him supisciously. "Never seen you around here..." The man said, eyeing him.
"I know." Cloud avoided the subject. "Do you sell materia here?"
"People don't usually take vacations in the slums... Yeah, we got materia." He pulled out a small box and opened it. Cloud began picking through it.
"How long would it take you to sharpen my sword?" he asked absently, picking through the meager selection of Materia.
"Coupla' minutes, it'll cost you eight hundred."
Cloud waved a dismissive hand, and unsheathed his sword and handed it to the dirty little man. He picked it up and winced at attempting to carry its full weight on his own. Sticking the blade in an oversized machine, he counted the money the other man had paid with.
The spikey haired stranger showed the man the materia he had picked out, and the shopkeeper nodded. "Six-fifty."
Cloud cocked a blond eyebrow, "For this crap? There are two Cures and an Ice!"
"We live in the slums, you stupid outsider!" the man screeched, "I need all the money I can get! You'd be lucky if I didn't shoot you-" He pulled out a handgun from underneath the counter, "-and stole your money and that sword!"
Cloud narrowed his eyes dangerously. He had hoped someone would mess with him. Ever since he went on the first mission with Barett, he'd wanted to take his annoyance and frustration out on something. Now he had this stupid little bum wanting to pick a fight with an ex-SOLDIER, and a First Class one at that. He doubted the man was much of a match for him, even with a gun. Suddenly, a blaring noise erupted from the machine his sword was stuck in, letting them know that it was done. He walked behind the counter and pulled the sturdy sword out of the machine.
The shopkeeper still had his handgun trained on the stranger, but he didn't seem to notice. Cloud swung the heavy sword in a few experimental swipes, and suddenly brought the wide blade crashing down on his adversary's gun.
The shopkeeper looked at the other in disbelief. The barrel of the gun had been split in two. The strange man left without another word.
Feeling smug and cocky as ever, Cloud trotted up to the train station, and the rest of AVALANCHE was waiting out in front. Barett nodded to him and signaled for everyone to board the ShinRa DOT vehicle. As they made there way into the passenger car the huge man noticed that they were not alone. In the corner, there was a man in a business suit, obviously in his way to work, which was more than likely the ShinRa Headquarters.
Barett's loud voice barked to his crew behind him. "YO! Looks like this ain't no private car! So split up!"
The well-dressed man in the corner, looked nervously at his feet. "...Hoodlums again. God, don't I just have all the luck..."
Barett flopped down on the seat and watched as Cloud walked up to him. "So, what are we going to do now?" The mercenary asked.
The bigger man broke into an annoyed frown. "Shit! The hell you so calm about? You bustin up my rhythm."
Tifa looked up as the train finally started to pull out of the station. "Seems like they just finished connecting the cars. We're finally leaving."
Cloud nodded and looked back to Barett. "So what's our next target?"
He smiled, and crossed his arms smugly. "Ha! Listen to Mr. Serious-about- his-work! Awright..... I'll tell ya!" He grinned wider when an aggravated look slowly spread across Cloud's still-boyish features. "Jessie's 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 interrupted, "Which ShinRa is very proud of."
The other continued, "We can't use our fake ID's anymore-" He was cut off again when the train intercom system blared to life.
"Good morning, and welcome to Midgar Lines. Arrival time at Sector 4 Station will be 11:45am."
Tifa glanced at her watch. "That means we've only got three more minutes to the ID checkpoint."
Barett nodded. "Alright. In three minutes we're jumpin' off this train. Got it?" He sat back down as Tifa wandered over to the mapping monitor, and beckoned Cloud to follow.
"Cloud, come over here! Let's look at the Railway Map Monitor."
She smiled brightly when he came over. "Hmm, it looks like you've already seen this," She said, "It's all right, come a little closer."
As the two began to look at the monitor, a brilliant red light flashed to life. "That's odd," She shouted over the commotion. "The ID Checkpoint was supposed to be further down!"
The intercom sprang to life again. "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!"
"What's goin' on?" Barett boomed as a panic-stricken Jessie raced in.
"We're in trouble," She panted, "I'll explain later. Hurry! Get into the next car!"
Barett swore violently, "Fuck!! Someone blew it..."
"Unidentified passengers located in car number one. Preparing for lockdown."
"Let's go!" Barett waved his gun-arm. "Keep it up!"
The three of them rushed into the next car, and right into Biggs. "Hurry!" he panted.
"Car #1 locked down. Upgrading to Level 2 warning."
Wedge raced up behind Barett, and continued for the door to the next car. "They're gonna lock the door!"
"Unidentified Passengers located in Car #2. Preparing for lockdown."
"Just run!" Jessie yelled in a panic behind them. "Change to plan two!" Cloud took a second to feel the utter pandemonium that grew thick around him as he ran blindly into the next car.
Just as they set foot inside, the intercom buzzed to life again. "Car 2 locked down. Upgrading to Warning Level 3." Suddenly, the flashing red light died off, much to the relief of the Ex-SOLDIER.
Barett sighed in relief, "Awright! We clear!?"
Jessie shook her head, "Not yet. They're starting another search. If we're caught, we're done for!" She looked up, trying to be a bit optemistic. "But don't worry. If we move up the train, car by car, we should get past it."
As she raced off to the next car, the annoying red lights began to flash again, and the intercom decided to speak, "Unidentified passengers moving to front of train. Currently tracking location."
AVALANCHE finally made it to the fourth and final car, much to their relief. "All right!" Barett shouted, "We made it. This way!" He heaved open the door on the side, his dark muscles straining. The howling wind was deafening, and the train seemed to be going extremely fast. "Let's go! We're gonna get out of here!! Biggs, Wedge, Jessie, I want you to stay on the train, and follow through with the original plan!"
Tifa cautiously glanced out the door, the force of the wind blowing her thick brown ponytail. She looked back to Cloud, "Scary...huh?"
Cloud smiled a bit, "Too late to be saying that now. Why'd you come along anyway?"
She turned her head sadly, "Because..."
Barett glared back at them, "Hey you two! There ain't no time for that!"
Tifa nodded and pumped a gloved fist into the air. "Yeah!! I've made up my mind. Watch closely, I'm gonna jump!" Before Cloud could really worry about her safety, she had already leapt from the train and was gone from sight. He shook his head, clearing out whatever fear may already be there, and looked over his shoulder to the leader of AVALANCHE.
"You don't care if I go first?"
The other waved a dissmisive hand. "A leader always stays to the end! Don't worry, just go!" Cloud nodded and jumped from the speeding train.
Barett glanced back at his original members. "Later! You take care of the rest!" With that he ran forward and launched from the train.
Tifa landed with a deafening thud, and rolled right into the concrete wall. After a few moments, she pulled herself to her knees and examined the minor cuts and bruises that resulted from her daring leap from the speeding train. She stood up shakily, and fixed her long ponytail as she jogged down the tunnel in hopes of finding Cloud and Barett. She had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. The mission had barely begun and things had already taken a turn for the worse.
As she rounded a bend in the tunnel, she came across the form of Cloud, sprawled awkwardly across the hard cement floor. She ran to his side as he sat up. He groggily shook his head, blond spikes waving with him. "Damn..." He smiled weakly at her. "Are you alright?"
She nodded, glad that he didn't get hurt. "Yeah, I'm fine. Can you stand? We gotta find Barett." He pulled himself sorely to his feet, and walked next to her. They only walked for a few minutes before they came across Barett. He was sitting, but propped up against the wall, tending to a nasty looking gash on his left shoulder. When he saw the two, he stood up and winced a bit.
"Good, so far everything's going as planned." He said, mostly to himself. Cloud answered his statement with a roll of his deep blue eyes, but Barett continued anyway. "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. The reactor's just down this tunnel."
The trio walked for what seemed like hours. They turned a corner and into a dead end; there were security lasers stretched across the hallway. Cloud let out a loud annoyed sigh and shook his head. "Those light beams are the ShinRa's security sensors. We can't go any further."
Tifa glanced to her right, and caught sight of a ventilation duct. "Could we get through that vent?"
Barett put his hands on hips. "That's one damn tiny hole." He eyed it skeptically, "You tellin' me to squeeze into that to get under the Plate? No way!" He turned to the Ex-SOLDIER expectantly. "Yo, Cloud, what're we gonna do?"
He leaned forward and searched thoroughly for something that might trap them. Tifa followed his gaze, "There seems to be nothing that'll get us stuck in there."
Cloud nodded in agreement, "Yeah. But if we go down there, we won't be able to come back up."
Barett growled, impatient as ever. "Don't be wastin' time. Never know when the ShinRa'll find us. Cloud, you jes' gotta go."
The shorter man shrugged, and backed down into the little duct, followed by Tifa. He could vaguely hear Barett swear a bit as he attempted to stuff his bulk into the shaft. "But, damn man, this thing gives me the chills..."
They made their way through a series of ducts and finally into the Reactor. Since its construction was identical, they made it to the core with little difficulty. Cloud shifted the weight of his sword as they walked up the final catwalk to the center of the core.
Cloud followed Tifa and Barett towards it, until, without warning, his vision went red and he blacked out. -Or rather, he experienced a flashback.
He remembered climbing the ladder and looking down at a younger Tifa. She was hunched over the body of an older man, sobbing desperately. He noticed a particularly long sword on the floor next to her, and it brought a sudden drop into his stomach.
The girl looked up, her amber eyes brimming with tears. "Papa...." She sniffled, "Sephiroth..."
She sat up, glaring with all the hate she could muster. "Sephiroth did this to you, didn't he!?"
She sobbed again, "Sephiroth... SOLDIER... Mako Reactors... ShinRa... Everything!!" She stood up, crying uncontrollably. "I hate them all!!" She screamed, and lifted the heavy sword, half-carrying, half dragging it into the next room.
Cloud suddenly came out of his hallucination. He looked up dazedly from the dirty floor of the catwalk. Barett hid his concern for the younger man with a smart-assed little comment, "Damn man, get a hold of yourself."
Tifa was loyally at his side, for which he was briefly thankful. "You all right?" She asked, possibly fighting off tears.
Feeling guilty for making her worry, he stood up and leaned on the railing for support. "...Tifa?"
She smiled at him, "Mmm?"
He shook his head yet again. "No... forget... Come on, let's hurry up."
Tifa let him walk toward the control panel, a bit hurt by his inability to talk to her. 'Even though I admit this isn't exactly the time...' she thought.
He hurriedly planted the bomb, and the trio raced back down the hallways. As they ran down the hallway that would lead them to street level, they nearly ran into a group of ShinRa soldiers. Barett stopped dead in his tracks.
"ShinRa soldiers? SHIT! What the hell's going on?"
Cloud drew his sword and brandished it menacingly, "...a trap."
It was dead silent for a long minute, then someone walked up the plank they had just came from. Barett whirled around, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. "President ShinRa...?"
Tifa cringed back a bit, "Why is the President here?"
The fat man walked slowly, angering Barett even more with each step. "Hmm... So you all must be that... ... what was it?" he asked, waving a careless hand.
"AVALANCHE!!" Barett nearly exploded, "And don't ya forget it! And you're President ShinRa, huh?"
Cloud stepped in front of the seething renegade, and locked eyes with the man who basically owned the entire world. "Long time no see, President."
The wealthy man cocked a thinning eyebrow. "...Long time no see? Oh...you." He spat. "You're the one who quit SOLDIER and joined AVALANCHE. I knew you'd been exposed to Mako from the glow in your eyes. Tell me, traitor... what was your name?"
"Cloud Strife."
"Hmm, yes, well forgive me for asking, but I can't be expected to remember each person's name. ...unless you become another Sephiroth. Yes, he was brilliant. Perhaps too brilliant..."
Cloud stepped back as though he had been physically hit. "Sephiroth.....?"
Barett pushed the smaller man behind him, unable to control himself any longer. "Don't give a damn 'bout none of that! This place's goin' up with a BANG soon! Serve's y'all right!" He roared at the well-dressed man.
"And such a waste of fireworks, just to get rid of vermin like you." He smiled evilly.
Barett lost his cool completely and started yelling with such poor grammar that it wasn't difficult to miss what he was saying entirely. "Vermin!! That's all you can say! Vermin! Y'all ShinRa are the vermin! Killin' the planet! And that makes you King Vermin! So shu'up jackass!"
"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."
"Dinner!!?" the dark man shouted, infuriated. "Don't gimme none of that! I ain't even started wit' you yet!"
The President smiled knowingly. "But, I've made arrangements for a playmate for you all." He pulled a small remote and jabbed the button with a pudgy finger.
A slight whirring noise grew louder and louder until a towering robot-like beast burst out from the hallway to their left. "Meet Airbuster," the President sneered. "A techno-soldier. Our Weapon Development Department created him. I'm sure the data he'll extract from your dead bodies will be of great use to us in future experiments."
Cloud stole a sideways glance at the mechanical menace. "...Techno- soldier?" Suddenly a helicopter lumbered slowly to the catwalk and President ShinRa began to board it. The Ex-SOLDIER sprinted forward but couldn't reach him quick enough. The helicopter slowly straightened out and flew off into the darkness above them.
Cloud whirled around, and saw the Airbuster cornering Barett and Tifa. "Yo! Cloud! We've gotta do somethin' about him!" Barett yelled, firing his gunarm.
"Help! Cloud!" Tifa shouted, casting a surge of fire that didn't seem to do anything. Cloud sprinted behind it and swung his sword at the beast, knocking a chunk of metal off it. "This thing is from SOLDIER?" Tifa shouted to him.
"No way! This is just a machine!" He yelled back to her.
Barett continued firing bullets at it, "I don't care what it is, I'm gonna bust him up!" He was barely able to dodge a spray of fire that erupted from the machine. Cloud growled in contempt and fired a lightning bolt into the Airbuster's head area. A couple of fuses short-circuited, it was obviously having trouble moving. I lurched forward suddenly, ramming directly into Barett and Tifa.
They were knocked a good distance away, but to the mercenary's relief, the began to doggedly pull themselves to their feet. Thankful for the healing materia he had purchased before, he cast a restoring spell on the two of them.
They stood up and were about to continue attacking it when a loud beep sounded from within the monster. Barett was about to shout a warning, but before he could, the whole thing exploded. Bits of metal flew everywhere and shrapnel bit deeply into the flesh of the three rebels. the initial explosion also took out a large chunk of catwalk, leaving a gaping maw where about fifteen feet of metal had been before.
Tifa watched in complete horror as Cloud was thrown into the gap. He quickly reached out and grabbed hold of a protruding piece of metal. He looked over his shoulder, then closed his eyes at the dizzying height he was dangling over.
Barett put a supportive hand on her shoulder, "It's gonna blow, we gotta get out of here."
"Barett! Can't you do something?" She pleaded in near hysterics.
He solemnly shook his head. "Not a damn thing."
She leaned forword and stretched out her hand to Cloud, who was much too far to reach it. "Cloud! Please don't die! You can't die! There's still so much I want to tell you!"
He smiled at her. "I know....Tifa..." The catwalk shook violently.
Barett glanced at him, quietly admiring his determination and strength, even if he was a smart-mouthed little punk. "Hey, you gonna be alright?"
He looked down again. "You worry about yourselves. I'm alright, but take care of Tifa."
Tears began to fall from her eyes. He was about to fall to his death, and he was thinking of her safety. Barett tightened his grip on her as though he was afraid she might jump after him. "Alright...Sorry 'bout this." He mumbled.
Cloud looked up, the cocky gleam returning to his face. "Stop talkin' like this is the end!" The entire structure shook violently, and Cloud slipped and fell from the Upper Plate to the slums, an eternity below him.