All the six members of the AVALANCHE terrorist anti-Shinra rebel group waited quietly and patiently in the train station, until the train that they were waiting for had finally arrived at the station.
Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie all walked into the train and into the passenger car. Only one other person was there in the compartment. A man with slick black hair in a posh, tidy red suit. After seeing this man, Barret turned to face Biggs, Wedge and Jessie, looking rather stern.
"Hey, it looks like this ain't no private car at the moment, so you guys split up into the next car, while me, Tifa and Cloud stay in here. Make sure you're not overheard if ya have to discuss anything about the mission, and we'll meet ya when it's time to leave this train. You all know what to do, so get ready, we're beginning the plan soon," ordered Barret. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie all saluted.
"No problem, Barret, we're all ready and waiting to commence the mission. We've got everything all set-up and organized, so when it all begins, we'll be fully prepared for it," replied Biggs, looking confident. Barret only nodded in response, satisfied with the answer.
Biggs, Wedge and Jessie all obeyed and ran through the door at the other end of the compartment, and they all went into the next passenger car, while Cloud and Tifa stayed behind with Barret.
The man in the posh red suit noticed Biggs, Wedge and Jessie run right past him into the next car, and he stared after them until they were out of sight, then he bowed his head and muttered quietly to himself.
"Oh great, hoodlums in here yet again, after yesterday night's commotion in the train with all those damn thieves, picking pockets and causing a big ruckus for some stupid reason. And I lost 500 gil in the process, and now those damn AVALANCHE terrorists have got Shinra getting me to do extra work. Curse those bastards, whoever they are. God, don't I just have all the bloody luck," muttered the man in the posh red suit, a sullen tone to his voice.
The man then abruptly sat down, clearly taking no notice at all of Cloud, Barret and Tifa. Suspicious, having heard the man's muttering, though he didn't catch any words except for 'hoodlums', 'AVALANCHE', and 'Shinra', Barret quickly ran over to the other end of the car where the man in the red suit was, and spoke up sharply to him. Both Cloud and Tifa had a bad feeling that this would mean nothing good.
"Hey, you say something just then, fool? Hey asshole, don't you dare try ignoring me. I SAID, did ya just say something, huh!?" asked Barret, sharply.
The man in the red suit took no notice and dared to ignore Barret anyway, but then Barret growled angrily, with such a vicious tone in his growl that it caused the man to instantly flinch in fear, and he was now clearly trembling in terror. Barret merely sneered down at the frightened man with a rather nasty look of scorn.
"Well now, would ya have a look at that, this here train's sure gotten rather empty all of a sudden. What the hell's going on, fool?" asked Barret, with a sharp, demanding tone to his voice. Having no choice but to answer, the man looked back at Barret fearfully and stuttered a reply.
"I-Its empty b-because of g-guys like y-you always h-hanging around h-here," stammered the man in the posh red suit, shaking in fear, and he was now completely terrified, realizing he had just gone one step too far, and Cloud and Tifa both looked on uneasily, as Barret's temper flared up.
Snarling with rage at the comment, Barret suddenly punched the side of the train hard with his one fist, right beside the man, making a large, deep dent in the side of the train next to the man, making him jump in fright, and he stared at Barret in horror, now even more terrified after witnessing this display of sheer brute strength from the big black man.
"Yikes! You must surely have already seen the news broadcast, right? AVALANCHE says there will be more Reactor bombings! Only fully devoted Shinra employees like me would go up to the upper city of Midgar from the Slums to the Headquarters on a day like today," said the man.
At this, Barret's eyes widened, and he snarled and growled in anger, standing menacingly over the man in the posh red suit, who cowered in his seat, realizing that for some reason, he had just said the very wrong thing.
Barret did not like that statement at all, and showed the man just how much he disliked it by suddenly ramming his left and only fist right into the man's jaw, knocking a noticeable deal of blood from the unknown man's lip and making him yell out in clear pain.
"You're working for Shinra Incorporated!?" asked Barret, angrily, now aiming his gun-arm straight at the man, and looked as if he was just about to fire.
The man, who happened to be a Shinra manager, now was shaking more than ever, and his face was now sweating, absolutely livid with fear, some blood going down his lip where Barret had struck him.
"I won't give into violence, and I'm not giving you my seat either! Do you realize just how much damage that explosion yesterday caused? Taking into account all the lost energy in the city and all the building damage it caused, financially it must have cost Shinra around a billion Gil to have to sort out!" said the Shinra Manager, shaking more than ever. Barret looked completely indifferent towards this fact.
"Go tell someone who cares, Shinra scum," snarled Barret, just about to pull the trigger of his gun-arm, and the man would have been dead in a moment, had not Tifa, watching and alert, suddenly ran over to Barret in a flash, and stopped right in front of him, blocking his aim. Barret's hand dropped away from the trigger at once.
"No, Barret, don't! Just leave him alone! If you kill anyone here right now, especially a Shinra employee, then the whole mission...no, the whole resistance movement will fail, and all our effort will be for nothing, so just calm down! Now's just not the time, alright!?" shouted Tifa, stopping Barret from killing the Shinra manager just in time. Tifa then slowly moved away, and she walked back over to Cloud, still watching Barret anxiously over her shoulder.
Barret didn't fire his gun-arm at the Shinra Manager and reluctantly decided to spare him, seeing that Tifa was absolutely right. He glared hard and angrily at him, making the Shinra manager cower down even more. It also seemed that the Shinra manager was far too focused on his fear of Barret then to have really paid attention to Tifa's words, for which the group was miraculously lucky.
"You damn bastard! You lucky damn bastard!" roared Barret, angrily, spit flying from his mouth onto the Shinra manager's face, and then Barret ran over to where Cloud and Tifa at the other end of the train car, as the Shinra manager cowered in his seat, not paying attention to them anymore, and they took no notice of him too.
The three of them quickly made sure that they couldn't be overheard, and then Cloud decided that now was the right time to ask about the mission.
"So, what exactly are we going to do now, then?" asked Cloud, curiously, as Barret merely snorted at him.
"Shit! Just what the hell are you so damn calm about, Ex-SOLDIER, huh? You're busting up my rhythm!" shouted Barret, looking irritable.
"Nice way to start a morning off, though. You know, with a temper like that, Barret, it's a wonder that you're still sane," joked Cloud.
Tifa chuckled, while Barret was grumbling, but he was beginning to calm down. Just then, the train started to move and began its journey to the next station at Sector 6, which would be nearby the Mako Reactor N05.
"It seems like they've completely finished connecting the train cars now, we're finally leaving the station," noted Tifa, looking very serious.
"So then, what exactly is our next target, Barret? What's our whole plan for this mission?" asked Cloud, curiously. Barret snorted at Cloud's calm tone of voice.
"HA! Just listen to 'Mr serious about his work', over here! Hey, Mr. Know-it-all, big time Ex-SOLDIER! You ought to know the area around the Mako Reactor N05, right? So let's just hear YOUR explanation! What, can't talk about it then? Alright, I guess I'll tell ya instead. Jessie's probably already told ya, but there's a security checkpoint on this path that this train's on. It's an ID scan system that's checking all the trains and their respective passengers," explained Barret.
"Which Shinra Incorporated is very proud off, like with plenty of other things of their own creation," added Tifa. Barret nodded grimly, and continued.
"They've vastly upgraded and improved their security systems in no time after we destroyed the first Mako Reactor. And that means we can't use our fake ID'S anymore. Jessie didn't have enough time to modify the ones we have for the new security check," explained Barret, darkly. Tifa looked over at a clock on the train.
"We've only got three more minutes left to the next ID security check point. How are we getting through it?" asked Tifa, curiously, and Cloud listened intently to Barret's answer to this as well.
"Alright then, it's simple. In three minutes, we're all jumping right off this train before we reach the security checkpoint where the system is, and get off before the ID scan senses us. You all got that?" said Barret.
"Jump off the train!? When it's moving at full speed!? And into those rough, dark and narrow tunnels!? Are you mad or something, I don't think you've really thought this through," said Cloud, incredulously.
"Sure I have, ya damn merc! I'm the leader for goddamn sake! In fact, ironically enough, it was actually YOU who gave me this idea, when I thought back to how you'd arrived on the train last night by leaping onto its roof from a bridge. So I figure, if it's that easy to jump onto a moving train, then why not out of it too? And in the tunnels, we can find a secret way to the Reactor that's not heavily guarded by Shinra's security," explained Barret.
"Jumping from and onto a moving train is never easy," muttered Cloud, and Barret glared at him.
"You got any other ideas, merc? No...? Well then, just shut up and get over it already. This is the only way we can avoid getting detected by security, so we're gonna do it, ya got me!?" snarled Barret, sharply.
"Yeah, that sounds simple enough," muttered Cloud, sarcastically, with a shrug, but otherwise he said nothing else about it.
"(I guess we don't really have any other choice in the matter…and I certainly don't want to get arrested or executed by Shinra if we're caught out by security. If I'm stuck doing this stuff, then I may as well make damn sure that I get my whole payment for it all,)" thought Cloud.
Tifa nodded in understanding to Barret's plan, and Barret sat down with a thud on one of the seats and Tifa walked to the other end of the car, staring at the digital map monitor, and then she looked over at Cloud.
"(It looks like I might just have to really watch out for any arguments between Cloud and Barret, it's a good thing I decided to come along then. As for jumping off the train, I'm not sure how I'll manage that safely, but I've still got to try it anyway. With my skills, I know I can really help out on the mission a lot, and Barret knows that too,)" thought Tifa, as she then called over to Cloud.
"Come over here, Cloud, let's look at the railway map monitor," said Tifa. Cloud shrugged, and he walked over to Tifa, seeing as how he had nothing better to do at the moment. Tifa turned to face him.
"It looks like you've seen this already. Jessie already told me. But never mind, that's alright, come a little closer," said Tifa, turning back to the digital map monitor.
Cloud inched forwards until he was almost right behind Tifa. Her long, black hair brushed gently against his arm, sending a sharp tingle up his back. Shivering, he hooked his thumbs into his pockets to stop the urge to spin her around and kiss her, but he could only barely just manage it…
Suddenly, without warning, an alarm sounded and was heard throughout the whole train, and a red light appeared and flashed all around the train as well. Tifa frowned sharply at this, startled by the sudden alarm.
"That's odd, the ID checkpoint was supposed to be further down than this. It wasn't supposed to come on this early," said Tifa, bewildered, and she turned and faced Cloud, who abruptly jumped a step backwards from her.
"I didn't do anything!" insisted Cloud. Tifa looked puzzled.
"What are you talking about? I know you wouldn't. But this just can't be right…" said Tifa, as she was beginning to look rather worried indeed.
Then, suddenly, an even bigger alarm sounded and a computerized voice was heard around the train on the intercom from the train's sound speakers.
"Unidentified train passengers are confirmed. A search of all train cars shall be conducted," informed the computerized voice, and it repeated itself before going completely quiet, leaving the loud sound of the alarms blazing in the whole train along with the flashing red security lights.
"Just what is happening around here? Why did the alarms go off this early?" asked Tifa, worried, aware that Cloud didn't have any answer. Barret quickly leaped up from his seat with a start, and he rushed over to Cloud and Tifa, looking clearly alarmed.
"Just what in the name of bloody hell's happening!? What the heck's going on!?" shouted Barret.
Suddenly, the compartment door flew open with a bang, and Jessie came frantically running through it, and quickly ran towards them, a worried and urgent look on her face.
"Barret! We're in big trouble! Come on! Somebody messed up big time, and we've been found out! Come on, I'll explain later, just hurry to the next car! Quick, get moving! They're going to lock up all the train cars! Just get to the next car now!" shouted Jessie, quickly and urgently.
"Jessie, what's going on? I thought that the Shinra ID check point was supposed to be further out than this?" asked Barret, urgently. Jessie frantically shook her head.
"I'm really sorry about this, but I'd forgotten to tell you guys that the Shinra ID security checks point have been moved forwards. Shinra moved them all after last night's bombing," explained Jessie, looking very worried. Barret darkly cursed with pure fury.
"Damn those Shinra scum! Damn them all to hell! Tifa! Cloud! We're gonna have to all jump out of this train now! Let's move!" shouted Barret. Jessie quickly ran down to the next car, while Barret was shaking in anger and frustration.
"Damn it, somebody blew it…but who…? Never mind, let's just go, keep it up!" shouted Barret, annoyed, and he, Cloud and Tifa quickly proceeded to do just that.
They all ran to the next passenger train car. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie were all there in the next train compartment, waiting fearfully for them.
"Hurry!" shouted Biggs, urgently.
"They're going to lock the door, Barret!" shouted Wedge, with clear panic.
"Just run! We'll have to change the mission to Plan 2!" shouted Jessie, urgently. Barret nodded grimly in agreement, though Cloud was puzzled as to what 'Plan 2' was.
They all ran to the next car. Biggs and Wedge quickly ran to the driver's car, while Jessie stopped and waited for Cloud, Barret and Tifa in the next car. The train was longer than Cloud had first thought.
Several train cars were strung along after the first five, and pushing through a crowd of confused citizens made the trip a lot harder. He also felt several hands grab at his money, his sword, and his Materia. He beat them all of savagely, causing sharp howls of pain from the thieves, but Cloud didn't once stop, and kept going.
By the time Cloud had made it through the dining car, he had lost two hundred Gil and his fake ID card, but luckily, he lost nothing else, and neither did the others. Jessie stood in the middle of the dining car, waiting for them. Cloud, Barret and Tifa quickly ran up to her. Alarms still sounded loudly around the train, and the red lights still flashing.
"Alright then, are we clear yet, Jessie?" asked Barret, urgently. Jessie quickly shook her head in response, looking very troubled indeed.
"No, we're definitely not out of the woods yet. They're on the verge of starting another check. If we get caught and trapped up in a compartment, then we'll all be done for. But don't worry, if we keep moving up the train, car by car, then we should be able to get past it. If we keep going through the train quickly enough, then we should be able to outrun the sensors, before they can find us," explained Jessie.
Jessie ran up to the next train compartment and punched another thief (who had tried to grab at her) hard in the face on the way there, breaking his nose and knocking him unconscious instantly, his face bloody and his nose ruined. Barret turned to face Cloud and Tifa.
"Come on, we're gonna jump outta here!! Follow me!! We got a lot of battles ahead of us at the Mako Reactor, if we make it out of here, so this is gonna be tough either way," warned Barret, darkly, looking very grim and urgent indeed.
Cloud, Barret and Tifa ran along the train, quickly following Jessie. When Cloud, Barret and Tifa had arrived at the driver's car, they found that Biggs, Wedge and Jessie were each in Shinra uniforms as their disguises and the Shinra train guards were all knocked out and unconscious.
Barret ran over to the other end of the train driver's compartment, and Cloud and Tifa quickly followed him, as alarms still sounded and red lights flashed overhead.
"Alright, we made it!" said Barret, as Jessie opened a door at the side of the train, which would lead them outside, if they jumped out of it, but they had to do it while the train was still moving quickly, and jumping out of a speeding train could be a very dangerous and even fatal task indeed.
"Come on, hurry it up, let's get moving already! We're gonna dive out of here right now!!" shouted Barret, as he moved closer towards the open train door, while Wedge, who made no move towards it, spoke up in his disguise.
"Well, it looks like things were a success here after all, I was really worried about this mission going badly wrong, with this sudden situation here. You know...come to think of it, I look just like my little brother in these clothes. I wonder how everyone's doing now…" said Wedge, thoughtfully.
"Maximum security alert! Train will be stopped and all compartments will be inspected at the next station. All train doors are now to be locked down," informed a computerized voice suddenly, and repeated itself before going quiet.
"How are we going to get out of here if the doors are locked?" asked Cloud, sceptically. Jessie quickly shook her head, looking confident.
"Don't worry about it, Cloud. This is the master train car with all manual overrides active, the doors in this car aren't locked, so just leave at your own time and decision," said Jessie, reassuringly. Tifa now stood just before the open train door, and Cloud noticed that she wasn't moving.
"What's wrong, Tifa?" asked Cloud, concerned, as Tifa still hesitated just before the train door.
"It's kind of scary, isn't it? Leaping out through a train moving at full speed, into some pitch-black tunnels with rough ground. And hoping that you don't get struck by the train or the tunnel wall in the process," said Tifa, uneasily, turning to face Cloud, who just shrugged, having accepted this plan as the only way out.
"It's way too late to be saying or thinking about that right now. Why did you decided to come along, anyway?" asked Cloud, curiously. Tifa hesitated, clearly uncomfortable on the subject of that question.
"(Should I tell him now? About what I've really been thinking a lot of since we met up again? How very different he seems now compared to how he was back then...how he seems to know things he shouldn't...and how much I feel for him...)" thought Tifa, rather troubled indeed, but after another moment's hesitation, she slowly spoke.
"Because…" began Tifa, quietly, her head bowed, but Barret interrupted her with clear impatience, before she could say anything else, to her intense relief.
"Hey, you two, there ain't no more time for any of that private chat! Let's just get going! There ain't no time to waste so do something!" shouted Barret.
Surprised that she'd forgotten the urgent situation they were in, Tifa nodded and walked towards the door leading outside of the train. Jessie turned to face Cloud.
"Hey, how do I look, Cloud? Do I look good in a Shinra uniform?" asked Jessie, curiously, in her disguise.
"You look great, just like a man," replied Cloud, with a shrug, and Jessie beamed at him.
"Yeah! I'm so happy…I think?" said Jessie, confused for a moment, not sure whether that was really a proper compliment from Cloud or not.
Tifa stepped closer to the door leading outside the train, stared thoughtfully outside for a moment, and then she nodded, more to herself than to anyone else.
"Okay then, I've made up my mind about this whole situation now. Watch closely, I'm going to jump!!" shouted Tifa, as he leaped forwards through the door. Tifa quickly jumped out of the speeding train, and she just barely managed to land safely on the ground in the tunnels.
"You don't care if I go first? Aren't you going to come?" asked Cloud, talking to Barret, who shook his head firmly.
"A leader always stays right until the end, and never leaves until the last minute. Don't worry about me, just shut up and go! Go on and get moving! And don't go getting ya spiky ass hurt, it's only the beginning of the mission, and we're going to need ya for the whole damn thing!" yelled Barret.
Cloud just shrugged and jumped off the train, and he also managed to land safely on the ground of the tunnels, just like Tifa had a few moments earlier. Barret then turned to face Biggs, Wedge and Jessie.
"Later then! You guys take care of the rest! You've all got your orders, and this is only the beginning of this mission, so keep ya guard up. Take care of this mess here in the train, while me and the others continue along the tunnels!" ordered Barret. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie all nodded and saluted in response, knowing full well what to do.
"Don't worry about us, Barret. We'll handle things here, no problem. Just hurry it up and jump off the train before you lose track of Tifa and Cloud down in the tunnels!" shouted Biggs.
"Yeah, just get going, and always remember that you can count on each of us to handle things, Barret," said Wedge, saluting proudly.
Barret nodded grimly, and quickly jumped off the train and barely managed to land safely on the ground, while Biggs, Wedge and Jessie took charge of the train, driving it to the Sector 5 train station to try and find another way to the Mako Reactor N05 as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, having managed to find each other in the tunnels, Cloud, Tifa and Barret were all on the railway line further back, and they all got up, slightly bruised, but they were alright, and further down the tunnel would be a secret way to the Mako Reactor N05 itself.