Meanwhile, at the top floor (70th floor) of the massive Shinra Headquarters tower, President Shinra was sitting on his throne-like chair behind his huge desk with a big, rather smug smirk on his face. Standing in front of his desk, Reeve and another man from Shinra Incorporated were also there in the President's office with him.
This other man's name was Heidegger, the head of the Public Safety Maintenance Department, in charge of Shinra's army, which included SOLDIER and the Turks, and he was also effectively the second man in command of Shinra Incorporated, being the highest-ranking army general in the world-ruling conglomerate.
He was fat and rather overweight for his age (being around fifty years old or so), had black hair, and a big scruffy black beard that covered his whole chin, and he would always stroke it when something interested or amused him.
He also had a black scar across the side of his face. He wore a highly polished green army-like suit (like a general's) with many impressive medals worn on it, and he worked for Shinra Incorporated, and was also one of the main executives of the whole of the Shinra.
Heidegger was well known and feared widely throughout Shinra for being extremely ruthless and merciless towards his enemies, and he was a little slow-minded and mostly acted before thinking things through, but he was also very loyal to President Shinra, and rarely ever lied about anything.
"(Excellent, AVALANCHE are confirmed to be hiding at their hideout in Sector 7 for a while. Now is the time to strike and deal with them,)" thought President Shinra, as he spoke up.
"Ah, Heidegger, yes I requested your presence here in my office, I am most curious and interested to know what steps are being taken towards our new ingenious plan. So how are all the preparations for this task going then, Heidegger? How is the plan progressing?" asked President Shinra, curiously.
"Ha, ha, ha, yes the preparations are going brilliantly well indeed, Mr President, sir! Things are running smoothly at the moment! Very smoothly indeed, the Sector 7 mission is getting underway at once, and soon we will be ready to strike there at any moment now! You'll be pleased to know sir, that instead of entrusting this mission to amateurs, I have now assigned all of the Turks themselves to complete this job as strictly ordered, and of course there is no one around who are greater professionals than them. With each of them working to bring down the Pillar, AVALANCHE won't stand a chance of defending it. They should all complete the mission as planned with ease, and place a highly powerful bomb upon the Pillar, which cannot possibly be deactivated at all; we have made sure of that. All of this means that in about another hour, we should witness from here the fall and destruction of Sector 7, and with it the final fall of AVALANCHE too! We can't possibly lose, with the Pillar out of the way, the part of the Plate above them will crush the whole area and all those rats, there's no way they can escape or stop us!!" laughed Heidegger.
"(Yes, at last the scum and filth of the vermin who call themselves 'AVALANCHE' will finally be washed away, or in this case, flattened out! Those fools who dared to stand up against my own army and kill many of my assigned Shinra soldier troops, well this action will make them wish they never tried to stand up against us in the first place, this will really make them all suffer,)" thought Heidegger, smugly.
Still clearly very anxious and really concerned for all the innocent citizens of Sector 7, if not AVALANCHE, in both the upper and lower city of the Sector, Reeve desperately tried again to protest against the plan to destroy it all.
"President Shinra, I really must protest, please do not go through with this massacre! Are we really going to go ahead and do this just like that? Simply destroy such a small rebel group with only a few members consisting of even less then ten people? And are we really going to bring down the Plate and destroy all of Sector 7 itself just because of the actions of only one small terrorist group? Can't we just send the Turks out after AVALANCHE themselves, and kill them then without having to destroy the Sector?" asked Reeve, desperately.
"What's the problem now, Reeve? You want out of this plan, is that it?" asked President Shinra, sharply, his voice icy and cold. He got up from his chair, and he walked over to Reeve and Heidegger before his own desk, looking long and hard at Reeve, who flinched slightly, looking nervous as the President stared coldly at him for an answer.
"…No, I do not intend to back out of this, but as the head of the Urban Development Department, I have been heavily involved with all the building and running of Midgar's buildings and constructions, which includes all of Sector 7…that's why. Sir, please reconsider this plan. Even if the vast losses of thousands of lives isn't important to you, think about the cost that the destruction will cause, due to the fact that so many of our buildings are going to be destroyed if we carry out this plan. Both the destruction and rebuilding of Sector 7 will take almost all of Shinra's financial resources to sort out," explained Reeve, but the only answer he got in response was a harsh laugh from Heidegger.
"Oh for god's sakes, Reeve, you should have just flushed away all those damn personal problems and stupid regrets about this plan in the morning, because we're carrying it out no matter what you think of it. Just remember this, Reeve; we are doing all of this for the safety and welfare of all our great citizens within all of Midgar. Even Sector 7 will be saved from AVALANCHE'S terrorism once our mission succeeds," said Heidegger, laughing scornfully.
"The mayor of this city is completely against this plan of ours, anyway," said Reeve, frowning sharply and nervously, and knew full well that this was a very lame excuse indeed, but he had to think of any possible reason that might stop Sector 7 from being destroyed. President Shinra only sneered at the comment however, and Heidegger laughed harder and more nastily than ever at Reeve's words.
"Mayor, that loser Domino!? He just sits on his lazy ass in this building all day, stuffing his face! And yet you still insist calling that old pathetic, good-for-nothing, shit-head bastard, 'the mayor of this city' that WE ourselves created? Besides, we have far more power and rule over this whole city then that pathetic fool could ever have or even wish for. So who cares what the so-called mayor thinks about us or this plan? He's just an old, useless pile of trash that the public have no respect for at all anymore. HE'S DISPOSABLE, REEVE! Now then, I think I've made my point, so if you'll excuse me, sir, I must tell the Turks to begin at once," said Heidegger, turning back to face President Shinra, saluting to him.
Heidegger then left the room with another cold laugh, while Reeve started to run after him to protest not to go through with telling the Turks to go begin the plan, but then thought better of it, stopped in his tracks, and turned back to face President Shinra.
"(There's got to be another way of doing this plan, I refuse to believe that hundreds of thousands of lives must be sacrificed in order to destroy AVALANCHE for good, there has to be a way of killing only them, and not all those citizens. It just doesn't seem right that so many people should die because of the acts of only six rebels,)" thought Reeve, as he protested again.
"Mr President, please I'm begging you to reconsider this decision. Aren't there any other alternatives that we can use to destroy AVALANCHE instead?" asked Reeve, desperately, in one last final plea. President Shinra sighed and shook his head in a rather mocking way.
"Why, of course there are other options to take, Reeve, my friend. But this one is by far the swiftest and most flaw-resistant of them all. That's why we've decided on it. Besides, it's the greatest opportunity that we've ever had to turn the whole city and even the world against AVALANCHE once and for all, to show them all that they are nothing more than murdering terrorist scum," said President Shinra.
Reeve nodded slowly in response, saying nothing more, his head bowed hopelessly in despair and disappointment, as he now knew that there was nothing more he could do for the sake of the citizens of Sector 7. President Shinra frowned at him, noticing his clear depression.
"You're clearly very tired and worn out from all this work you've been doing for me lately, and a rightful vacation is long overdue. Why don't you go take a couple of days off and go somewhere? The keys to the resort in Costa Del Sol are in my helicopter. Take them and a change of clothes, and get out of here for a while. In fact, don't come back here until noon tomorrow. You're far too overworked in these dark days of rebellion," said President Shinra.
Reeve just nodded in response, still saying nothing to the President, and scratched at his goatee, a nervous habit that he had picked up since being pushed up the ranks into the Shinra Executive Committee, and becoming the head of the Urban Development Department decades ago. He couldn't take a vacation now, not when all of Sector 7 itself, that he had worked so hard to build, was going to drop like this, and kill hundreds of thousands of people along with it. This was too important to pass up.
But seeing as how there was nothing more that he could do now, Reeve slowly nodded to the President and he left the room without another word or even a glance in the direction of his boss. As Reeve walked out, President Shinra sniggered and muttered to himself just as soon as Reeve had left his office completely, and the door had closed behind him.
"We'll completely annihilate Sector 7 and those damn rebels along with it, and then we'll report to the whole world that AVALANCHE did it all, leaving none alive. Then we'll send in the rescue operation care of Shinra Incorporated, to families of the deceased, showing our support and care to the public of my precious city. Then we'll report that we have hunted down AVALANCHE, and have ordered their execution on sight. Heh, heh, heh, this whole plan is just TOO perfect," said President Shinra, sniggering evilly and madly.
"(When we report to the public that AVALANCHE destroyed Sector 7 out of an act of terrorism, we must make it clear that the rebels are all still alive even if they're already dead, since it will look very suspicious if they come to the conclusion that the rebels died in their own terrorist act. So we'll send a report soon after the Sector 7 one, saying that we have found and killed AVALANCHE, and Shinra will be labelled as the heroes of the Planet, and the people will come to trust us far more than I could have previously hoped,)" thought President Shinra.
He then broke into hysterical laughter that echoed through his whole office, as he looked out his large window down at Sector 7 itself, eagerly awaiting it's destruction as if he were a child waiting to receive a long awaited present, while his company's plan would soon finally begin.
Meanwhile, Reno and Rude had both arrived at Don Corneo's mansion, having heard that AVALANCHE, namely the guy with spiky blond hair and the strange flower girl, had been there, and they went over there to investigate. They had to confront Don Corneo's private, muscular bouncer outside the front door of the mansion. He blocked their way at once, as Reno and Rude both stopped before him, and he spoke in an intimidating way, though both Turks were indifferent to it.
"Sorry, but I can't let you through here, even if you two Turks are part of Shinra Incorporated, the Don has already picked his companion for the night, and does not want to be disturbed at this moment. Besides, no men are allowed in here at the time of the Don's choosing, you Shinra people know these rules, by agreement between you guys and the Don, so come back tomorrow," said the bouncer.
Reno merely looked icily at the bouncer, shaking his head, and was completely unconcerned by the fact that the bouncer was at least a foot taller than him, and Reno was by no means short, being rather lanky.
"You know, somehow I don't think so, we're not waiting for tomorrow to see that slimy bastard. We want an interview with him right now, and I don't give a shit about his damn rules, Shinra call the shots here, not your damn ugly freak of a boss," said Reno, coldly. The bouncer still didn't move.
"I'd say that you've hit the booze just a little too early this morning, pal, I know how much you like to drink, Reno of the Turks. And you're still not getting past into the mansion right now, so come back later, it's the Don's strict orders for him not to be disturbed at all during this time, not even during Shinra business," said the bouncer. Reno snorted at him.
"So, just what the hell do you think that's supposed to mean to me? It means jack shit to me, that's what! This meeting is going to happen right now anyways, whether you or your damn boss likes it or not. Is it really too hard for you to tell that Shinra Incorporated rules over your Don's petty orders and services, or are you just too thick and naïve to realize it?" questioned Reno, coolly.
"(Why the hell doesn't this idiot move out of the way already, I've got far better things to do with my time than deal with arrogant morons who think they're all tough, but are really cowardly and weak. No person should ever underestimate their enemy after all, and this guy doesn't seem to understand how much more power Shinra has than the Don,)" thought Reno.
"Well, there's only one way to find that out, Turks. If you aren't gonna leave here quietly, then I'll make ya do it by force, even if you are members of the Turks of Shinra or not," said the bouncer, raising his massive fists menacingly.
The large bouncer stepped forwards, and tried to punch Rude across the face, mistakenly thinking that Rude wasn't prepared for it, as Rude had been completely silent so far, but the bouncer was in for a surprise, as Rude merely ducked his head and dodged the blow with extreme ease.
Rude looked back coldly and unblinkingly at the bouncer, indifferent towards the man, who looked shocked at seeing the Turk dodge his punch like it was nothing at all to him, and then the bouncer was finally beginning to get scared for his very life, and for good reason too.
Rude hadn't said anything, but the look in his eyes told the bouncer the Turk was going to kill him right there and then at that moment. Rude suddenly raised his own muscular fists, and punched the bouncer hard right in the stomach, knocking all the wind out of him.
The bouncer gasped in sudden agonizing pain, feeling as though he'd just been struck in the stomach by an anvil or a train rather than just Rude's fists, meaning that Rude was clearly a great deal stronger than the bouncer had bargained for. Suddenly, the bouncer threw his head back and vomited, due to the sheer force of the blow to his stomach. And it wasn't just lunch that he threw up, it was his blood too.
Reno grimaced in disgust at the scene, but a nasty, mischievous smirk was still spread across his face as he watched Rude beating the bouncer to death, as the bouncer coughed and spat out some of his own blood.
"(No matter what happens, I just do my job. Whether it means killing, kidnapping, spying, assassinations, or sabotage, I have no problems with having to perform all these tasks, just as long as they are completed, I am fine with them. Even when putting up with arrogant guys like this one,)" thought Rude.
Without warning, and in an amazing display of speed and strength, Rude suddenly grabbed hold of the bouncer tightly by his throat, easily lifting his feet right off the ground, dangling him in mid-air, and Rude then quickly squeezed the bouncer's throat hard, strangling him and killing him in an instant as a wince inducing snap was heard. Emotionlessly, Rude released his grip and dropped the dead bouncer to a heap on the ground, the neck of his victim snapped.
"Now that the naïve loser is out the way, shall we go in and have this little interview of ours with the Don, Rude? How about if I do all the talking, and you do the 'just looking tough' part?" asked Reno, coolly, his hand on the front door of the Don's mansion.
Rude just shrugged in response, seemingly unconcerned and rather indifferent, as Reno grinned and then he opened the mansion door, and walked calmly through it, and entered inside Don Corneo's mansion, followed inside by Rude.
The two powerful Turks of Shinra quickly ran up the stairs, and came to the room on the right of the upstairs floor, and they looked inside it. Several of Don Corneo's goons lay dead on the floor, at least six of them in total, some with limbs missing from their bodies.
Reno couldn't help but notice that all of them had sword wounds inflicted on them, and the wounds seemed to have come from a large wide sword. Only one of the men seemed to be alive, and unconscious, but it looked this fellow had one of his arms completely sliced off, and might well be dying due to blood loss. Reno was unconcerned about this however, wanting to find anyone who could tell them what had happened.
Reno and Rude then both noticed the room to the left of the upstairs floor, the dungeon, and they walked down the big set of stairs down to the room. When they got there, they at once spotted Kotch, who had a rather nasty bump on his head and lots of bruises across his body.
Kotch seemed badly beaten up, and he walked slowly over to Reno and Rude, clearly limping and wincing with pain with every step, but the man still clearly recognized that Reno and Rude were both Turks for Shinra. Reno walked up to Kotch, looking menacing.
"Please…don't hurt us," gasped Kotch, in agony.
"What's been going on in here? What happened to cause so much carnage in this place? Why all the sudden commotion in here?" demanded Reno, sharply. Kotch gasped in pain from his injuries, before slowly answering.
"The Don…just came down here to see what was going on, and saw that his men had all been attacked and killed, and I was the only one still standing. The Don looked in rather bad shape himself…think he was half blind. I asked him what happened, and he told me what went on in his room. It was spies…it was spies that attacked us and the Don…one of them was a man with a big sword, who had disguised himself as a blond-haired girl. After he assaulted the others, he and the other two spies, both girls, went into the Don's bedroom and leaked some really important information out of him. The Don's gone back to his room right now, so he can tell you all this himself…" explained Kotch, slowly, wincing in pain.
Reno grinned triumphantly to himself, knowing exactly what Kotch was talking about, and fully understanding now about what was going on in the mansion. He turned to face Rude, knowing that their investigation had succeeded.
"Rude, you chain and restrain this scumbag down here, while I'll go to the Don's room, and see what I can find out from Corneo," said Reno. Rude nodded and obeyed.
Rude suddenly grabbed Kotch who screamed in fright, before Rude knocked him unconscious with one hit to the head. Rude then put Kotch on the table, shackling him down to it. Reno smashed down Don Corneo's door in a smash with his Nightstick, and barged into the Don's bedroom.
Don Corneo was standing just nearby his bed, and was then shaking and shivering with intense fear as soon as he saw Reno come in the room, and it was clear that the Don was absolutely terrified, knowing full well who Reno was, and what he was going to do to him.
Reno could see that someone had certainly done a number on Corneo, his nose looked to be broken, and one of his eyes was clearly ruined, but he had no sympathy for him whatsoever, as he stormed over to Don Corneo, his face a mask of very intimidating fury.
"Alright then, now tell me this, just where the damn hell are they, Corneo!? Answer me, where are they!?" demanded Reno, sharply.
Don Corneo flinched in terror, knowing that there was no way his traps were going to work against the likes of the Turks, knowing exactly what they were capable of, and then he spoke very nervously.
"T-They…?" stuttered Don Corneo, shuddering in terror.
"Yes Corneo, THEY! 'They' as in the one guy with the big sword who was dressed up like a girl, and the two gorgeous girls who were here too along with him!" snapped Reno, sharply, enraged. Don Corneo flinched again, shaking wildly in fear, more than ever, as he hastened nervously to explain what had happened.
"U-Uh…t-they're already gone, Reno, and there's no way they can be found alive again. I…I dropped them down into the sewers of the Slums, with a switch-operated trapdoor that opened up just below their feet. Apps needed a good feeding anyway, he's been hungry for a person to eat for a bit of a while. Apps stays down in the sewers, and I feed him some people who cause me trouble, disrespect me, or go against me. Once someone's sent down into those sewers with Apps waiting to feast on them, they never make it back out, and they're never seen again, so the spies have already been dealt with," explained Don Corneo, nervously.
Snarling with rage, Reno suddenly grabbed Don Corneo tightly by the collar of his shirt, easily lifting him off his feet, and Reno hurled the Don forcefully onto the floor, slamming him hard into a wall, his head striking it heavily.
Don Corneo screeched in clear pain from the sheer force of the strong impact with his wall, and he then looked up in sheer horror and fear at Reno, shivering and shaking more than ever. Reno looked down at him coldly.
"You good for nothing slimy, dirty, sleaze ball. What the hell did you tell them all before you dropped them down into those sewers? What information did you dare to reveal to them, to go against Shinra to save your own worthless life?" questioned Reno, sharply, with a menacing snarl.
"I-I told them n-nothing at all, n-nothing about S-Shinra or A-AVALANCHE," stammered Don Corneo, his voice nervous and stuttering now.
"Oh, I know you far better than that, Corneo, I'll know that you'll try anything you can to save your own skin, whether it's lying to me right now or bargaining with Shinra's enemies. Now tell me the truth, since one of your own cronies already told me that you had revealed something important to those damn scumbags. I know you'll tell me the truth about what happened eventually. Because if you don't, if you keep daring to refuse, I'll make you glad that your 'subjects' don't have one of these," said Reno, coolly taking his Nightstick weapon out of his jacket like a sword.
Several blue high-voltage sparks circled the electrically charged-up weapon, causing no effect to Reno since he was handling it himself, as powerful electrical sparks flowed from the weapon. Don Corneo's one good eye widened in immense and overwhelming horror, and he was starting to visibly sweat in fear, as well as shake all over in overwhelming fright.
"(Oh god, just when I think that this nightmare of a day cannot possibly get any worse, it suddenly presents yet another life-threatening scare,)" thought Don Corneo, as he protested.
"AH, NO, NOT THAT! I-I'm s-sorry, I-I'm s-sorry for telling those AVALANCHE spies everything about what Shinra plans to do to them, Reno…b-but what does it matter now that I did? They're in the sewers now, and Apps will get them down there anyway, so they'll have no chance to escape and reveal to their allies about what I told them, so there's no harm done, right?" asked Don Corneo, nervously.
Reno merely glared down angrily at the squirming form of the Don, pointing and aiming his Nightstick down at Don Corneo threateningly, knowing the tricks the Don often used, and there was no way he was going to fall for them.
"Get your lazy ass up and move it! You're coming back with us to Shinra Headquarters, and you can just explain your actions to them in our custody, so come on! NOW! And don't you even dare try anything to resist arrest, or I'll just kill you where you stand!" ordered Reno, sharply, poking Don Corneo hard in the spine with his Nightstick, making the Don wince in pain at once. Rude then entered the room, and walked up to Reno and Don Corneo, noticing them there. Reno turned to face him while keeping his Nightstick aimed at Corneo.
"There you are, I was wondering what took you. But we've found out what we came here for anyways, it seems this freak's revealed the Sector 7 plan to those guys. Rude, it looks like all of Shinra's information about their plan has been leaked. Cloud and the girls have got away already, down in the sewers, so we've got to take this scumbag into custody," said Reno, and to his surprise, Rude then spoke.
"I was already on my way to this room earlier, but I got an urgent call from Tseng. It seems he wants both of us and the new recruit to go to Sector 7 at once to begin the plan, and he wants one of us to set the bomb onto the Pillar, and to keep AVALANCHE fighting in the area as the Pillar blows up and the Plate crushes them. We can escape in time on the helicopter just before the whole Sector blows up though," explained Rude, calmly. Reno seemed thoughtful.
"Hmmm…well, since he's no doubt asked us so nicely to take control of this whole plan of Shinra's, then I guess we'll get over to Sector 7 at once, to complete the destruction of AVALANCHE and the whole Sector once and for all. Least this way, we get a front row seat to watch the fireworks of the Pillar exploding, and the whole place being crushed and then blown to bits. Should be quite an intriguing sight, and the pay for this will be good," said Reno, with a broad grin.
"D-Does that mean that you guys won't have to send me over to Shinra Headquarters after all?" asked Don Corneo, hopefully, but flinched as Reno glared back at him.
"Hell no, you're not getting away with being a squealer against us, Corneo, you're going to pay the full price for it, I assure you of that. And wait until Shinra discovers that you sent down the girl they so intently want," said Reno, darkly.
"Sent down what girl…?" asked Don Corneo, nervously, looking thoroughly bewildered, before a look of dawning comprehension spread across his face.
"Wait…there was a brown haired green eyed girl in a red jacket and a pink dress here with the other two spies, and that matches the description that I got from one of my subordinates, Vulcue, about the girl that Shinra wanted to capture so much…which means that…" said Don Corneo, slowly, looking suddenly horrified.
"Exactly, Corneo. You may well have just sent down the girl, who Shinra are completely intent on capturing ALIVE for their most important and greatest plans yet, to her own death! Nice going, you stupid jackass, now Shinra really are going to punish you severely for this, if we discover that the girl isn't alive and safe for their purposes. Either way, it's bad, since either your pet sewer monster will eat her, or she'll escape it and travel to Sector 7 with those other two members to warn AVALANCHE of our plan, at the exact moment we plan to destroy the entire place! NOW GET TO THE COPTER!!" barked Reno, furiously.
Don Corneo jumped up in fear, before he then quickly scrambled to his feet, and squealed in terror as Rude grabbed him tightly by his shirt collar, and dragged him easily across the floor and down the stairs before leaving the mansion, as the two Turks made their way back to their helicopter, with Don Corneo still in tow.
Reno and Rude got back to the helicopter, dragging Don Corneo along with them, hurling him hard into the copter, and Shinra soldiers aimed their guns at him inside so he wouldn't try anything sneaky. Don Corneo had no choice but to Shinra Incorporated.
But there were much greater and more pressing issues at hand now that were far more important to the Turks and to Shinra. Besides, even if Cloud and the others could manage to escape from the jaws of Apps, the Sector 7 plan would take care of them and AVALANCHE permanently, despite a certain man's opposition…
Meanwhile, back inside the Shinra Headquarters itself, in the main office of the Turks, Tseng sat back behind his desk in his office as the leader of the Turks, and at that moment, he pressed a button on his mobile phone, terminating the call that he had just been speaking to.
"(Hmmm, so Aeris and her two allies have been sent down to the sewers, where Corneo's pet Apps dwells within it. The Don's confident that Apps has killed them, but I seriously doubt that will happen, they'll survive against it,)" thought Tseng.
Heidegger, effectively Tseng's main boss due to having complete rule over the Turks division, was also standing in the office behind Tseng's desk, and looked rather impatiently at him, just as Tseng ended his call at that moment, and spoke up before the Turks leader could say anything.
"Well, what has happened over there in Wall Market, do Reno and Rude both have the rebels that were spotted there or not? Have they questioned Corneo about this situation, or has this investigation been a complete waste of time, when we could be beginning with the plan to deal with AVALANCHE right now?" questioned Heidegger, sharply, his tone of voice sounding both rather harsh and agitated. Forcing calm upon himself, Tseng answered him.
"Yes, that was Reno who just called. He informed me that the rebels spotted were indeed in Corneo's mansion, but the Don sent them down a trapdoor into the sewers, so we have no idea of their current location or condition. Also, it seems that the flower girl was with them at the time, so that could mean disaster for our future plans. For now, Reno and Rude have Don Corneo in their custody, but first they are heading straight for Sector 7 at once, to begin the mission there, and the new recruit, Elena, will also be there once I fly a separate helicopter over there and drop her off to help out with the mission. The three of them there, plus platoons of Shinra soldiers, means that AVALANCHE won't be able to put up a resistance strong enough to stop us from setting that bomb onto the Pillar, effectively dropping the Plate to destroy the whole Sector once the Pillar explodes," explained Tseng, patiently and calmly, as Heidegger listened intently.
"(Something about what Tseng just said makes me wonder whether or not he intends to join the other Turks to reach the Sector 7 Pillar to destroy it. He seems sure he won't go, well he's wrong about that,)" thought Heidegger, as he spoke up.
"You know, if I didn't know any better, I could have sworn I just heard you say that the other three Turks will be there, but you made it sound as if you yourself are not going to take part in this mission. Well tough crap, Tseng, you ARE going to take part in this plan of ours with the other Turks whether you like it or not, so get to it!" ordered Heidegger, rather sharply, glaring hard at Tseng, who simply answered him back calmly.
"You are right indeed, I did intend to explain that I will not take part in this particular mission unlike the others, and that's not because of fear or disapproval of the plan, but of the fact that I have a possibly even more important task to intend to," said Tseng. Heidegger looked at him incredulously, as he barked back at him.
"A more important task than the one that deals with our only serious threat and enemies once and for all!? Just what the heck do you think you're talking about, this is a matter of the up-most importance and urgency, there's no way we can focus on anything else but this, nothing else matters at the moment except bringing down all of AVALANCHE for good!" snapped Heidegger, angrily.
"Oh, is that so? What about the important matter of the girl, Heidegger, the one that Shinra so intently wants to catch and take in alive, to serve for their important feature plans, hmmm? She is the key to what could well be Shinra's greatest success of all, and we need her alive in our custody to achieve our ultimate goal, as you should know. And now there's a possibility that this same girl might be heading out of the sewers to Sector 7 when it gets destroyed, so I must find and intercept her before she can get herself killed, then she will be in Shinra's custody once and for all, I'll personally see to that myself," said Tseng, determinedly.
"And what if you fail to catch her yet again, just like all those other dozens of times in these last few years, then what do you suppose we do about it if you keep failing, huh? What if you just let her give you the slip once again, the same way that you always did whenever you tried before?" questioned Heidegger, sharply. Tseng looked back coldly at him.
"(After all the times I was merciful towards her, after all the times I just let her escape and make excuses for it, and all those times I comforted her when her boyfriend was gone, she would still not give me a chance and accept my feelings for her no matter how hard I tried, well no more!)" thought Tseng.
"I won't just let her escape again, not this time. Because when I do find her out there in the Slums, or in the sewers, I'm showing her absolutely no mercy whatsoever, I'm not letting her get the better of me anymore…" said Tseng, with a rather menacing snarl of rage, his fists clenched tightly in fury, as he vowed to himself that Aeris Gainsborough wouldn't be getting away from him this time…
Meanwhile, inside Tifa's Seventh Heaven bar at the Slums of Sector 7, Barret, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie had all still been listening to the radio on the table, as Tifa was secretly carrying a hidden radio transmitter device.
The whole group had heard every single thing that Don Corneo had revealed to Tifa and the others there about Shinra wanting to bring down the Pillar and Plate, destroying Sector 7 in the process in order to kill AVALANCHE in the area.
Listening to this plan, all the members of the AVALANCHE group in the bar were speechless and horrified, not for themselves, but for the many citizens living at Sector 7, in both the upper and lower city, who would all be killed, and only because of their presence in the Sector.
The group were still listening to the radio, all silent with horror at what they had just heard Don Corneo reveal, none of them had been expecting Shinra to commit such an act to try and deal with them, so many innocent people would die.
Just at the moment they heard Tifa and Cloud say there were going back to help defend Sector 7, Barret snapped out of his stunned trance, and suddenly slammed his one fist hard onto the radio on the table in rage, shattering it, which meant they couldn't hear anything from Cloud and Tifa anymore, but they didn't give it much thought, they'd found what they needed to know. But they didn't know about the Don's trapdoor…
"DAMN IT! Damn those bastards all to hell! Instead of going about this in an honourable way by just dealing with us alone, the assholes have to take the cowardly way out and kill us along with thousands of their own citizens! Those bastards, they really don't give a shit about no one but them damn selves, there's no way we ain't letting them just come here and destroy this Sector, we gotta defend that Pillar and save these people here and above! If Shinra want a fight from us, then they're damn well getting a fight!" roared Barret, burning with pure anger and determination, his mind fully made up.
"I agree, although this plan of Shinra's comes as a shock and causes fear among all of us, we still have to go and do the right thing and save Sector 7, save everyone living here before its too late. It's our fault that Shinra plan on destroying this Sector anyway, us being here, so we owe it to the citizens to protect them, and maybe it will redeem us a little from causing hundreds of deaths because of the explosion at Mako Reactor N01," said Wedge, solemnly.
"Then we'll have to go over to the Pillar at once, since Shinra are bound to begin this plan of theirs while they know we are still in this area, they're probably on the way to the Sector right now as we speak. But if we make it to the Pillar first and defend it's operating systems at the top of it, there is still a chance that we might be able to stop Shinra from planting the bomb there by holding them off, but once they plant it, we won't be able to disarm it, I fear…Shinra will make sure of that," said Jessie. Biggs nodded grimly.
"Yes, that's true, I've heard of bombs that sometimes can't be deactivated unless a special code is used that only very few people would know about. Shinra will no doubt use this sort of method for their bomb so we can't disarm it at all. But if we can just hold them off long enough, Cloud, Tifa and this Aeris girl will come to help us defend the Pillar like we just heard them say, and once they come here from the Don's mansion, we might be able to succeed," said Biggs, thoughtfully.
Looking thoughtful, Barret stood still in the middle of the bar for a long moment, thinking the whole situation through, and pondering what the others had all just explained, knowing that they were right, and decided without any doubt that they would go to the top of the Pillar to hold off Shinra, and then hopefully defeat them in the Sector once they had the help of Cloud and the others.
"Alright then, let's get going at once! We'll all go to the top of the Pillar just nearby here, and stop Shinra from blowing it up, and causing the Plate above to crush this place! Marlene, you stay here, and don't you leave here alone. If anything bad happens, I'll come back for ya," said Barret, looking at Marlene in worry and concern, as she stood behind the bar counter, and he was rather reluctant to leave his very young daughter alone here in such a situation, but he had no other choice.
"Okay, I'll stay and I won't wander off alone, I promise, but just please be careful and come back safely, papa. Go save all the people from the baddies," said Marlene, softly, and even at such a young age, it was clear that she had complete faith and trust in her father.
Barret nodded, and as he prepared to leave, he waved back at her with a fond smile, both of which Marlene returned, and then Barret, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie all quickly ran out of the bar, and ran over to the Pillar that towered high over the Sector 7 Slums, holding up a section of the massive Plate above the whole place.
Biggs, Wedge and Jessie each had a shotgun armed, while Barret, of course, had his gun-arm and his muscular physical strength. Biggs also had a few grenades, and Jessie had some daggers with her, while Wedge also had his sniper silencer gun with him as well.
The great Pillar itself of Sector 7 stood fifty meters tall, and it had a huge set of stairs spiralling around it leading straight up to the top of the Pillar. The Pillar was holding up the part of the Plate that was above the Slums of Sector 7.
Shinra Incorporated were planning to destroy this Pillar and make the part of the Plate above fall right on Sector 7 with no more support to hold it up, crushing it and killing them all in the process, to stop their resistance for good.
So they all knew that Shinra needed to blow up the Pillar with a bomb, and to do that, they needed to place it onto the Pillar's systems, which were at the very top of the Pillar at the top of the massive amount of stairs that led up to the platform on top it, which had the control systems.
"Alright then, let's get to the top! Shinra haven't planted the bomb or even arrived here just yet, but they're obviously gonna send someone over here to place it on the top of the pillar, who's gonna arrive here sooner or later. I expect that dozens of Shinra soldiers will be assigned to hold us at bay, while Shinra tries to set the bomb. We'll go to the top of the pillar, and guard it from Shinra, no matter what they send out or throw at us. You all got that?" said Barret, sharply.
"Yeah, we got it, Barret. We all understand the situation here, and we know full well what we have to do to stop Shinra from destroying this whole place and killing us and the citizens," replied Biggs, nodding.
"Alright, come on then! Let's go!" shouted Barret.
Barret, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie at once all ran over to the beginning of the stairs at the bottom of the Pillar. Suddenly, the large entrance gate of Sector 7 opened up, and many Shinra soldiers came rushing through it and quickly charged into Sector 7, and ran towards the Pillar and the AVALANCHE group, who all looked in shock and alarm at the incoming soldiers.
Barret, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie looked up at the vast amount of stairs of the Pillar above them, and also noticed some Shinra soldiers at the top of the Pillar, and they were coming down the stairs towards them. Barret swore loudly as he saw groups of Shinra soldiers rushing at them from behind the stairs of the Pillar, and others coming down from the stairs.
"Damn it, the Shinra soldiers are already here, I hoped we would have more bloody time than this! And now we're all completely surrounded by them from the front and from behind too! There's no way we can concentrate on the threat of both sides like this!" shouted Barret, alarmed.
"(Ah nuts, he's right about that…we can't make it to the top of the Pillar if we've all got to keep looking over our shoulder for enemies behind us, while at the same time trying to focus on any threats in front of us too. We'll never reach the top of the Pillar that way to stop Shinra setting the bomb, and the soldiers will easily be able to ambush us too. There's only one thing to do now…and I got to do it,)" thought Biggs, grimly.
Looking as though he was in very deep thought and rather resigned as well, Biggs took a few steps back from the stairs of the Pillar, and a few steps towards the Shinra soldiers in the Sector 7 Slums that were coming towards them. With his mind seemingly made up, Biggs then turned to face Barret, with a determined look on his face.
"I'll stay here and distract these guys heading towards the Pillar, I'll make a stand here at the beginning of the stairs to stop anyone coming in through here. You guys just get up those stairs now, and deal with the soldiers up there, and then you can reach the top of the Pillar to defend the control systems, and stop Shinra from planting the bomb there," said Biggs.
"But what about you, Biggs!? You can't possibly just hold off and prevent so many Shinra soldiers from coming in through here all by yourself!" shouted Barret, rather alarmed and clearly concerned. Biggs shook his head though, and it was obvious that he would not take no for an answer.
"Don't worry about me, Barret, just concentrate on saving the Pillar and this Sector. Don't even think about coming back to help me, just go up there and defend this place. I'll hold these guys back just fine by myself, I know I can do this, so just trust me on this one. I'll make sure that no one from Shinra enters from this way at all. Just get to the Pillar!" shouted Biggs.
With a cry of defiance, Biggs suddenly rushed forwards a few steps towards the groups of soldiers heading for them in direction of the Pillar. Before the soldiers could act in time, Biggs whipped out his shotgun and fired it in less than a second, as the gun sprayed a bunch of small but deadly pellets across a wide area of where the soldiers were, and in a few shots, eight of them were dead with wounds all over their bodies.
The other remaining groups of Shinra soldiers then started to attack Biggs and retaliate, and they each fired their guns at him, focusing only on him and not the others. Biggs was prepared for their attack, and quickly ran behind the pole of the Pillar, and used it for cover so none of the bullets hit him, but struck the Pillar instead.
Biggs quickly grabbed one of the grenades from his belt and pulled the pin from it just as soon as the sound of gunfire had ceased, and he sprang out of his hiding place, throwing the grenade surprisingly far as it flew to where the soldiers were, and exploded before they could run for cover in time, and terrible screams erupted before quickly being silenced. Nine Shinra soldiers were killed in the explosion, blown to mere bits and blood, and blasting a hole in the ground at where they had been previously standing.
"Barret, get up those stairs to the top now, hurry up and just go! I'll handle this, now get moving, and don't worry about me! GO!!" shouted Biggs, urgently.
Biggs sprang out and fired his shotgun once again, and killed six more of the soldiers in a few shots, as their whole bodies were struck with several small deadly pellets across the area they were in.
But there were still more groups of Shinra soldiers coming in their direction, as they opened fire on Biggs, and there were many of them still trying to get past him, but having far more trouble from this one rebel than they could have bargained for, and they just couldn't get any closer to the stairs with Biggs guarding it so effectively.
Expecting the gunshots before they had even begun, Biggs leaped back and ducked for cover just in time behind the Pillar as the shots missed him and struck the opposite side of the Pillar. As he stood hidden behind the Pillar, Biggs looked at Barret, as his leader finally moved towards the stairs.
"Alright then Biggs, I'll trust ya to hold down them all back on ya own, from entering the Pillar from these stairs, but just make sure you come through this alive! You ain't dying on me until we all save the Planet from Shinra together like we always promised to do!" shouted Barret.
"Just be careful down here against all these guys, and don't get yourself killed, Biggs, make sure you get through this safely," said Jessie, softly, as she quickly walked over to Biggs, and two of them embraced each other tightly for a few seconds, before letting go, and kissing each other briefly, and then Jessie quickly rushed back over to Barret at the bottom of the stairs, and Wedge stepped forwards in Biggs' direction.
"We're all counting on you to hold them all back down here, but please try to stay alive in the process, my old friend," said Wedge, clapping a firm hand onto Biggs' shoulder. Biggs nodded grimly in response, and shook Wedge's hand, before Wedge stepped backwards to the bottom of the stairs.
Without another word, Barret started running up the stairs of the Pillar, and Jessie and Wedge quickly followed him along without hesitation, as Biggs stayed and continued to attack the Shinra soldiers at the bottom, and bravely prevented them from going up the stairs and reaching the Pillar, as Barret, Jessie and Wedge rushed up several flights of stairs.
Having run up for quite a while now on the extremely long staircase that surrounded and spiralled around the whole Pillar itself, Barret, Jessie and Wedge had reached the half waypoint of the stairs, when suddenly the Shinra soldiers at the top of the Pillar rushed down the stairs towards them, and attacked them at once. But Barret, Jessie and Wedge were all prepared for the soldiers, and sprang into action in a flash.
Barret quickly raised his gun-arm right at their direction, and quickly opened fire on them at once, killing eleven of the soldiers above them, as they screamed before dropped dead on the stairs, and some fell screaming to the ground far below after being shot by Barret's bullets.
Jessie and Wedge both quickly got their own guns out too, as they opened fire and each killed eight soldiers above them on the stairs, ending the threat of any more enemies ahead of them on the path of stairs, at least for now. Continuing on their way up to the top platform, Barret, Jessie and Wedge quickly ran up the rest of the stairs to the top of the Pillar.
But once they had reached the very top of the Pillar, and the platform with the system's controls that were just before the main pole of the Pillar, many Shinra soldiers were standing and waiting for them there on the platform, and opened fire on them at once. Each noticing them on arrival, Barret, Jessie and Wedge took evasive action and quickly took cover behind the main pole of the Pillar, so the bullets didn't hit them.
As soon as the gunfire had stopped, Barret, Jessie and Wedge all sprang out from behind the Pillar and attacked the soldiers at once. Barret opened fire on them with his gun-arm, and nine of them were shot dead and killed at once, falling to the floor of the platform lifelessly.
Wedge fired both his shotgun and his silencer pistol at the same time, one in each hand, killing thirteen soldiers in the process. Jessie had sprung forwards to the few remaining soldiers on the other end of the platform, acting quickly before they could attack her.
At once, she withdrew and held her daggers, slashing one of the soldiers straight across the chest with both of them, and the screaming soldier fell to the floor, blood pouring from the wound that had just been opened up in his chest, and he died quickly from it. Jessie then slashed and gutted another soldier with her daggers, killing him at once, then killed two more by ramming a dagger each into their necks at the same time.
Jessie took back her daggers, and then wiped the blood off them, before noticing with horror that one Shinra soldier was still alive, and had aimed his gun right at in the direction of the back of Barret's head, who was none the wiser and would be killed in an instant from the shot.
Letting out a cry of anger, Jessie flung one of her daggers right in the direction of the soldier, who had spun back in surprise to look in her direction, as her dagger flew and stabbed right into his face at once, smashing right through his helmet visor. Jessie winced and looked away in revulsion as the corpse fell dead to the ground without a sound. Barret spun around and realized what had happened, and what could have happened to him just then, if Jessie hadn't saved his life.
"Wow, goddamn…thanks a lot for that, Jessie. I hadn't realized one of them was sneaking up on me, that was a really close call. With so many of these bastards here, it's hard to keep track of them all, and it's a miracle we're not hurt right now after dealing with them, especially me, so thanks again," said Barret, gratefully. Jessie shook her head and shrugged.
"It's no problem, Barret, really. It's just what comrades and friends do for each other, that's all. Anyway, I think Biggs is still coping alright with the soldiers down there, he's keeping them all from coming in still, I can see him all the way down there holding them all off," informed Jessie.
"So far so good then, it's looks like the defence against Shinra is going much better than we could have hoped for so far. Maybe we might just actually succeed after all…maybe Shinra will just give up eventually, and we'll make it out alive," said Wedge hopefully.
"Damn straight, Wedge! We're AVALANCHE, and Shinra always underestimate us to their downfall, and it's the same case this time too! Even if we're smaller than them, we'll bring them down, and they know and fear that we're able to do this too! And with Tifa and Cloud still coming over here to help out, Shinra won't be destroying this Sector!" declared Barret.
Perhaps it was a sudden case of a rather bad and nasty twist of fate, but as soon as the confident and determined words left Barret's mouth, the sound of loud router blades filled the air, and the group watched as a Shinra helicopter suddenly appeared and hovered in mid-air just before the platform of the top of the Pillar where they were.
The side of the helicopter opened up, and out of it stepped Reno of the Turks himself, standing on the big side step of the Shinra helicopter, and clutched in one of his hands, he held the bomb itself, as he sneered over at the three members of the AVALANCHE rebel group, whose hopes of victory had quickly faded away from their minds. Reno shouted out to them.
"Well, AVALANCHE, this is where your short lived and lost cause of rebellion against Shinra is going to end and be buried beneath a mountain of rubble, once and for all! You thought those soldiers were all we had to attack this Pillar, well it looks like Shinra aren't the only ones guilty of underestimating their enemies!" shouted Reno, with a nasty grin.
Barret snarled with rage at the Turk, who had sprung back into the helicopter but left the side door open, as the helicopter suddenly flew around the top platform of the Pillar, aiming its machine guns at the three rebels and opening fire down on them. Barret, Jessie and Wedge all took evasive action, moving out of the way of the line of fire, but were unable to attack the copter as it flew back and fired again, with the group having to avoid its spray of pellets once more.
This cycle continued for a while, with the helicopter flying around the top platform of the Pillar and opening fire on the rebels, while the rebels could only dodge its line of fire, and before they could do their own attack, they had to dodge behind the Pillar yet again to avoid being shot to death by the deadly flying machine. The people in the helicopter, and Barret, Jessie and Wedge all knew however, that the rebels would get tired out eventually, and AVALANCHE were not sure that they could last much longer against this attack from Shinra…