Mako Mistake
The train door slid open noiselessly, and Biggs leapt out of the compartment followed by Wedge, Jessie, Barret, and finally Cloud. As they scattered to look less suspicious, Barret called them over.
"Get over here you buncha fools!" Barret shouted. So much for looking inconspicuous, Cloud thought as the rest of the team came over in a group huddle.
"OK, so we made some mistakes this time," Barret lectured as the rest rolled their eyes at him, "But! Next time, we'll do better. Let's get to the hideout!" Barret shouted, practically yelling to the world that they had blown up the reactor. Fortunately, nobody noticed, and the train was already roaring into gear to return to the top. Every team member ran towards the Sector 7 bar, Seventh Heaven. Cloud followed them; he didn't want to miss out on getting his share of money. As Cloud approached the bar, several people were shooed out of it in a rather forceful manner. Barret followed, cursing like the sky had fallen on his head. After admitting the other three, he planted himself firmly in front of the stairs. Instead of picking a fight with Barret, Cloud patiently waited to be admitted. When Barret grinned, Cloud knew he was about to make another yet horrible joke.
"Don't do that, you're starting to scare me," Cloud said tauntingly to Barret.
"Listen, I know you wanna see your baby," Barret snickered.
"What baby?" Cloud asked, not knowing what on Earth Barret was talking about.
"Never mind…." Barret replied, muttering to himself. Apparently, he found something funny about the situation. Cloud just shrugged and disappeared into the bar. As soon as he entered, a little girl with bobbed brown hair in a magenta dress ran up and yelled "Papa?" as loud as her voice would allow her. Surprised, Cloud jumped back as the girl fled into a corner. The bartender tried to placate the girl before running up to greet him. She was pretty plain to look at. Her hair was a deep brown color, kept together with a simple band, and she didn't wear as much, preferring clothes that guaranteed comfort. A rather small top, short shorts, boots, and leather gloves finished her appearance.
"Hey, Cloud! You made it back safely!" she exclaimed.
"What are you talking about, Tifa? It wasn't even a hard job!" Cloud replied, astonished. The little girl crept closer, hiding behind Tifa and peeked out from behind her.
"Oh, well, I suppose you're right. After all, you were in SOLDIER," Tifa said, "Don't worry about Marlene there, she's just scared of strangers, but you know, it wouldn't hurt to stop acting like a tough guy all the time. It makes me feel like you're different somehow. Distant." Shrugging, Cloud didn't reply. Tifa acted so unusual these days. Looking away from his eyes, Tifa noticed the flower that Cloud had earlier hastily stuffed into his pocket.
"Oh! A flower! You don't see one of those every day. Is it for me?" Tifa inquired, no longer seeming put out.
"Uh, yeah, of course it is," Cloud stammered, fishing out and holding out the flower for Tifa. Up until this very moment, he hadn't quite known what he was going to do with such a useless object. Tifa, however, seemed to be exhilarated.
"Maybe I should fill the shop with flowers. It would smell so nice in here!" Tifa exclaimed, as she placed the flower in a place where everyone could see it. Cloud winced. It wasn't exactly the image he'd come up with about a bar. A bunch of flowers in here? The place would stink up faster than Barret without his deodorant.
"Cloud, did you fight with Barret this time?" Tifa asked in a more serious tone, as if she could read his mind.
"Not this time, even though he was bitching a lot," Cloud replied.
"You've grown up," Tifa observed quietly. Quickly trying to change the subject, she mumbled, "Maybe you should think about staying and fighting with AVALANCHE." Shrugging his shoulders, Cloud stalked off to talk to the group. Wedge, to nobody's surprise, was pigging out on all the food he could possibly stuff in his mouth. At the moment, he appeared to be cleaning his plate of barbecue pork.
"Hey, you wanna know a secret, Cloud?" Wedge forced out through a stuffed mouth, spraying bits of pork all over the table, "The reason I'm so roly-poly is because of Tifa's great cooking. It's irresistible. You wanna try some?"
"Um, no thanks, Wedge. I think I'll pass," Cloud croaked, feeling a bit green. Turning towards Biggs, who was finishing off a bottle of beer, Cloud felt the sick feeling lift.
"Ah," Biggs exclaimed, putting his bottle down with a distinctive thud, "There's nothing like a drink after a tough job!" Cloud rolled his eyes at this remark. The job was easier than pissing off Barret, which was pretty easy to do. Deciding to leave Jessie, who was fiddling with some electronic kit, alone to do her stuff for AVALANCHE's next mission, Cloud headed towards the bar's doors. At this moment, Barret burst into the room. Cloud quickly hopped back onto a table.
"Alright! We're havin' a meeting! Alla ya, get down!" Barret yelled, propping the Marlene on his shoulder as the four other team members followed Barret as he pushed a secret button on the pinball machine
"Hold on a second, Cloud," Tifa called from the bar counter as Cloud started to go down to the hideout. He obliged her by taking a seat at the counter.
"Do you want something to drink?" Tifa asked.
"Alright, get me a Seventh Heaven," Cloud said.
"I'll make one up for you," Tifa said, reaching for various bottles and mixing the contents together. Sliding the mug to Cloud, she knelt over the top of the counter.
"Are you feeling alright?" Tifa asked him.
"What are you so worried about?" Cloud replied, finishing his drink with a satisfying sigh and setting down the mug, "I told you, the job wasn't hard at all. Anyway, I gotta go down and settle my money with Barret. He doesn't seem to want to let go of it." With that, Cloud stood and took the elevator down to the hideout. There, he found Biggs and Wedge lounging on old, worn leather couches chatting, their feet propped up on a crudely build coffee table. A bulletin board full of news clippings and photographs of the reactors was stuck onto the wall behind them, used for planning the missions that they embarked on. Jessie mumbled quietly to herself as she stared intently at another monitor full of meaningless information with her eyes screwed up in concentration. A newsreel, playing next to the computer terminal, was documenting the recent explosion at the reactor. Next to the TV screen, several sheets of paper with hand-drawn diagrams and scrawled writing were carelessly tacked onto the end onto the wall. Barret stood in the corner, beating a beaten punch bag to a pulp. Marlene sat on a cabinet next to him, cheering him on. He's gonna need a new punch bag sometime soon at this rate, Cloud thought.
"What? I made a mistake with the bomb!" Jessie suddenly exclaimed from her position at the terminal, "No wonder the explosion was too big, I only inserted four grams of clay capacitors into the bomb, I was supposed to put in six!"
"Jessie, what the hell are you talkin' about?" Barret asked cluelessly.
"Nothing, Barret, I just found out I made a minor error in making the bomb. No wonder the newsmen are talking so much about the explosion! It came out too big!" Jessie explained to Barret, who was even more confused than he originally was.
"I want to talk about my money," Cloud said loudly and clearly, walking straight up to Barret.
"Alright, just one question though," Barret grunted, dropping his baffled visage and taking one last swipe at the bag, "Was there anyone from SOLDIER at the reactor?"
"No, I'm sure of it," Cloud said promptly.
"How do you know?" Barret asked suspiciously.
"If there were someone from SOLDIER, you wouldn't be here right now," Cloud retorted.
"Listen, you might be some bad ass guy from SOLDIER, but in AVALANCHE you're just a scrawny new recruit!" Barret bellowed, clearly pissed off by Cloud's remark.
"Let's go up and talk about my money," Cloud said, drawing himself up to his full height. Going back up the elevator, Cloud found Tifa waiting for him. Heading towards the door, Tifa suddenly called out, "Cloud! Aren't you going to stay and fight for AVALANCHE?"
"Why? Why should I?" Cloud asked.
"Don't you remember our promise? Tifa asked him.
"Promise?" Cloud wondered, baffled.
"So you did forget… Remember? It was seven years ago." Tifa prompted as Cloud struggled to remember what the promise was.
"Yeah, I remember now. I was waiting for you at the well. You know, that old one that nobody ever used. It was made of wood, with an iron pipe coming out of it. That well was ancient! Anyway, it was getting kinda cold, and I thought you weren't going to come." Cloud reminisced.
"But I showed up, didn't I?" Tifa asked.
"Yeah, I kinda remember our conversation. I told you I was going to leave town to go to Midgar. You didn't seem very surprised."
"Well, there was no reason for me to be surprised. After all, all the boys were leaving for Midgar at that time."
"Right, but you didn't sound very surprised when I announced I was going to try and join SOLDIER. You kinda just mulled over it."
"No, I was surprised. You probably don't remember that part."
"Well, I guess that was when you made me promise that when I joined SOLDIER and became famous, I'd come and rescue you."
"Well, I would have liked to have the feeling of being swept off of my feet by a hero at least once in my life," Tifa protested.
"Well, I'm no hero and I'm not famous, so the promise doesn't hold." Cloud answered.
"But you got your childhood dream, didn't you? You joined SOLDIER." Tifa prompted, as Barret climbed up the elevator.
"Well," Cloud wavered, not wanting to continue the conversation in front of Barret, "All right, whatever. It doesn't make much of a difference to me."
"I ain't forgotten 'bout your share," Barret said, slapping 1,500 Gil in Cloud's outstretched hand for his payment.
"This is my pay? Don't make me laugh. But I'll do the next job, for 3,000 Gil." Cloud said, leafing through the bills. Barret went into a rage, yelling random curses. Tifa tried to calm him down.
"Shh, Barret, it's OK. We're really just trying to get him onto AVALANCHE, right? So we're really hurting for help." Tifa said.
"That money's for Marlene's schooling!" Barret grumbled as he stalked away. Before going back down, he yelled, "2,000! You'll do it for 2,000 and not a Gil more! I already got the plans done for the next mission, so ya better get your scrawny SOLDIER ass some rest!" and disappeared. Shrugging, Cloud thought, "I'm in for another night I guess," and slunk off to get some rest before the next mission.
The next morning, Cloud found himself alone in the hideout. Biggs, Jessie, and Wedge were probably waiting for him. Tifa was gone too. She probably had to tend the bar. Groaning, Cloud got to his feet and went up to the bar. He found Tifa and Barret waiting for him there. Marlene was standing behind the counter. He could barely see her behind it.
"Our target's the Sector 5 reactor," Barret said briefly.
"This time, I'm going with you," Tifa told Cloud. Shrugging, Cloud had no choice but to go along.
"Then let's get going," he said. As Tifa, Barret, and Cloud left to visit the weapons store, Barret stopped them.
"Uh, I don't really know how to cast magic and all that," he said sheepishly.
"What are you talking about?" Cloud inquired, "It's really simple. Didn't you ever learn how to use magic?"
"I never did nothin' like that! I always depended on my trusty gun!" Barret said defensively.
"Well, if you want to cast magic, there's a couple of simple things you gotta do," Cloud explained, "First, you have to locate your, well, pool of magic."
"Pool of magic? What the hell is that?"
"It's in here," Cloud said, tapping Barret's chest, "It's the best I can explain it. You have to reach in, with you mind, not your hand, and take the magic from there."
"What? Whaddya mean by 'reach in' huh? This is so goddamn confusin',"
"Well, close your eyes and just think about magic in general. You'll find it sooner or later," Cloud continued despite Barret's constant interruptions, "Second, you have to know which Materia does what. It takes some time, but you'll be able to differentiate between one Materia and the other sometime."
"This is so goddamn confusin'," Barret grumbled.
"When you have Materia, you can reach in with your mind and the Materia will sorta tell you what it is and what it can do. Most of it is in something like mental pictures. You'll know the feeling when you get it. By the way, if you're really good, you can draw the magic out of the Materia so you don't need direct contact with the Materia." Cloud simply couldn't resist his little gibe at Barret's apparent stupidity.
"Alright, fine! I don't give a damn what you decide to do! It might make sense in that spiky head of yours, but it don't make any sense in mine. But I'll practice whatever shit you told me to do, and it had better work!" Barret cursed, all the newly acquired information jumbled together in his head, "What about that Materia we found in the reactor?"
"That one? It enables a person cast Cure, which physically refreshes a person and might even heal minor cuts and scratches. It could be really useful during future missions, provided we meet the same kind of security," Cloud said.
Visiting the weapons man, they each bought one of the newly stocked iron bangles, which were much more efficient in using the wearer's energy than the old bronze bangles they had been wearing. Going up to the next floor, Cloud found some blue support Materia, which could be paired with green magic Materia to amplify its effects. Cloud had decided to bypass that lesson because of Barret's limited short-term memory. Heading out of the door to meet up with Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie at the station, some random man stopped them.
"Hey, you guys might find this thing useful. I found it on the streets, but I don't have any idea how to use it. You're probably better off having it," the stranger said, handing Cloud a piece of fire Materia. Cloud just shrugged, took the green sphere, and left, slipping the Materia into his pocket where the rest of the Materia were.
After meeting the rest of the group, they all piled into the train. Once in the train, the occupants fearfully rushed towards the other compartments save one: a Shinra manager. You could tell he was a manager because of his fancy red suit, which was a mark of wealth and power. He did, however, sit at the end of the row of seats and attempt to be nonchalant while he was really quaking in his shoes. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie moved up the train to secure the compartments. Barret, however, ran up to the poor guy to harass him, Barret's idea of "getting ready" before a mission.
"Well, look at that! It got empty alluva sudden!" Barret exclaimed as the manager mumbled something inaudible. Seizing his chance, Barret hovered over the Shinra manager.
"You say somethin'?" Barret inquired. When the Shinra manager remained silent, Barret repeated in a louder voice, "I said, 'You say something'?'"
The terrified passenger managed to stammer, "It-It's because of you guys! And that group, AVALANCHE!"
"Oh yeah?" Barret growled, clearly enjoying this moment, "Well, AVALANCHE is promising more fireworks, and the bangs get bigger every time!" At this point, Tifa was afraid that Barret might give something away.
"I'm a devoted Shinra employee, I'd go to work even if AVALANCHE is around!" The guy said, gaining courage, just as Tifa came and shushed Barret away before he practically gave away their mission. Reclining in another seat, Barret casually told Cloud, "We're jumpin' offa dis train in three minutes."
"Why?" Cloud asked, confused. Why couldn't they just take the train to the reactor like last time?
"Cuz Shinra's onto somethin', and we gotta fool them. That's why we're jumpin' offa dis train," Barret explained incoherently.
"Hey! Cloud, come over here and check out this animation with me," Tifa called out to him. Cloud obliged as Tifa started the animation.
"I've already seen this thing before. It's not too interesting," Cloud told her.
"Oh, you have? Well, you can just get-" Tifa began, but was interrupted by a loud blaring noise. Biggs ran into the compartment.
"Shit, boss, we've been detected," Biggs relayed to Barret frantically.
Unidentified passengers located in car 6, came the automated loud speaker.
"Tifa, Cloud, put your asses inta gear, we're gonna jump offa this train now!" Barret commanded.
"The only way to get out is to move up the train car by car," Biggs told Barret, "Hurry! They're locking the doors!" As they rushed into the next car, the train's alarm system followed them. Unidentified passengers located in car 5, came the monotone voice. They met up with Wedge and Jessie in compartment 3.
"Jessie! What the hell's goin' on?" Barret bellowed.
"I'll tell you about it later. Go! They're conducting another scan! We'll meet up with you later," Jessie quickly briefed. With that, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie ran off.
"Somebody screwed up pretty bad," Barret grumbled as he, Tifa, and Cloud rushed after them. In the second car, they found a guard, an old guy, and a fat guy knocked out cold and without clothes.
"Somebody did a quick job," Cloud murmured quietly as he hopped over them. When they got into the first compartment, they found Wedge, Biggs, and Jessie in their recently acquired disguises. The Shinra guard, who was really Jessie, slid the door open and covered the door to the conductor's compartment. Wedge and Biggs stood around looked innocent, but were ready to take on anyone to come through here.
"We're safe for now," Barret said, "Tifa, you go first."
"OK. Cloud, I'm going to jump."
"Fine, jump already," Cloud urged.
"Aren't you scared? It's a scary jump," Tifa teased.
"Tifa! Jump already, you're holdin' up the rest of us!" Barret yelled.
"OK, I'm really going to do it!" Tifa said as she leapt out of the train and into the tunnels.
"Cloud, you next. The leader has gotta be the last," Barret commanded, placing a heavy emphasis on the word 'leader', "Don't get your spiky ass hurt, the mission hasn't even begun yet!" Cloud shrugged and swung out of the train with practiced ease. After whispering some quick instructions to the rest of the team about their locations, Barret jumped out without much grace and landed heavily on both feet. He then backtracked a bit to where Tifa and Cloud were gathered.
"OK, hotshot, where to now?" Barret asked Cloud.
"How am I supposed to know? I didn't build these rails ya know!" Cloud said indignantly, "But I think I know which way to go. We can follow this path back a bit and it should take us to an exit point soon. From there, we can find our way to Reactor No. 5. It'll take some time, but it's the best plan we've got."
"Good, let's go then!" Barret said as Cloud led them through the tunnel. The walls were lined with pipes, cables, and vents. The lighting was dim, for there was little reason for anyone to be in the tunnels. As they neared an unusual kind of constriction in the tunnels, Cloud's soldier instincts told him to stay put.
"Hold on, I don't think we should keep moving just yet," Cloud warned as Barret took a step towards the slightly constricted section of the tunnel.
"Why the hell not?" Barret asked, hitting the safety catch on his gun, "Why don' we jes tell us what you're thinkin' for cryin' out loud?"
"Just hold on a second," Cloud spat impatiently as he took a more careful look at the constriction. Dancing red dots caught his attention, "There are sensors here. If we try and go through, Shinra may be alerted to our presence."
"Then what the hell are we doin' here?" Barret yelled furiously, "I don' know why I let you lead the way when we're on a tight schedule like now! Cloud took a quick look around to look for an opening. His eyes drifted from the laser sensors to the side of the tunnel where he discovered a large vent.
"Hey! I'm talkin' to you, hotshot," Barret yelled, "So you brought us here and now there's no way out!"
"I didn't say there wasn't a way out," Cloud said, walking over and inspecting the cover, finally kicking open the vent.
"Oh no, you don' expect me to fit in that little hole, do ya?" Barret whimpered.
"Well, it looks like it's the only way through. You gonna take it or leave it?" Cloud inquired.
"Where's it go?" Barret whined.
"Well, if you know how to read, you can see for yourself. But since we're on this 'tight schedule', I should probably just tell you. This is the escape hatch from the Reactor No. 5 maintenance pipes. We're just lucky that Shinra required alternate escape routes for the maintenance crews in case of emergencies. The train tunnels are littered with them."
"Alright, but if something goes wrong it's your fault!" Barret snapped as he crawled into the vent head first, barely fitting in the tiny space, "Damn, this thing gives me the creeps!"
"Ah, just go and don't think about it," Cloud said calmly, giving Barret a light push to go faster. He heard Barret cursing as he squeezed himself along. A flurry of curses followed almost immediately. "Alright, Tifa, you next." After Tifa climbed through, Cloud slid down the vent. It was a big vent, and something bothered Cloud.
"Lucky this vent's so big," Tifa sighed, relieved. After crawling for what seemed to be an eternity, the trio of saboteurs found themselves at a steel grating. Barret, being first, smashed his gun-arm into the grating, knocking it loose. Another whack popped the grating from the vent, and Barret tumbled out onto a platform. Tifa and Cloud followed with considerably more grace than Barret.
"Do you know which reactor this is? We gotta make sure it's Reactor No. 5," Barret asked.
"Well, I seem to remember telling you that we were using the Reactor No. 5 escape hatch. Anyway, that's Wedge over there, do you think it's him?" Cloud said sarcastically, pointing a finger across the plaza at a round, yellow lump in the distance.
"Yeah, that's him. It's sheer dumb luck that we ended up at the right reactor," Barret grunted, heaving his huge body over a rusty ladder. The three of them descended down to the plaza level and ran up to Wedge.
"Hey, I thought you guys weren't going to come! Jessie and Biggs are at their positions. You guys had better go, I'll meet up with you later," Wedge reported as they climbed the stairs to get to where Jessie was supposed to be. Arriving at a small, steel chamber, the trio met Jessie.
"This is one of the maintenance vents. It should lead you straight into the reactor plaza just before the long descent of ladders. The space may be a bit small, but you should all be able to fit in them. From there, you should be able to find your way out since the blueprints for all of the reactors are the exact same," Jessie explained to them.
"OK, Whatever, Jessie, what the hell happened on the train?" Barret asked.
"Oh, that. It was my fault. I was trying to modify the ID cards while we were on the train and the security system detected me," Jessie said, hanging her head in shame.
"Did they know who it was you were trying to fix?" Barret asked anxiously. They had to cover their steps from Shinra.
"No, they didn't. The system just knew someone was messing around with ID cards, and that's what set it off."
"Come on, Barret, we have to hurry up. We already lost time getting here in the first place," Cloud reminded.
"Yeah, you're right. Let's go," Barret said, suddenly sounding anxious. They had wasted enough time already. With that, the three crawled into yet another tight-fitting passage. After a few minutes, however, Tifa, Barret, and Cloud found themselves standing on the chrome floor of the reactor plaza, where Biggs was waiting for them.
"Barret! Cloud! Tifa! Glad you were able to make it here. I was starting to think you were going to abort the mission!" Biggs exclaimed.
"Not now, Biggs. Listen, We're already in a dangerous position from the incident on the train, so I want you to go back and pick up Wedge and Jessie. We'll meet out in front of the reactor at the rendezvous point." The three ran across the floor and loudly crashed through the door. Now was not the time to be stealthy. It was the time to move with unprecedented speed. It was likely that Shinra was already alerted to their presence.
After entering the reactor's piping, Cloud loosened his sword, ready to fight in a pinch. Climbing down the ladders, Cloud and Barret made clanking sounds, as they weren't concerned as much with stealth. Tifa, however, descended the ladders with great alacrity, and she barely made a sound doing it. She was catlike; the heights did not impair her speed and silence. As they neared the reactor, Tifa took guard next to the reactor in case of attack while Cloud was setting the bomb. Barret took his place guarding the rear in case of an attack from behind. Since Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge weren't able to give them cover, it was up to the three of them to hold off any security. As Cloud moved to set the bomb, he caught a quick glimpse of Tifa standing there. Somehow, seeing Tifa in this particular context triggered a residual memory about a reactor in the past. Cloud suddenly recalled seeing Tifa knelt over a dead body and a huge, curved sword. "SOLDIER, reactors, Shinra, I hate them all…" Someone said that, but who? And why?
"Hey! Get a hold on yourself, man!" Barret interrupted suddenly, breaking Cloud's line of thought.
"Sorry, Barret. Tifa, were you-" Cloud began, but stopped after the first few words.
"Was I what?" Tifa asked him.
"Never mind, it's nothing," Cloud said, brushing away the topic. With that, he quickly set the timer for the bomb. After setting the bomb, Cloud expected another metal scorpion to pop out of nowhere, but nothing happened.
"Mebbe they have their alarm systems disabled," Barret said hopefully. As they ascended the ladders and pounded up the stairs, the Tifa punched in the access codes scrawled on a small piece of paper sporting Jessie's untidy scrawl. Her pianist fingers moved like lightning as they darted from one number to the next. Despite the mistake on the train, they managed to arrive at a T-shaped bridge without incident.
"We made it outta there! Now, all we gotta do-" Barret trailed, his expression of triumph turning into an expression of worry, as Shinra troops ran out of their exit, the left branch of the bridge.
"I thought there was something wrong with the lack of security," Cloud mumbled to himself as the three took a defensive stance. A rather squatty, fat man in a red suit and neatly combed, though thinning, hair appeared behind the troop of soldiers.
"What the hell is going on, Cloud?" Barret whispered fiercely.
"It has to be a trap, I think we triggered Shinra's mainframe computer when Jessie tried to modify our ID cards," Cloud whispered back.
"Well, well, look what we caught in our net," the man said, protected by the soldiers.
"Mr. President," Cloud said, breaking the defensive stance and walking towards the fat man, "Long time no see."
"Which one are you, traitor?" President Shinra spat out. "You were part of SOLDIER, were you not?"
"You're right in one. My name's Cloud," Cloud answered.
"Well, I don't remember you. I can't be expected to remember everyone's name," the president said, shrugging his shoulders, "Unless, of course, you become another Sephiroth. There never was another like him. You, of course, won't be allowed that chance. Not after you betrayed the Shinra like this. No, I'm going to have to-"
"What? So you think you can take us out with that measly guard of yours, huh?" Barret interrupted, "So you're President Shinra, eh?"
"And who might you be?" the president asked, annoyed by the interruption.
"Me? I'm the leader of AVALANCHE!" Barret crowed, apparently trying to impress the leader of the world's largest corporation.
"Oh, you're that bunch of rabble," the president sighed, unimpressed.
"What! Rabble?" Barret yelled furiously, "What are you? All ya Shinra are vermin, and you're President Shinra, so I guess that would make you king vermin!"
"Well, I suppose that you mean what you say," the president stated vaguely, walking away, "If you are finished now, I must go. I'm a very important man, I presume you understand?"
"I don' care if you're the king of the world!" Barret shouted after his retreating form, "Hey! I'm not done with you yet!" At these words, the president turned around and strode back, saying, "Of course, I wouldn't go without leaving you all a little present." With that, he snapped his fingers and an enormous jet-black hoverbot swung into view from the third branch of the bridge. It sported heavy guns with a diameter comparable to that of an oil tank. This one was more humanoid, with enormous arms and fists. The mere sight of it gave the impression that it could squeeze the breath out of you with one hand. In addition to its guns, it appeared that there was a whole arsenal of weapons concealed in various parts of its body. A yellow insignia in the center of its torso told Cloud that the Shinra Weapons department created it.
"Ah, yes. I present you the Airbuster. Our Weapons Development Department developed it. I believe that the information it extracts from your dead bodies will be extremely useful to us. After all, Shinra does need to eliminate all traces of AVALANCHE from Midgar at the very least," President Shinra said. Turning his attention to the soldiers, he ordered, "Make sure they die. I don't want any uncertainties, and I especially don't want any more trouble from AVALANCHE. Remember, there's a big bonus in it for you."
"Yes, President Shinra, sir!" The six soldiers chorused, saluting.
"Very well. In that case, I really must be going," the president said, continuing to exit. The soldiers simultaneously cocked their guns and the Airbuster zoomed in, cutting Cloud off from Barret and Tifa. Quickly throwing himself into the action, Cloud jumped in among the soldiers, sweeping them off their feet. Those soldiers who managed to evade Cloud's leg were given a resounding whack in the stomach from Cloud's enormous sheath, which was strapped on his back. After tripping the soldiers, Cloud immediately set to work completely neutralizing them by striking their heads with his sword. Those soldiers were likely to lose a few IQ points, but Cloud wasn't about to lose any sleep over it. He still had the robot to deal with. Swerving around, he found the machine in heavy combat with Tifa and Barret.
While Cloud was busy taking out the soldiers, the hoverbot swung a mighty fist in Tifa's direction. However, Tifa not only had a pianist's fingers, she was also highly trained in a powerful hand-to-hand type of fighting. It took a great deal of inner strength to achieve such a high level of unarmed fighting, but the result was well worth the long years of hardship. With both fists, Tifa managed to stop its attack. The robot strained to overpower her, but Tifa showed no signs of weakening. Unfortunately, since she was unarmed, it was difficult for her to make a fruitful assault on the machine. Nonetheless, she was able to keep the machine from knocking her into oblivion. Meanwhile, Barret plugged away at the robot's head, trying to take out its sensing equipment. Empty shells popped from Barret's gun, hitting the floor with a clear clinking sound. By the time Cloud finished off the last of the soldiers, Barret was already reloading his gun for the third time and the robot still showed little signs of weakening. With a running start, Cloud sped towards the back of the robot and jumped, kicking off on a railing and the hoverbot's base. Gripping his sword tightly, Cloud slammed his sword down as hard has he could, expecting the quick jolt from the robot's shielding. However, just before Cloud had brought down his blade, Barret had gotten a lucky shot, hitting a valve on the robot's Mako tanks. Doing that did not permanently disable the shield, but it flickered for a tiny instant, a fraction of a second. However, it was just enough as Cloud's sword tore through the metal behind it, ripping the steel. Just then, the machine regained control of its energy and threw back up its shield. The next instant, Cloud found himself tumbling head over heels across the bridge. In a sudden burst of renewed energy, the robot broke through Tifa's hold, throwing her several yards as she tumbled across another section of the bridge.
If the machine could roar, it would certainly have done so at that point. At that point, it was unchecked. It pointed its huge guns towards Barret and fired mercilessly. Under a hail of bullet the size of cannonballs, Barret was forced back until Cloud came up from behind and slammed his sword into its fuel cell area, effectively knocking out some of its power. At that, the robot's systems flickered for a just a second, but that was enough for Cloud to cut more of the flow pipes that ferried Mako energy to its systems. Not knowing which one did what, Cloud did the obvious and simply cut as many of the pipes supplying power to the machine as he possibly could. Sensing that it was under attack, the machine twisted sharply, throwing Cloud off of its base. However, at that point, several hundred rounds of bullets from Barret's gun riddled it with bullet holes. Luckily for Barret, one of the shells had penetrated the outer shell and hit not the processing unit, but capacitors. This, in turn caused an overflow of unchecked energy flowing through the machine's systems. As its circuits fried, a single spark near the Mako tanks, still pumping fuel through the robot's systems caused an explosion equivalent to that of a small nuclear device, but within a highly condensed range. The machine itself had absolutely no chance of surviving an explosion like that, as the very air around it vibrated and rippled from the blast, bending the light beams as they went through it. Tifa hobbled over to Barret as Cloud came from the other end. All three were exhausted from the fight, but as Tifa was congratulating Barret on his wonderful shot, the section of the bridge that Cloud was standing on suddenly gave way. Unable to react quickly enough, Cloud desperately hung onto the mangled iron mesh that supported the inner layer of the bridge.
"Cloud! Are you OK?" Tifa yelled out in concern, "Barret! Do something!"
"What the hell do you think I'm gonna do?" Barret yelled, as the gap was easily two or three yards long.
"Don't worry, I'll be alright. I can get out of this crazy fix by myself," Cloud called back, reaching for another part of the broken mesh. Cloud might have been able to get back onto the bridge, but at that moment, the bomb they had planted deep in the reactor exploded, rocking the entire structure. The sharp jolt of the bridge caused Cloud to lose his hold. Desperately grabbing for the bridge, Cloud found nothing in his fist but air. Tifa and Barret watched helplessly as he fell, seeing him disappear as he dropped into the icy mist to whatever lay below.