ELEVEN

The train screeched to a halt at the Sector 1 station with a loud hiss of steam and a squealing of brakes. On the platform, two Shinra guards armed with rifles walked over to inspect the disembarking passengers. I nodded to Biggs, and he nodded back, slipping quietly out of sight to get into position. One of the guards made his way over to a junction in between two cars while the other headed toward the front of the train. I braced myself to move, my muscles tensed.

As soon as he got close enough, I sprang out and slammed my fist into his stomach before he even knew what was happening. The guard barely managed a startled grunt before I dragged him out of sight. And by then, Biggs had already grabbed the second guard from behind and was holding him steady for me. With a smirk, I ran down the platform and hit him square in the chest with a flying roundhouse kick just like Tifa had taught me, knocking him out cold.

As Biggs dragged the guard out of sight, Barret and Wedge quickly hopped off the train. Barret nodded to us, and after we'd done the same to him, we hurried back up the platform and slipped into the shadows on either side of the station's entrance, Biggs on the left and Wedge and I on the right. Once we were in position, I watched as Cloud did a high somersault off of the roof of the train and landed neatly on the ground, shouldering his sword and looking every bit like the complete and total sexy badass that he was. Damn, he was hot.

Barret beckoned to him. "Get movin', merc. This way."

After a pair of guards hurried outside and right past us to see what was going on, I nodded to Biggs and Wedge. We snuck into the station, keeping out of sight of more guards inside and hiding behind the brick walls on either side of the turnstiles. Amidst the sounds of fighting and gunfire, Barret joined Biggs on the right while Wedge and I hid on the left. Only a moment later, Cloud strode calmly into the station as well, sword in hand. The two guards rushed him at once.

"Who in the hell…?" one of them gaped.

As soon as they passed us and Cloud started slashing away, the rest of us jumped over the turnstiles one after another and hurried onward. But as I made my leap, I couldn't resist looking back for just a moment to wave at Cloud and flash him a little grin.

"Have fun!" I laughed.

Once I reached the other side, I turned and ran after the others up the stairs, hearing Cloud kicking ass behind me as I did. The upper exit was on the far side of the second level, off to our left across a large area where passengers usually waited until it was time to board the train. As we hurried outside onto a brick walkway overlooking the platform, the train stood still and silent just below us.

A moment later, we reached the gate at the far end, and high above the concrete outer wall of the reactor complex, that huge furnace stood in the night billowing thick clouds of smog. My nose curled as soon as the acrid smell of mako hit it, but I did my best to ignore it as I quickly knelt down in front of the gate with Biggs to get the lock open. Taking out a little electronic device with a dialpad, I plugged it into the control panel mounted nearby and got to work.

"So far, so good…" Biggs murmured on my left.

I nodded. "Yeah. Don't jinx it now."

Wedge was standing watch nearby. "Don't worry! We can pull this off. Kinda hard to believe we're here, though."

"I know what you mean," I agreed, my eyes on the panel.

"Gonna take a look 'round, guys," Barret said, adjusting his shades. "Be back soon. An' spread out. Don't let people see ya hangin' 'round in a group. That'd look pretty suspicious."

Biggs gave him a thumbs up. "Right, boss."

Satisfied, Barret lumbered off to the right down another section of the walkway to look at another closed gate and make sure no one could come through that way and surprise us. We had enough trouble ahead already. I tapped a few buttons on the dialpad and watched closely as it scanned the panel's memory for the passcode.

"So, this merc…" Biggs said dryly. "A real joy to work with."

I grinned. "A real joy to look at, too."

He rolled his eyes. "Here we go… got it bad, don'tcha?"

"Well…" I chuckled, blushing a little.

Before Biggs could go any further, Cloud showed up, saving me the trouble of going on about how much I liked him and getting teased for it by both Biggs and Wedge. I glanced over my shoulder for a moment and saw Cloud walk up to us. Wedge gave him a thumbs up, but Cloud didn't return it. He just folded his arms in front of him. Wedge sighed, lowered his arm, and resumed his lookout duty.

Biggs stood up and waved at Cloud. "Hey! Guess you really were a SOLDIER, weren't ya? No doubt about it. I'm kinda surprised you'd be here with us in Avalanche, though."

"Wait, what?" I looked up, surprised in spite of myself. Looked like my hunch was right. "SOLDIER? He's one of them?"

Biggs glanced at me and shook his head. "Not anymore. He's one of us now, Jessie. You oughta know that better than anyone after all those times he saved your ass. Remember?"

I did, all too well. Although I'd suspected that Cloud might've been a SOLDIER from the glow in his eyes, hearing Biggs just blurting it out like that had caught me off guard. But as I thought about all Cloud had done for me, I knew I didn't have any reason to worry. It also explained why he was able to kick so much ass in a fight with barely an effort. He might've been a SOLDIER, but like Kunsel, he was still a decent guy in spite of it. And I knew that I could trust him.

"Oh…" I giggled sheepishly. "I guess that's true."

Chuckling to himself as I focused on the gate, Biggs turned to look at Cloud. "So, what was your name again?"

He sighed. "Cloud."

"Glad to meet ya, Cloud. My name's—"

"Don't bother," he cut him off so hard I flinched. "I'm only here for this one job. And when it's done, we're done."

As I kept working, I looked over my shoulder at him and sighed. It seemed he really was leaving. My heart ached as it suddenly hit me that this might be the last night I ever saw him. I didn't want him to go, but he seemed dead set on it. It wasn't going to be the same with him gone. He was a part of my life now. I didn't wanna lose him. While I checked the dialpad, Barret came back, a scowl on his face.

"The hell is this, a moron convention!?" he barked. "Quit movin' in a group! Or are y'all tryin' to get caught?"

Biggs blinked, and we both flinched. "Sorry, boss."

Barret grunted as he waited behind us. "Forget it. We hittin' Mako Reactor 1 tonight, so get your asses to the bridge!"

Almost as if on cue, there was a beep just a few seconds later as my homemade lockbreaker finally deciphered the passcode. It displayed a short string of numbers across the screen above the dialpad in a row of bright green digits, and I quickly tapped them into the control panel by the gate. As soon as I did, the nearby light switched from red to green, and the massive metal doors slowly slid open.

"Easy money…" I grinned, murmuring quietly to myself.

While I quickly unplugged my lockbreaker and put it back into my belt pouch, Biggs drew his gun and headed into the reactor complex. I pulled out the A32, gripped it in both hands, and hurried in after him, my heart pounding with excitement. After so much time and planning, we were really doing this. It was really happening.

Above me and to my left loomed the reactor itself. It was huge, way bigger than I'd imagined. I'd never seen one this close before. It sent up massive clouds of mako smog into the night sky, blotting out the stars, and the smell made my nose curl. Behind me, I thought I heard Barret and Cloud arguing again, with Wedge caught in the middle. Although I couldn't quite make out what they were saying, I didn't really need to. No doubt Barret was being suspicious again.

The reactor complex was like a maze, and it was made of different areas enclosed by chain link fences. There were several stacks of crates and supplies here and there, materials for the reactor. I followed Biggs through a narrow path that made a few turns, down a ramp, and into a lower section with another fence on the far end. Past it was a path that led further into the complex. We stopped here.

"Any idea how to get through, Jessie?" Biggs asked quietly, his eyes darting around the area. "Can't turn back now."

I nodded. "Leave it to me!"

He chuckled when I took my mini blowtorch out of my belt pouch and got to work burning a hole through the locked gate. "Damn, seems like you've got everything in there, don'tcha?"

"Just about," I agreed, shielding my eyes as I worked.

I heard Barret and Wedge walk up a moment later, but I didn't look around to see them. Instead, I just focused on what I was doing as they watched. Cloud joined us just as I was nearly finished, and when I was finally done, the large, circular section of chain link fence that I'd been cutting through fell to the ground with a clatter. After switching off my blowtorch, I quickly put it back in my belt pouch and crawled through the hole. Barret and Wedge followed me, but Biggs waited a moment to say something to Cloud and point behind him.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw a pair of Shinra guards hurrying down the ramp along with one of those ugly, black-furred hounds just a few feet ahead of them. Cloud drew his sword and sprang into action as Biggs fired a few parting shots before following the rest of us. Barret motioned for me to keep moving, so I did, making my way through the collection of crates, boxes, and more tucked along the metal walls, and the sounds of fighting rose up behind us.

We came to another enclosed area with a few power generators on the left, storage bays off to our right, and a pair of tall, thick steel doors standing closed at the far end. Barret led us over to the doors, and once we got there, we finally stopped for a moment to catch our breath. And as we did, Cloud emerged from the way we'd come and hurried over to join us, his sword hanging on his back again and those irresistible baby blue eyes of his finding me almost at once. I sighed longingly, lost for a moment in his gaze, before finally looking away.

Biggs tried turning a valve wheel by the doors, but it wouldn't even budge at first. Then he pushed on it again, grunting with exertion, and this time it finally moved, but only a little. The metal doors slowly slid open a crack as we all watched and waited. But that was all. Sweaty and panting for breath, Biggs looked at Cloud.

"Damn, this sucker's heavy," he grimaced, wiping his forehead and stepping away. "How 'bout you give it a go, Cloud?"

With a shrug, Cloud took hold of the wheel in both hands just like Biggs had, then started turning it in a counterclockwise direction same as before. Only with that amazing SOLDIER strength of his, the wheel moved a lot more easily, or at least he made it look that way. The metal screeched in protest, but before long, the doors had opened all the way. Cloud pressed a button next to the wheel to lock them in place, then he let go and stepped back, barely even winded.

I winked at him. "You've got some good arms on ya!"

He nodded slightly to me, and it felt like things were still okay with us. Didn't seem to mind that I knew he'd been a SOLDIER, but I wasn't sure why he hadn't told me in the first place. I didn't really blame him, though. I had plenty of secrets of my own, like I'd told him before we'd had that nice pizza dinner together after our first trip across the slums. It felt as if that night had been almost a lifetime ago. Had it really been only two months? It seemed longer somehow.

Shrugging off my thoughts, I followed Barret and the guys through the open gate and outside onto the bridge. The slums were far below us as we hurried across the main catwalk, and in the distance to our left, I could see the ugly tower that was the Shinra Building looming over the rest of the city. Thick fumes of mako smog swirled in the air overhead, and to our right at the far end of the bridge's short arm was the reactor itself. Barret, Biggs, and I made a hard right and jogged toward it while Wedge took his position at the other gate.

Barret glanced darkly at Cloud, who was just hurrying out onto the bridge as we neared the entrance. "Keep up!"

"C'mon, Cloud!" I waved as I ran. "This way!"

Not waiting for him to follow us, I raced across the bridge and into the reactor with Barret and Biggs. It was quieter inside, with huge pipes and a high ceiling as we slipped into the entryway and up a short flight of stairs to the first door. Next to it on the left was a computer console, and Biggs got right to work navigating through the system to enter one of the passcodes that I'd swiped and open the door. While he did that, I stood on the other side, my eyes alert and my gun still in my hands, as Barret waited impatiently for Cloud to catch up.

He did only a moment later, and when I looked over at him, he let his eyes meet mine for a moment, then folded his arms in front of him and stood there, his cute, boyish face just as cool and collected as ever. That, of course, only seemed to piss Barret off even more, and I figured that was exactly what Cloud had intended.

"Ain't your first peek at a reactor, is it?" Barret grunted.

Cloud shook his head. "No. I've been in them before. Don't tell me you forgot I was on Shinra's payroll."

"Not for a goddamn minute!" Barret growled. "Now you listen up! Mako energy runs throughout the planet. People use it all the time, but they ain't got the memo on what it really is. How 'bout you?"

"Not really," Cloud shrugged.

Barret glared at him, unsurprised. "Didn't think so, SOLDIER boy. Mako's the lifeblood of this planet. Shinra's usin' these reactors to drain it dry. The hell else you think they're here for?"

Cloud sighed. "Forget the speeches. Let's just get this done."

"Fine!" Barret scowled. Then he took a step forward and hefted his gun-arm. "But from here on, you're stayin' right where I can see ya. An' remember, one false move… an' it's game over!"

I rolled my eyes but didn't say anything, knowing he wouldn't have listened anyway. Barret was being as stubborn as I'd expected. Not that it seemed to bother Cloud any. He just stood there, totally calm. When he glanced at me again, I gave him a little smile, wanting him to know I still trusted him no matter what Barret said.

"Biggs and I have the passcodes for the doors," I explained, though he knew that already. It was really just more of a way for us to pass the time than anything else. "He'll get this one open soon."

And he did, less than a minute later. There was a soft beep, and the console's display changed. As the locking mechanisms disengaged with a clang, Biggs flashed us a grin and tapped in a final command to open the door while the rest of us readied ourselves.

Then he pumped his fist. "Got it! Damn, I'm good!"

As soon as the door hissed open, Cloud drew his sword and led us inside. Biggs and I hurried after him as Barret brought up the rear. But the room wasn't empty. A trio of grunts sprang at us almost as soon as we got in, firing energy bolts and slashing at us with their claws as they jumped around. While Cloud laid into them with a whirlwind of slices and cuts, I dashed to the left and Biggs went right, both of us firing our guns as Barret backed us up from behind.

We missed almost as much as we hit what with how fast the grunts moved, but we didn't let up for a moment. I dodged their swiping claws as much as I could, shooting at the grunt in front of me and trying not to think too much about my friend Danny, who'd been turned into one of these things by Shinra. He was at peace now, though I'd hated having to kill him. But the drugs he'd been injected with had fried his brain, so I hadn't had a choice. The only thing I could do now for whoever these guys had been was to try and end their suffering.

"Uh-oh!" Biggs called. "Could really use a hand here!"

I looked over to see that he'd gotten backed into a corner by one of the grunts and immediately shifted my aim to try and shoot it off him. But Cloud was faster, spinning away from the enemy he'd been fighting and lunging with a quick triple slash at the one attacking Biggs. It fell a few steps forward just in time for him to finish it off with a few shots to the head and chest. Then it crashed to the floor.

Biggs grinned. "Thanks, Cloud!"

Before Cloud could respond, I shot the first grunt off his back and smirked. "See! Told ya you'd need my help."

"Guess you were right," he nodded.

"Well, so much for the welcomin' committee," Barret grunted after taking down the last grunt just a moment later.

I laughed. "No kidding! That was fun!"

Giggling to myself, I went over to the next console and got right to work on getting the second door open while Cloud shouldered his big sword and the guys reloaded their guns. Then he and Biggs came over and watched as my fingers flew across the panel controls. My eyes were glued to the screen, but I still heard them talking.

"I'm sure it wasn't easy for Jessie to snag us these codes," Biggs said, his voice low. "So look after her, Cloud."

He nodded. "Yeah."

The quiet conviction in his voice made the butterflies swarm in my stomach again, and I couldn't resist a little smile. I knew that he'd keep me safe. Always had. After sneaking a quick glance at Cloud, I entered the second passcode, and just a moment later, the chime beeped as the colors on the panel changed from blue to green.

"And we're in!" I grinned. "Piece of cake!"

As soon as the door slid open, I readied my gun and went through, Cloud and Barret only a step behind me. The next room was deserted, just as we'd planned, with a row of lockers along the left side and a hall leading away on the right. Ahead of us stood an elevator, but before we got there, Barret motioned for me and Cloud to wait as he slipped into that little hall for a moment. He came back only a minute later, a pouch of phoenix down in his hand. Pretty handy if anyone got knocked out. He tucked it into one of his jacket pockets.

Then I glanced at Cloud and pointed at the small control panel by the elevator. "Mind pushing that button over there?"

He pressed it, and a minute or two later, the elevator opened. It was just a big metal box, really, with bright lights and steel walls, but it was just big enough for Barret to pace around in as I touched the button to send us down and we began to descend. From the way he was winding himself up, I knew he was about to launch into another of his speeches. Cloud, of course, didn't look the least bit interested.

"The reactors are gonna suck the life outta this world," Barret said. "Bit by bit, 'til there ain't nothin' left. And what do you ya think's gonna happen then, SOLDIER boy? Any idea?"

Cloud shook his head. "Not my problem."

Barret scowled. "The planet's gonna die, Cloud! Can't ya see that?"

"All I can see is security getting tighter the further we go in," Cloud retorted. "We've got a job to do, so let's do it."

Barret growled, clenched his fist, and started pacing again, casting suspicious glances at Cloud every so often. Cloud just ignored him. He stood there quietly with his arms folded across his chest, and I blushed a little when he caught me staring at him. It didn't look like he minded, though, and I knew he was probably annoyed with Barret. No surprise there. So I shrugged, made a dramatic little sigh, and smiled to try and show him I understood. The corner's of Cloud's mouth turned upward ever so slightly, but it was enough. He knew.

About a minute later, the elevator stopped and the doors slid open. I led the way into the utility access area, gun drawn and eyes alert. The room was huge and roughly square with a high ceiling and thick metal pipes lining the walls. On the top level stood a round, low tower with a metal railing around it on an elevated platform. A hub for the reactor's power distribution system. On top of making the bomb, I'd spent hours over the past few weeks poring over the blueprints for this place so that I could help Barret plan out the mission.

I was just leading Cloud and Barret past the tower and toward a set of concrete stairs around the corner descending deeper into the reactor when a bright blue energy beam suddenly shot at me out of nowhere. I shouted in surprise and jumped back just in time to avoid getting hit as the blast hit the floor right in front of me. Cloud immediately drew his sword and quickly pushed me behind him while Barret brought up his gun-arm and we scanned the area for trouble.

We found it in four sentry rays mounted above us along the tower's railing at regular intervals. The powerful laser cannons were well out of Cloud's sword range, though, so while Barret and I opened up with our guns, he used his materia to hit one of the sentry rays with a quick shot of magical lightning. It sparked but kept firing.

As I shot at another, I ducked behind a pair of tall metal barrels for cover amidst a barrage of laser fire. Cloud joined me while Barret went in the other direction back toward the elevator, blasting as he went. He unloaded on the first sentry ray with a rapid stream of bullets and blew it apart in a small but deafening explosion.

Barret grinned. "Ha! You see that, SOLDIER boy?"

"Must've missed it," Cloud quipped.

I giggled as I kept shooting, just loving his wit. He hit another one of the sentry rays with more magical lighting, shocking it to pieces as I fired at the one that had tried to fry me. Cloud added another blue bolt of electricity from his materia on top of it, and the Shinra laser cannon crumpled and exploded under our combined firepower. Gotta admit, it felt pretty good taking it out together like that.

After Barret blew apart the last sentry ray only a moment later, we regrouped and headed down the stairs to a lower level. Once there, we hurried across the concrete floor to another set of stairs at right angles to the ones we'd just left and took them down to the bottom level of the main chamber. There were more pipes here, huge ones almost four feet across that curved up from the floor and into the wall, and along either side of the wide area stood a row of sweepers. They were giant walking mechs with machine guns on their arms.

They were deactivated, but I kept a close eye on them as we headed quickly across the room. "Sweepers. They can wipe out an entire squad in just a few seconds. But they're also shut down for maintenance every night at this time. We've gotta hurry, though. They'll come back online soon, and that'll make our escape harder."

"How long?" Cloud asked.

"I'd say twenty minutes, tops," I answered, thinking it over. "If we're not outta here by then, things'll get complicated."

He nodded. "We'll make it."

I went ahead a few steps and smiled at him over my shoulder. "Not a doubt in my mind, Cloud! Not with you around."

We moved on, passing through another door ahead of us and into mako storage. There were lots of metal catwalks here at different levels along with more large pipes. The mako smell was stronger here as well, and I could feel my eyes watering as my nose curled. Somehow I didn't think the real life energy of the planet smelled this bad. It was probably because of the terrible way Shinra processed it.

Barret grimaced. "Damn! I can almost taste the mako in here."

"Not the most pleasant thing, is it?" I agreed. Then I moved to the edge of the catwalk and pointed downward. "There's our objective. The reactor core. Gotta set the bomb at the bottom."

Then I climbed down a nearby ladder before he or Cloud could get a word in, knowing we didn't have much time. I came to another metal catwalk underneath the first one. It overlooked the huge mako vats on either side of the reactor core about fifty feet below where I stood, and the emerald green liquid swirled around some of the biggest pipes that I'd ever seen. The core was a mechanism surrounded by smaller pipes, dials, and metal beams at the far end of a wide platform. I looked up to see the ceiling hidden in a dark, swirling mist.

Cloud and Barret joined me a moment later, and after checking the area to make sure it was clear, they moved toward another ladder to go further down. But I stayed where I was, knowing that I'd gone as far as I could. As much as I wanted to stay by Cloud's side, I knew that Barret was keeping a close eye on him and trying to see if he could be trusted. Giving the two a chance to work together on their own was something I thought might help smooth things out between them, which was why I'd suggested it when we'd planned the mission.

Cloud glanced at me. "Sure you're not coming?"

"I'll wait here, Cloud," I winked. "This is your show, after all."

"You gonna be okay?" he asked.

I smiled, flattered by his concern for me. "Yep! I'd love to chat, and it's so sweet that you'd rather spend time with me than the reactor. But you should get going. I can wait my turn. Go blow her mind."

He nodded, then followed Barret down the ladder. I wouldn't really be able to see them until they made it down to the platform, so I stood there and waited, watching for hostiles, but none appeared. I wondered why. Aside from the sentry rays, we hadn't run into anything else down here so far. I hoped our luck would hold, but I still couldn't help feeling vaguely uneasy as I looked around the area.

I was thinking about what I knew about the reactors from my time at Shinra, going over it all in my head, when I noticed something small and bright laying on the floor near the far end of the catwalk. Curious, I went over to check it out and realized it was a materia orb, green and glowing softly in the gloom. I figured one of the workers had probably dropped it while in here doing maintenance and hadn't even known it. Well, as they say, finders keepers and all that.

"Hello, what's this?" I murmured, picking it up. "A nice souvenir to take home after the mission. Pretty nifty…"

I held the materia orb in front of me and gazed at it for a moment, guessing from what I knew through my experiences working at Shinra under Scarlet that this was Restore. I'd learned a little about how to tell different materia apart and what they were, although I didn't have very much experience in identifying the more advanced types. In any case, I knew an orb like this could definitely be useful, so I carefully slipped it into my belt pouch and returned to where I'd been earlier. By the time I did, the guys had made it to the platform.

They were arguing again as they stood in front of the core, not that it really surprised me—I'd expected them to get into it again sooner or later. I could hear them a little from where I was as Barret held out the bomb and insisted that Cloud be the one to set it. And he did, taking it and sticking it onto the front of the reactor core.

But just as he was about to set the timer, Cloud suddenly bent over and clutched the side of his head, wincing in pain just like he'd done at my house the night we'd first met. I leaned forward a little, worried as I watched him intently, then he glanced to his right, his eyes widening as if he'd just seen something weird. But there wasn't anything there. Still, I felt a sudden chill pass through me for a moment, and the odd feeling that I was being watched. I shivered and look around, not liking that at all, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"Hey!" Barret called, his eyes on Cloud. "You okay?"

He straightened up. "What?"

Barret grunted impatiently. "Better pull it together, SOLDIER boy. Don't need you freakin' out on me, you hear?"

"I'm fine," Cloud frowned. "Worry about yourself."

Then he turned back to the bomb, switched it on, and set the timer while pointedly ignoring Barret. I laughed a little as I watched. Looked like things were improving between them a bit. Then I looked up when I heard something scuttling around near the ceiling. I couldn't see what it was at first, but then it moved quickly down the wall at the other end of the platform and jumped off, landing squarely in front of Cloud and Barret to block the way out just as they started moving.

"Damn!" I hissed.

The guard scorpion was big, with a large round body and six thick legs, all of bright red metal. With its claw-like arm cannons, a long tail pulsing with energy at its tip, and bright green eyes that were actually a pair of sophisticated targeting scanners, it had always been a favorite of Scarlet's. I'd hoped that we wouldn't run into it but had included it just in case in the report I'd given to Cloud and the others earlier this week on what enemies we were likely to face in the reactor.

Barret quickly whipped up his gun-arm. "What in the hell…!?"

"Here it comes!" Cloud said, drawing his sword.

"Right here with you, guys," I added as I readied my gun, though I knew they couldn't hear me. "Bug-squashing time!"

Then the guard scorpion struck.