Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters.
Hear My Words
In the depths of the Sector 5 reactor, Biggs sprinted towards the ladder which would lead them out to the train station - hopefully before the bomb destroyed the reactor, taking him with it. He knew that, logically speaking, there was no way Barrett would have had time to plant the bomb yet, but still he felt compelled to move as fast as he could. Wedge had just began to climb the ladder – and he was moving much too slowly for Biggs's liking.
"He couldn't have waited for Jessie and I to go first, could he?" Biggs said, under his breath. He wasn't afraid of dying in the reactor, but if he had to, he wanted to go out in combat, not stuck halfway up a ladder because Wedge moved as quickly as grass grew on the Plate. He leapt onto the third rung of the ladder, not waiting to let Jessie go in front – he was at enough of a disadvantage as it was.
This mission had been almost too easy. Sure, there'd been some trouble on the train, but they managed to escape – he hadn't even gotten to fight! And after that, all he'd had to do was crawl through tunnels. More than anything else, he wanted to be the one planting the bomb – he'd never gotten the chance to destroy a reactor before. Ironic, really, that he joined with AVALANCHE when the Shinra had let the Gongaga reactor explode and killed half his townspeople with their negligence, and four years later here he was trying to destroy reactors for revenge.
Progress was slow behind Wedge, but they would make it. He didn't know how long the gap between the bomb being planted and its detonation was, but if it was as long as for yesterday's bomb, they should have time to spare. He still wanted to be sure, though. "Hey, Jessie. How long do we have?" Biggs spoke softly, although there was no real need – any guards in the reactor would be too busy chasing Barrett and the others to notice him.
"Well, that depends on how quickly they get to the top of the reactor. The bomb has a sensor in it which will tell it how far away Cloud and the rest are, and will activate when they are a certain distance away." Wedge had stopped climbing to catch his breath, giving Biggs a chance to continue questioning Jessie.
"And why didn't we use one of those bombs yesterday?" Biggs hated using bombs with timers – the time between the bomb being planted and detonated always had to be so short, otherwise the Shinra soldiers would find the bomb and defuse it, and in reactors it was too easy to be stuck fighting guards for long periods of time which you couldn't afford to lose. He'd assumed they were only using these bombs because they didn't have any others.
"I don't have an endless supply of them. They aren't too difficult to make, but constructing the sensors is incredibly time consuming – we're only using one today because of the three touchpads that have to be activated simultaneously in this reactor can take a while to work, so Barrett decided we needed one."
Biggs nodded, acknowledging Jessie's explanation, and continued to climb – Wedge had apparently caught his breath while Jessie and Biggs had been talking, and was almost at the top of the ladder now. As Biggs pulled himself up the ladder, he couldn't help but think about how far through the reactor the rest of AVALANCHE would be by now. They'd come out so near the base of the reactor, they would have planted the bomb already, and they'd be making their way towards the main entrance. They had time, but not much.
Biggs raised his head to tell Wedge to hurry. He knew that it had no effect besides irritating Wedge, but Biggs felt he had to do something to get them to move more quickly – that, and he enjoyed annoying Wedge. Even someone as dedicated to destroying Shinra as he was needed to relax and have a laugh – at Wedge's expense – once in a while. Admittedly, the other members of AVALANCHE thought defining 'once in a while' as 'once per sentence' was slightly unfair, but Biggs didn't let them affect his actions too much. In any case, he'd lost his chance this time – Wedge was already moving into the air duct. Determined not to let Wedge get too much of a lead on him, he began to haul himself up the ladder even more quickly than before.
A few minutes later, Biggs, Wedge and Jessie were all huddled together at the opposite end of the air duct, debating in hushed voices about where to go next. Wedge was making his opinions on the subject very clear. "We can't stay in here. It's far too close to the reactor – we'll be killed when it explodes."
"Wedge, if we go into the train tunnel, the Shinra guards will be sure to see us. They must know by now that we went into the reactor, and they'll be patrolling every centimetre of the sector." Biggs shot back. He didn't have any alternative, but he knew they'd be shot on sight if the soldiers saw them – and he didn't want to test their luck any further.
"What's your idea, then?" Wedge snapped. Biggs had obviously succeeded in irritating him earlier, and it looked as though he might have gone one step too far.
Jessie interrupted before the argument could get out of hand. "Look, you two, you're both right. I think that we're going to have to do something that the Shinra won't think of." Had Wedge and Biggs been able to see her face, they probably would have started backing off slowly at that moment. "Biggs, you said that the Shinra would be searching everywhere in this sector, didn't you?"
"Well, I think my version sounded much better, but essentially, yes. Why?" There was an edge in Jessie's voice which was making Biggs distinctly uncomfortable.
"Do you know where this sector ends and Sector 4 begins?"
"Give me a minute. If we headed north-east from the station, and continued in that direction through this duct, then it must be near the other end of this tunnel, past the security sen-" Biggs broke off in mid-sentence. "No. I'm not going through those security beams. It's suicide." He was fully prepared to give his life to defeat Shinra, but if he had no chance of surviving or doing significant damage to his enemy, he might as well stay where he was.
"I hate to say this, Jessie, but Biggs is right. Every Shinra soldier in Midgar will know our location in seconds. The message will go to their headquarters straight away, and whoever it is that's in charge of the troops" – the Shinra always kept quiet about exactly who was responsible for what in their company – "will relay the message to them via their radios – and that's only for the soldiers that don't hear the siren." Wedge was never happy about having to tell Jessie that a plan of hers wouldn't work, but he was usually even less happy about having to walk into a death trap.
"That's why we wait until just before the rector explodes. A few seconds after that alert, every soldier will be called to the reactor to guard the exits before the bombers can escape. We should be able to avoid much attention by the guards. After all, what's more important to them – an alert from a security sensor which is constantly detecting animals and soldiers who are careless about keeping their ID cards up to date, or the destruction of one of Midgar's seven remaining supplies of power and the death of hundreds of other guards?" Sometimes, Jessie's ability to think like her enemy scared Biggs and Wedge –who still had more questions for her, in any event.
"Just two more things, Jessie." For once, Biggs let Wedge speak for him – he wouldn't let himself waste time on a mission just to score a point over Wedge, fun though that would have been. "One: when the reactor is going to explode? And two: where, exactly, are we going after we get past the sensor?"
"Well, to answer your first question – I'd say very soon. If it takes them approximately the same time as it did yesterday - half a minute, at most. And to answer your second question – we'll be able to find a train. Any questions?"
"Are you planning to use the same IDs as before? I mean, they did set off the security alert on the other train." Wedge was apparently no happier than Biggs about this phase of the plan.
"No, I'm not. I kept the IDs we used yesterday – it's dangerous to use the same ones too often, in case the Shinra connect someone using these IDs with a reactor exploding on the same day, but we don't have a choice. Anything else?"
Biggs muttered, "Could you have come up with a more dangerous plan if you'd tried?" but otherwise everyone was silent.
"Well, let's get going, then!"
Wedge burst out of the tunnel to the best of his abilities. Unfortunately, this meant that he climbed out very slowly and then spent ten seconds straightening up, but at least he was trying to look the part. After that anti-climax, Biggs felt there wasn't much he could do to remedy the hopelessly non-heroic mood of their escape, so he simply crawled out of the air duct and stood up, shooting angry glares at Wedge.
Biggs heard Jessie's voice from behind him. "Hurry! The reactor will be gone any second now!" Wedge wasn't staying around to argue – he'd already started running – and Biggs wasn't going to let Wedge look better than him when anyone else was around. He took a few steps forward, but Wedge had gotten there first.
The high-pitch electronic scream of the sensor sent shivers through Biggs, but he knew he had to keep moving, and move he did. He ran past the sensor beams, trying to listen for the reactor's explosion amidst the sound of the alarm, but he heard nothing. Jessie was running next to him, barely able to keep pace, and Wedge was lagging some way behind. Biggs cursed Tifa's cooking mentally – if it wasn't so delicious, they might be able to complete a mission without five near-death experiences because Wedge was so slow. Biggs could see the end of the tunnel now – and, more importantly, a train in the distance. Behind him, he heard the enraged cries of the Shinra soldiers and the ceaseless shrill of the security sensor.
Biggs ran out of the tunnel into sunlight, with Jessie beside him and Wedge, straining with every bit of strength in him to keep up with the others, a short way behind. He was almost blinded by the sudden glare – living under the Plate it was so easy to forget about the Sun's light. He knew that he had to get away from the railway line, and that the station was to his left. Making a sharp turn, Biggs plunged half-blindly down alleyways, hoping desperately that Jessie and Wedge were following him. The sounds of pursuit were drawing nearer; the soldiers must be nearly on top of him –
The sound of the reactor exploding tore through the streets. Biggs could almost feel it as a physical force trying to knock him off his feet. Craning his neck, he could just see the column of fire burn above the buildings of the Plate momentarily, before it spread to light those near the reactor. Biggs realized then that Wedge was standing at the end of the street, gazing at the display in awe, and that Jessie was crouched next to him.
"Alright, Cloud and the others weren't as near to the exit as I thought they would be, but in a way, that helps their escape - and ours." Biggs was always astounded by Jessie's ability to go from fleeing soldiers to analyzing the success of the mission in almost no time, and today she seemed determined to outdo herself. "The Shinra troops are moving back towards the reactor, so we will be able to escape easily, but there should be enough of a time gap between the others leaving the reactor and the guards arriving for them to get a good head start."
Wedge spoke quietly – Biggs suspected the explosion had shaken him more than he would care to admit. "Right as always, Jessie, but we should still leave here as soon as possible. How close are we to the Sector 4 station?"
Biggs tried to inject some cheerfulness into his voice, but he knew it sounded forced. Even he, by far the most emotionally detached of the AVALANCHERs, felt a twinge of guilt at the thought of how many must have died in that explosion. "Not far from here. If we head north for a while and then turn to the west, we should come across the railway line not far from the station."
The three rebels snuck through the streets, noticed by nobody. This had more to do with all the inhabitants of Midgar being inside their homes watching for an update on the situation from Shinra News than their ability to move sneakily, but the upshot was that they got to the station in a few minutes without difficulty. This was, as Wedge pointed out, the first thing they'd done that day which didn't involve enough difficulty to sink the Shinra's entire fleet.
In a shadowy corner of the station, Jessie, Biggs and Wedge discussed the situation they found themselves in. "How long will it be until the next train arrives?" Biggs asked impatiently. Despite years of being lectured by Jessie, he refused to believe that patience could sometimes be useful.
"Any minute now, I think. The train that was about to come through the tunnel as we escaped would have stopped here about ten minutes ago, and trains are scheduled to come through stations about that often." Jessie looked thoughtful as she said this. "Wedge, did you see what happened to that train?"
Wedge nodded. "It came within about ten seconds of hitting me, but I got off the track just in time. Judging by the screams, some of the soldiers weren't so lucky." Biggs grinned upon hearing this, but Wedge's voice was oddly flat. He always sounded like that after missions, as though he was trying to stop thinking about what had just happened. Biggs would never understand why he wasn't at least slightly happy – they'd struck another blow against Shinra and gotten out with their lives, what was there to complain about? He was about to tell Wedge this, but he was interrupted by the arrival of the train.
As one, Jessie, Biggs and Wedge rose to their feet, trying to be appropriately fast in walking to the train – not so fast that they seemed to be escaping, but not so slowly that it seemed like an act. After all, a reactor had just exploded; most people would want to leave this area quickly. A thought struck Biggs. "The new IDs!" he hissed. "The ones that set off the alarm in the other train! Throw them away!"
Jessie looked at him strangely. "I left mine in the train tunnel, and I think Wedge dropped his off the edge of that platform in the reactor." Wedge nodded at her. "Didn't you leave yours somewhere?" Wedge smiled slightly as Jessie spoke, sensing that his opportunity to embarrass Biggs had finally arrived.
"Well, you could have asked me earlier." Biggs muttered, blushing slightly. In one fluid movement, he dropped his ID onto the tracks and opened the train door, walking casually into the carriage. He sat down on the seat nearest to the door – just in case something went wrong. Jessie sat next to Biggs and motioned to Wedge to join them with a wave of her hand – there was no point in them splitting up now, the passengers had all seen them come in together. Wedge looked as though he was about to make a comment about the ID cards, but Jessie cut him off.
"This train goes around Midgar anti-clockwise, so we'll arrive at the station in the Sector 7 slums in about half an hour." Her voice was just louder than a whisper, and none of the other passengers seemed to be listening. "When we arrive at the station, we'll-"
Jessie's plan was interrupted by the voice of the driver over the loudspeaker. "Passengers, your attention please. Due to the bombing of the Sector 5 reactor, this will be the last train traveling from the Plate to the slums until further security measures can be implemented. That is all. Thank you."
"This is going to make future missions rather difficult…" Wedge trailed off at one look at Biggs's face. "Biggs – stop it! Stop smiling!"
"Well, at least they're paying attention to us now." Biggs was barely able to restrain himself from laughing aloud. "This has made them sit up and notice what's going on!" His attention drifted from Wedge and Jessie, although he was aware they were still talking. He could hear snatches of conversations from the other passengers, but paid no attention, lost in his triumphant thoughts – until one phrase hit him like a force field.
" - those terrorist bastards, killing everyone who doesn't agree with them – " Biggs's smile turned to a scow in a heartbeat, and he turned his face to the window to hide his expression from the other passengers. Three years ago, when AVALANCHE first became infamous among the inhabitants of Midgar, he decided to keep count of the number of good things and the number of bad things he heard about the group from the citizens of Midgar everyday – to see if public opinion of AVALANCHE was improving. He stopped two weeks later when Barrett wounded three customers after being given that day's figures. The situation hadn't improved much since then.
They were all cowards, he'd decided. They were too scared too stand up for themselves against the Shinra, and when someone else did it for them, those wimps called them terrorists and traitors! He wanted to be able to talk to every inhabitant of Midgar for just five minutes, to make them listen to his words so he could explain. Yes, people were dying in their attacks. But if they didn't try to hurt Shinra, the Planet would run out of Mako energy and die – and every one of them would do the same. If they weren't prepared to force the Shinra from power – he knew that they could do so: for every soldier in the army, there were five civilians, most of whom hated the dictatorship they lived under but wouldn't make the effort to change it – then they should shut up and let AVALANCHE get on with it. But they never would do as he said, even if Biggs could talk to them all. They were too busy worshipping at the alter of peace at any cost - even their freedom – to hear him.
"Biggs, have you heard anything we've said in the last five minutes?" Wedge demanded. Biggs looked at his companions, startled out of his reverie.
"I'm sorry – I was just thinking. Thinking about what you said before, Wedge: success isn't going to come easily to us, with things as they are now."