I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of the characters.
Reactor
Cody walked into the bar, seeing cloud sitting there, talking to Tifa. He walked over and sat down silently, Tifa pouring him a drink and setting it in front of him. "Thanks."
As he sipped at it, it occurred to him that he actually had ended up cutting back. Not intentionally, but definitely. He smirked. Maybe that was why Jessie had been so happy recently. She'd been a little annoying with how cheerful she'd been acting. She claimed to have her bomb made for the next big job, and assured him that it wouldn't degrade before then, despite it being a month out. Their jobs were all planned out for the raid as well. He, Barret, and Jessie would be the main group. Biggs and Wedge would be staying as rear security to make sure no Shinra troops followed them into the reactor.
"Hey Cody!" Jessie smiled as she walked over and sat down, smiling at him apologetically.
"What?" Cody grumbled.
"There's a group of Grashtrike building a nest just outside the gate to Scrap Boulevard," Jessie said.
"What is it with that fucking road and monsters?" Cody grumbled. "Every time I turn around there's another group there."
Jessie smiled sympathetically as Cody sighed, pulling his mask down and draining his drink before pulling it back up and sighing.
"Fine," he groaned. "I'll be back in a couple minutes."
He left, heading for the gate and saw a group of five of the scorpion-like monsters outside the gate. They had blade-like arms, slid around on their tails, and had poisoned stingers on the ends of the tails. They also spat webbing to try and trap their victims and were notoriously annoying to fight. He sighed, summoning his gunblade from its materia and opened the gate, closing it behind himself before lunging and splitting the first in half. The next two both spat webbing at him and he dove sideways, rolling out of the way before standing and blocking both of one of the others' arms, jerking his head to the side as the stinger jabbed at him. He spun, allowing the monster's arms to fall, then slashed it just as Cloud reached the gate, leaping over it with his massive sword in his right hand and spun, the blade splitting one of the other two down the middle before sending out a mako green shockwave, which split another. The last turned to flee, but Cloud lunged forward and split it up the back, killing it.
"You certainly fight like one," Cody said.
"One what?" Cloud asked.
"A SOLDIER," Cody said. "That's the uniform you're wearing."
"I'm an Ex-SOLDIER," Cloud said. "I was a First Class. I work as a mercenary now."
"Right," Cody said, returning his gunblade to its materia. "Anyway, thanks for lending a hand, but it wasn't necessary. And I'm not paying you."
"I don't need you to," Cloud said. "Tifa payed me to lend you a hand."
Cody watched him silently for a few moments before turning back to the gate. "Whatever. I'm going back to drinking."
"I have a question," Cloud said, stopping him. "You're a Turk, right?"
Cody looked back at him, narrowing his eyes. "What makes you say that?"
"You fight with a sword too well to have been a civilian or a normal Shinra infantryman, and SOLDIERs can't use swords like that unless they hit First Class," Cloud said. "You weren't a SOLDIER, though, because your eyes don't glow, and you're not strong or fast enough. Which leaves Turk."
"And what about you?" Cody asked. "Where'd you get your glowing eyes, infantryman?"
"Hojo's experiments," Cloud said before going stiff, eyes wide for a moment before he dropped.
Cody managed to catch him and cloud groaned, holding a hand to his head and beginning to mutter. "I knew it. You're still not recovered." He sighed, carrying cloud back to Seventh Heaven and to the back room, then returned for the sword, dragging it this time. "He's still struggling with whatever happened to him."
"I see," Tifa sighed. "Thank you for bringing him back here."
"How much did you pay him?" Cody asked.
"Five hundred," Tifa said. "How'd he do?"
"He fought like a real SOLDIER," Cody said. "I don't know if he ever became one or not, but he fights like one. High Second Class at least. Maybe First Class."
Tifa nodded. "I hope he's okay."
"I'm sure he'll be fine," Cody said. "Eventually. His mind just needs time to settle."
Tifa nodded and Cody walked back out into the bar, sitting down where he had been before, Jessie still seated beside him, sipping at a drink of her own now. After a few minutes, Tifa returned and poured Cody a drink as well.
"Are we finally ready?" Cody asked.
"Yep!" Jessie grinned. "The job's tonight."
"And SOLDIER boy's going to be joining us," Barret said, walking out of the bar. "We're hiring him for two thousand Gil, since Tifa assures me he'll be useful."
Cody nodded. Tifa had told him that she was going to try to convince Barret to hire Cloud, now that Cloud's condition seemed to have settled, leaving him with incorrect memories and a different personality. he was arrogant, proud, and thoroughly believed that he was a SOLDIER. And not just any SOLDIER. His memories aligned perfectly with Zack Fair's file. For all intents and purposes, Cloud had somehow integrated Zack's memories into his own. He had also changed his outfit. He remembered it having been homemade repairs, but he had just spontaneously done it when his condition was finishing settling. He'd bolted the right pauldron on top of the left, leaving the threads of three bolts sticking out of it with a nut to hold the pauldron in place, all three nuts welded onto the bolts, then had gotten a bracer for his left forearm that looked like two thick cogs with four metal pieces inside, each slightly smaller than the one outside it with a small gap in the center, the two sides mirroring each other.
"I don't trust him," Barret said.
"I can speak for his combat skills," Cody said. "As for his loyalty, that remains to be seen, but he claims to have no loyalty to Shinra, so we'll see."
Barret grunted. "If he turns on us, you'll have to take him out."
"If I can," Cody said. "SOLDIERs aren't easily beaten."
Barret grunted again and walked away. Jessie turned back to Cody, looking slightly concerned.
"Are you going to use your gunblade?" she asked.
"No," Cody said. "They'd recognize it in an instant when they watched the cameras. I'll just stick to that gun I stole from the Shinra troop at the munitions depot. That way I can take mags from any guards I have to fight as I go."
Jessie nodded. "With any luck, we won't have to fight anyone."
"We're not that lucky," Cody said. "I'm going to head to my apartment to grab my gun. I'll meet you at the station."
Jessie nodded and Cody walked away, reaching his apartment in minutes and grabbing the gun from the same cabinet he kept his liquor in, along with the two extra mags he had, then walked to the station, finding the others all present. They all climbed onto the outside of the train as it began to leave and waited. Cloud was on top of it, Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge were up front, Barret was in the first car, and Cody was waiting between the second car and the third. As the train finally reached the station the end of the tine where they would be getting off, almost three hours later, two guards began to walk along the train to inspect it. As per the plan, according to Shinra standard operating procedure, one started at the front and the other started at the second car. Biggs stepped out and quickly dropped the first before dragging him out of sight. The first turned, realizing something was wrong and hurried back toward the front, turning to look between the engine and the first car, only for Wedge to grab him from behind. Jessie leapt out of hiding instantly and drilled a kick into his gut, dropping him, and they hid his body as well, Jessie and Biggs both bringing Cody two more mags for his stolen gun.
"Here," Jessie smiled. "Special gift just for you."
"Thanks," Cody said. "And here I am not having gotten you anything."
Jessie smiled brightly. "That's okay. I'll let buying me a drink later."
Cody shrugged. "I'll think about it."
She rolled her eyes, turning and glancing up at cloud just as Barret called him down, Cloud flipping once before landing. Cody rolled his eyes. Show off. He followed Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge away from the station, all four hiding as a pair of guards ran past.
"Should we help?" Jessie asked.
"Cloud can handle it," Cody said. "It's what we hired him for anyway. Let's keep a low profile for now."
The others nodded and they continued to run.
After a little ways, they found the first gate, Jessie would be hacking them through, being the tech expert as well as the bomb expert, at least while Cody didn't feel like showing them what his watch could actually do.
"So, you think he's a keeper?" Jessie asked, glancing at Biggs as they heard Cloud fighting another group of guards. "This...uh...what was his name?"
"Cloud," Biggs said. "Cloud Strife."
"He's probably going to stick around for Tifa," Cody said. "Or, more accurately, Tifa's going to keep him around."
"Well, either way, he's a professional, unlike the rest of us," Biggs said, Cody smirking behind his mask. "I'm glad to have him."
"This is a one-time gig," Cloud said, walking over while putting his sword against the magnet harness he wore as part of his SOLDIER uniform. "When it's done, we're done."
"Real joy to work with, though," Biggs said sarcastically.
"Real joy to look at, too," Jessie said, glancing back at Cloud, who rolled his eyes.
Cody looked around for cameras, left eye twitching as his hand instinctively curled to hold the bottle he wish he was holding tighter. There were five cameras, and he didn't care about any of them at the moment.
"Here we go," Biggs groaned.
"Looks are what people notice first," Jessie defended herself.
Cody walked over to a railing, leaning on it and closing his eyes, trying to ignore the conversation, which his mind seemed to want to latch onto.
"Guess I'm not on the same page as people," Biggs said.
"I'd say you're not even reading the same book," Jessie teased.
"Enough," Biggs groaned. "We're done here."
"Or even the same-"
"Give it a rest!" Biggs said, just before Cody fired off a burst from his gun, everyone spinning toward him just as a soldier holding a soldier that had been walking around a corner collapsed.
"Are you done yet?" Cody asked.
"Yes," Jessie said, just as the gate opened and she disconnected her keypad from the access terminal.
"Good," Cody growled. "The sooner we're done here the sooner I can get back to being drunk."
He swept past them instantly, holding his gun out to his right to spray a pair of guards just as they rushed out of a side street. More began to rush toward them from the other streets, but he ignored them.
"Your turn, SOLDIER Boy," Cody said, blasting the one guard in his path before dropping the mag and putting a new one in, grabbing one from the dying guard as he passed.
The others followed quickly, except for Cloud, who stayed to kill the guards first. Cody heard several guard dogs back behind him but ignored it. After a few minutes, they ducked under a gate, then a few minutes later, they reached the door to the reactor.
"You alright?" Jessie asked as she began to hack the door. "You seem more agitated then normal."
"I'm fine," Cody said, staring up at the door. "I just want to get this over with."
Jessie nodded. Just as Cloud arrived, the door opened and he and Cloud walked inside, only for the door to close behind them as several guards sprinted into the room.
"Freeze!" one of the guards ordered.
"My thoughts exactly," Cody said as he shot the only camera in the room.
He turned to the guard, raising his right hand and firing a Blizzaga at the guard, the massive spikes that exploded from the impact point impaling four others in addition to that one before it shattered, all five collapsing. The other six lunged, but Cloud stepped forward, slashing three in one swing, then flipped, bringing the sword down on a fourth. The other two died in a pair of bursts from Cody's gun.
"Who are you?" Cloud asked.
"Someone who knows how to shoot and use materia," Cody said, just as the door opened and the others ran in, leaving Wedge to guard the door.
They moved through the reactor quickly, Cloud quickly taking down anything they met, though he kept a suspicious eye trained on Cody as they continued. As they ran along a catwalk, Biggs split off to secure their escape route and the other four continued deeper into the reactor. As they reached an elevator, Barret growled in annoyance, then began to pace once it started moving.
"This pump's sole purpose is to drain the planet dry," Barret said, spreading his arms and turning in a circle. "While you sleep, while you eat, while you shit, it's here, suckin' up mako!" he squatted, then stood while raising his arms as he said the words "sucking up", then began pacing again. "It doesn't rest, and it doesn't care! You do realize what mako is, don't you?" He looked to both Cloud and Cody. "Mako is the lifeblood of our world."
Cloud looked to Jessie, deadpan, and she shrugged. Cody slid his goggles up to pinch the bridge of his nose, making sure to keep his head down while the camera could see his face otherwise.
"The planet bleeds green like you and me bleed red!" Barret was still ranting. "The hell you think's gonna happen when it's all gone, huh!? Answer me!" he turned to Cloud, bending forward to lower his head to level with Cloud's. "You gonna stand there and pretend you can't hear the planet crying out in pain?" he held a hand to his ear for a moment before pointing at Cloud. "I know you can!"
Cody pulled his goggles back down, grumbling choice phrases under his breath with his mic turned off.
"You really hear that?" Cloud asked.
"Damn straight I do!" Barret said, puffing his chest out and thumping a fist against it.
"Get help," Cloud said, looking away.
Cody snorted loudly a second after switching his mic back on, Jessie gasping and looking at them.
"Say that again!" Barret snarled, stepping up and towering over Cloud.
Just then, the elevator stopped, a buzzer announcing the end of their descent.
"So long as I get to burn Shinra to the ground, they can have the mako," Cody said, his foul temper returning after his split second of amusement at Cloud's response. "Now let's go. I have a hangover to earn."
"You little bastard!" Barret growled, turning after him. "You're gettin' on my nerves today!"
"Then ignore me," Cody said over his shoulder.
The others followed him, Barret fuming, and they all headed down several flights of stairs, before reaching an area with massive steel boxes blocking some of the room and forming a winding path through it with lasers set up to block progress. However, the lasers weren't constant. They were set to cycle at specific intervals, providing a chance to slip through, if they were careful.
"Those lasers will hurt more than your pride if you're not careful," Jessie warned. "They'll cut you down to size in an instant."
"Yeah, I know," Cloud said. "I've done this before."
"I'll go first," Jessie said. "Nothing like a little danger to get the blood pumping." She took off as soon as the lasers deactivated.
"Hey!" Cloud shouted. "Wait!"
"Just keep those baby blues of yours on me," Jessie said from the other side of the first laser gate, winking at Cloud before turning and continuing.
Cody rolled his eyes, walking over to the lasers. "What's wrong, SOLDIER? Scared of a little laser grid?" He stepped through as the lasers cycled off on a shorter cycle, barely getting clear, though he didn't react to almost being hit. Instead, he calmly walked away, slipping through the second gate just as Cloud and Barret got through the first, then through the third a moment later. He walked past Jessie, who was waiting for everyone else, and began to type on the access panel to the next door. "You're being awfully forward today. Cloud must really seem special to you."
"Well, he is handsome," Jessie said. "And he's brave, and good with his sword. And he's single, I think. At least, I don't think Tifa's claimed him, yet. Why? Jealous?"
"No," Cody said flatly, getting the door open. "I'm just not looking to have to bury anyone else because they couldn't focus on the mission. You want Cloud's dick, that's your business. Just save it for after the mission."
He walked through the door just as a pair of guards rushed through to meet him, only for him to shoot one in the face, then drive the muzzle of his gun into the other's face so hard his skull caved in in a spray of blood and several upper teeth. He kicked the first soldier's helmet out of the way as he passed the corpses, sending it banging off a wall before it spun across the floor. around the next corner was a stairway leading down to another storage area filled with lasers, these ones cycling faster. Again Cody passed through easily, having several close calls, and ending up a round melted part on one boot's heel, but he didn't react. As he reached the far side, a guard dog leapt at him and her smashed his gun into the side of he head in a back-handed swing, knocking it to the side where it landed on the laser projectors and shrieked in pain as the lasers switched on. He walked away as it continued to scream and yelp for a moment before Jessie shot it in the head, putting it out of its misery. Then, she caught up to him as soon as the lasers deactivated and caught him by the arm.
"What's with you today?" Jessie asked, Cody not turning around. "Why are you so angry all of a sudden?"
"Shinra caused Cissnei's death by killing Zack," Cody said. "Seeing Shinra brings it all back."
Jessie was silent for a moment before sighing. "Just...calm down. Please. I hate seeing you like this."
"That's a shame," Cody said, bushing her hand off his arm. "You won't have to see me like this if you just keep your attention on SOLDIER Boy. Maybe you can pay him to pretend to give a shit about you one way or the other."
He walked away, leaving her staring after him in surprise and confusion. He walked down the stairs on the far side, reaching a path at the bottom of the room that curved around to the left, and which had three inactive Sweeper war machines on lifts along the right side, two more on the left, and one powered up one directly ahead. Cody pulled a thermite grenade out of his pocket and stuck the magnets to the first inactive Sweeper on the right, directly above its tractor-like nose where its fuel, circuit board, and main wiring assembly were all housed, then pulled the pin and walked away as it began to melt through the machine rapidly.
The active Sweeper turned on him instantly, the two guns positioned on its sides like arms turning to him and roaring to life as he took off sprinting. He sprinted past both of the inactive Sweepers on the left side and the bullets chasing him ripped through both in seconds, ruining them. Then, Cloud's sword crashed down on top of the Sweeper's nose, slamming it into the ground and forcing it to stop shooting. Cody turned, swiping a hand downward at the Sweeper just as Cloud ripped his sword free of its nose and leapt backward. A bolt of lightning formed over the Sweeper, shooting down and blasting it as it was standing, its body sparking and jerking as different parts of it were forced into motion at once, sending it crashing back to the ground. Then, Barret's Gatling gun roared to life, his own bullets ripping through the Sweeper's nose for a few seconds before it exploded. Cody huffed, walking to the two remaining Sweepers and setting a thermite grenade on each of them as well before pulling their pins and walking to the door out of the room, arriving just as Jessie got it open.
They walked through it and out onto a catwalk overlooking their destination, Mako Storage. It was a massive, open room with several catwalks along the wall they were on, the bottom filled with liquid mako, and the only open area they could walk being a pair of small diamond-shaped areas with a five-foot-wide walkway connecting them. On the platform at the far end of the walkway, against the back wall, was the reactor core. That was the target, where they'd be placing the bomb Jessie had with her. Cody turned left, sliding down a ladder to the next catwalk as he heard Barret complaining about the thick, pungent, and extremely foul smell of the mako that was filling the room. He grumbled under his breath again. He wished Barret would just shut up. He was in entirely too foul a mood to deal with him. As he reached the next ladder, he reached up, flicking off his mic before getting onto the ladder and sliding down it again.
"Christ you're all annoying," Cody grumbled, now muffled by his mask enough that none of them would hear him. "SOLDIER Boy wannabe with his stuck up, holier than thou attitude. bet your attitude would change real quick if I told you who you really were." he raised his gun off to the side as a monodrive, a small eyeball-like camera with a drill attached to the bottom and several pieces of a protective coating for the camera that unfurled like petals on a flower flew over, only for him to blast it. "And then there's Barret and his God damned planet's blood, tree-hugger bullshit. And Jessie. Middle of a mission and you think the best thing to do is flirt with the wannabe. Fucking phenomenal decision-making, you stupid bitch. That's exactly what you should be worrying about is trying to get him into your bed. Great job. You clearly plan to live a long life. Obviously you have no reason to worry about getting yourself killed. Not like we need you to be focused on anything else, like, oh I don't know, our goddamn bomb!" He reached the last catwalk of the room and flicked his mic back on, looking up the ladder as Jessie reached it, sliding down it quickly, as he had been. "Let's get this over with."
"In a rush to leave my company?" Jessie asked casually.
"You have no idea," Cody said, following her toward the last ladder.
She glanced back at him, but his goggles protected his eyes from being read like a book. "I'll wait here." She held out the bomb. "Just set the timer and press the red button to start the countdown."
Cody nodded and climbed onto the ladder as Cloud and Barret reached the catwalk. He took a second to glare at Cloud before shaking his head and sliding down the ladder, grumbling again. "Fucking schizophrenic wackjob."
He waited for the other two before walking to the core. Barret held his hand out and Cody passed him the bomb.
"Alright, let's see if Little Stamp really can bite the hand that feeds," Barret grinned, Cody rolling his eyes at Barret's fifth use of Shinra's dog mascot as an insult for Cloud. Barret held out the bomb and Cloud stared at him in silence. "Go on. Do the honors. Prove to me that you're the man Tifa says you are. That you're one of us."
"He's not one of you," Cody said. "He's a merc. He only cares about gil."
"That's right," Cloud said. "I'm just here for the paycheck. But what about you?"
"I'm here to make Shinra suffer," Cody said. "I don't give two shits about Mako, AVALANCHE, or the planet. they can all go burn for all I care. I just want to make Shinra squirm."
Barret grit his teeth. "If you want your paycheck, then do the damn job!"
Cloud sighed heavily, taking the bomb roughly and set it on the core, only to grunt, holding a hand to his head. Cody's eyes rivetted themselves to him instantly as his eyes narrowed, his finger finding his trigger. However, after a moment, Cloud slowly began to relax.
"What's wrong?" Barret asked.
Cloud was silent for a moment before turning back to the bomb. "I'm fine." Cody walked over to stand beside him, seeing him setting the timer for twenty minutes, even though it took them that long to walk to the core, and they had to climb eight ladders to get back out, all of them over twenty feet.
"More than a little cocky, SOLDIER boy," Cody growled.
Cloud reached for the button to start the timer, but Cody grabbed his wrist, only for Barret's Gatling gun to instantly meet his head.
"You're a traitor after all," Barret said.
"You might want to turn around," Cody said.
Just as he said this, there was a massive crash behind them all. Barret spun, Cody and Cloud both turning more calmly, and all three stared up at the massive, six-legged, scorpion-like war machine now sharing their platform with them.
"Scorpion Sentinel," Cody said.
"How in the hell do we fight this thing!?" Barret demanded.
"It's got reinforced armor plating, but the internals can be overloaded," Cloud said as they all dove out of the way of the machine's front two legs slamming to the ground where they had been and setting off an electrical pulse that barely missed them. "Lightning magic."
"No other option, huh?" Barret asked.
"Sure," Cody said, calmly walking around the scorpion in a counter-clockwise circle, a red targeting laser shining from its face to his chest. "Just use that rocket launcher you thought to bring. Oh, wait, that's right. We left that at the base because it was too conspicuous. My bad."
"Oh, you're real funny," Barret said, just as the scorpion's back opened, a dozen forearm-sized rockets launching out of it.
Cody and Barret worked together to shoot most of them in the air and destroy them, the three that did manage to hit the ground while trying to target Cody missing by a mile when he slid under the machine. It dropped to try and crush him a half-second too late to succeed, and Cody slid to his feet then spun, both he and Barret swiping an arm downward, a pair of lightning bolts exploding down on the machine. It sparked and shook, turning toward them just as Cloud leapt into a flip, bringing his sword down the length of the machine's back in a shower of sparks and a spray of oil. Its tail flashed down at him, denting the floor but missing and Cody's gun blazed to life, bullets slamming into its face and shattering a couple of the cameras that served as its eyes as well as cracking the targeting laser's focusing lense. The scorpions gigantic machinegun arms both swiveled to point at him and he dove aside as they both fired a short burst, the bullets ripping through the floor easily, though Cody avoided the bullets.
Barret began to spray the machine from off to the side, drawing its attention but not doing any more before mag was ejected from his arm and he shoved a new one in before diving out of the way of scorpion's feet. Cloud shot forward, slashing at the scorpion from the side and his sword tore into the machine, but this time Cody could tell that even with sparks and oil flying, it was barely getting through the plating, just like he could see the slash to the back had only barely gone through the plating. However, there was now a hole in it, so he sprinted forward and got in close before shoving the muzzle of his gun into the hole and began to spray. After a moment, he dove away before the tail swatted downward at him, missing by an inch. It was sparking every dozen or so seconds, now, though, even as it fired rockets and bullets at them constantly. When the rockets failed to kill them, and Cloud began to close in to slash it a third time, it turned, leaping onto the wall to the left of the walkway, then ran along it for a moment before leaping off of it to the other platform. The three of them sprinted across the walkway to continue fighting the scorpion and it drew itself up to prepare for them, its arm guns trained on Cody once again.
Then, a barrier flashed into existence over its body and when Barret shot it, the bullets bounced off harmlessly. Barret swore and Cloud sprinted forward to draw its attention as Cody sprinted around behind the scorpion, skidding to a stop as he spotted a glowing, circular, white spot below the tail that he had noticed earlier. He opened fire on it and it began to spark and crack instantly. However, before he could destroy it, the scorpion's tail swung down and around, crashing into his side and hurling him into the railing, bending it outward slightly. He groaned, looking up as Barret took over shooting the object, the barrier beginning to flicker as he did. The scorpion tried to target Cloud with his targeting laser so he could hit him with rockets, but the crack in the lense split the laser into a dozen beams, targeting half the room and sending rockets scattering around the room. Cloud shot forward and jumped just as the barrier generator burst into a pulse of electricity and a cloud of white smoke. Then, Cloud's sword split the machine down the front, this time cutting deep and the scorpion spun in a blur, its tail hitting both of the other and hurling them both into the wall. It turned on Cody, who was still struggling to his feet, and aimed its guns at him, only for him to sigh, then swipe an right arm upward, a lightning bolt flashing out of his arm band and into the machine's face, the last of the cameras shattering and knocking the scorpion back and making it turn, its bullets tearing a trail along the catwalk before stopping. The scorpion leapt to the wall and to the other platform again as Cody picked up his gun and Cloud and Barret stepped up beside Cody.
"Is it blind?" Barret asked, seeing the broken cameras, all of which had been lit up green like eyes and were now dark.
"Mostly," Cloud said. "It's still got proximity sensors, but it can't target us precisely, so it won't try."
Just then, the scorpion's back opened and a massive barrage of rockets shot into the air, separating and scattering, exploding along the walls and floor of the room in a carpet bombing. However, before it could fire another, Cody and Barret blasted it with lightning again, Cloud charging. As he neared it, the end of the tail began to spin, the spikes making up its point opening before a massive blue laser exploded out of it, slamming into Cloud's sword and sending him skidding backward, though it didn't damage it. Barret and Cody blasted it again, then opened fire on it, stopping just before Cloud got into the way and Cloud slashed in an upward arc up the scorpion's front before leaping backward as the tail stabbed downward at him, missing. Cody blasted the scorpion with more lightning and it staggered backward before Cloud suddenly leapt forward, spinning to his right and bringing the sword around, slashing the scorpion deeply across the front as he finished his spin. Then, he swung the sword down and around, slashing diagonally up to the left, then back to the right again before leaping backward. All three gashes were deep, and the scorpion began to shake and shudder instantly, something metal grinding inside. Then, it began to go haywire, staggering side-to-side, firing rockets at random, shooting at random. At the same time, it began to glow green, sparks flying inside of it as some kind of energy began to repair the damage they'd done.
"An auto repair unit!" Cloud said. "We need to destroy it now or we're screwed!"
"Got outa my way!" Barren said, swapping out his mag for one modified to hold a Fire materia. A ball of fire began to form in front of a hole at the end of his Gatling gun, the force of it making it hard for him to hold his arm still. "Eat this!"
The fireball grew until it was the size of Barret's torso before exploding away from him and hitting the scorpion in the body and exploding, blasting it wide open. Cody was about to ask why he didn't start with that when he saw the end of Barret's Gatling gun glowing cherry red and the pain on his face as he held his right bicep.
"Got it!" Barret said, forcing a grin.
Then, its legs gave out just as its tail began to flail around, firing a laser. It slashed through the core, causing an explosion before flailing around in the air, cutting through catwalks, the ceiling, the walls, and the floor like it was nothing. Barret turned to the core, but thousands of pounds of steel beams fell into his path.
"Shit!" Barret swore. "The bomb!"
"Twenty minutes until detonation," a feminine voice said from the bomb suddenly as it began to tick down.
They turned back to the robot a it fell off the platform into the mako before exploding.
"Heh, you hear that?" Barret asked. "Damn thing showed you how it's done!"
Cody printed past both of them, not feeling like sticking around for witty banter, instead wanting to get the hell out before the bomb exploded. He scrambled up the ladder quickly, finding Jessie had already headed up. That was good. That would give her a better chance of getting out alive. The sprinted along the catwalk and several monodrives moved to meet him, only for him to blast them with his gun, killing two and distracting the third, making it easy for Cloud to slash it on the way past a second later. He scrambled up the next ladder as quickly as he could, only to find a massive pipe had collapsed onto the catwalk, along with some chunks of cement, one of which had pinned Jessie's leg.
"Jessie!" he shouted, sprinting over to her and skidding to a stop. "Is it broken?"
"I don't think so," Jessie said. "Just sprained I think."
He gripped the edge of the cement and grunted in effort, lifting it a couple inches, allowing her to pull her foot free before he dropped it again. However, when she tried to stand, she gasped sharply and collapsed. Cody turned away from her, crouching and she quickly climbed onto his back just as Barret reached the top of the ladder.
"You got her?" Barret asked.
"Just make sure everything's dead," Cody said.
Barret nodded and continued to run as Cody stood, jogging after him as best he could. Running while carrying someone in a piggy back wasn't easy. Even someone as light as Jessie, but Cloud had taken off already, and Barret had a bigger gun, plus Cody could still carry her and use materia if he needed to. He could probably heal her, but he'd worry about it when they weren't already about to be blown sky high. They reached a ladder they had to climb down and he grit his teeth, handing her his gun.
"This route should lead us straight to our exit," Jessie said. "Probably."
"Hold on tight," he said. "You fall and I'll piss on whatever grave we make."
Jessie's hold on him tightened a lot, and her uninjured leg wrapped around his waist before he slid down the ladder quickly. Then, he jogged along the path again, taking a couple stairs onto a fallen sheet of metal extending from one catwalk to another. He gripped her legs and sprinted across it, leaping off as it began to tilt. He landed heavily on his arms and knees, sighing as the metal they'd just been on fell.
"Don't look back!" Jessie said, sounding panicky, for good reason. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"
He pushed himself back up, sprinting to another ladder, this time one he had to climb up, and began to climb. He made good time on that ladder, but on the small platform they had reached, there was an even longer ladder. He groaned miserably.
"We're running out of time!" Jessie said as he began to haul them both up it quickly.
"Jessie!" Cody growled.
"Sorry!" Jessie said. "It's just..."
"You'll freak out otherwise, I know," Cody said. "Just hold on and if you have to talk, don't shout into my ear anymore."
"Oh, sorry!" Jessie said, just as Barret appeared at the top of their ladder.
"Let's go you slow bastard!" Barret snapped, grabbing Cody by the front of the shirt and lifting both of them the rest of the way up the ladder with only his left hand. "Time to go!"
Cody nodded and jogged after Barret as he ran, both heading for the exit. There were several dead soldiers and destroyed Monodrives in the next room, and Cloud was waiting at the door.
"Finally," Cloud said. "You're so slow."
"This is your fault for only setting twenty minutes!" Cody snapped.
They sprinted past the ruined Sweepers, then up the stairs, finding the lasers deactivated but guards and Monodrives waiting. However, Cloud and Barret quickly slaughtered them all. Up the next stairs, they repeated the process. However, just as Barret and Cloud passed through the next door, a window above and behind Cody shattered and something hit the floor hard. He spun, knocking a shock trooper's hand aside, electricity arcing from the palm of his gauntlet. Then, he shoved the trooper back before lightning flashed from his arm band into the shock trooper's chest, launching him backward and killing him instantly. Cody turned, running through the door as Cloud and Barret finished off a group of shock troopers. Finally, they reached the elevator again and as soon as everyone was inside, Cloud shut the doors and started it up. Then, Cloud leaned back against the wall calmly as Barret began to pace. Cody leaned back in the corner, allowing Jessie to sit on the low railing just as they heard the bomb detonate. The blast didn't even shake the elevator, so Cody was a little disappointed. However, after a few seconds he could swear he heard gunfire from below them, though no one else reacted. Then, there was a second much, much larger blast and the elevator lurched, Jessie's arms tightening around Cody, who was still in front of her, holding him against her now.
"Come on," Barret growled. "Come on, come on, come on!"
He stopped, looking back at Cloud, who was so calm he looked like he might have drifted off to sleep, then to Cody and Jessie, Jessie looking a little nervous, but Cody looking almost as calm as Cloud, though his eyes were open. Finally, the elevator reached the top and the doors buzzed open. Barret charged out of them and Cloud followed calmly after him. Cody jogged to the control panel, but when Jessie reached out to it, he smacked the top of her hand.
"Hey!" Jessie said. "That wasn't nice!"
"Hush or I drop you," Cody said, typing quickly on the control panel.
"Let her do it," Barret said. "She and Biggs are the ones with this reactor's access codes."
"But those aren't the only access codes that matter," Cody said.
The door's control panel suddenly lit up with a green text box reading "ACCESS GRANTED" before the door opened. They all stared at him for a moment, then headed through the door without a word just as Biggs got the next door open.
"You okay?" Biggs asked Jessie.
"I'm fine," Jessie said. "Cody got to play the hero, though."
Biggs chuckled. "It's a shame you're the one who wears the shiny armor."
As they ran into the next room, one above mako storage with a "T"-shaped catwalk, explosions began to rock the reactor and Cody swore. The entire thing was about to blow. Explosions suddenly ripped through the walls to both sides and he swore again.
"We don't have a lot of time here!" Jessie said. "Pick up the pace people!"
"Understatement!" Cody shouted over the explosions.
"Look out!" Wedge shouted, pointing up.
Cody looked up then spun, hurling Jessie off of his back before trying to jump backward. hundreds of pounds of metal crashed down where they'd just been, an I-beam landing over Cody, not hurting him much beyond a nasty bruise within an hour, but pinning him in place.
"Cody!" Jessie shouted, just as Cloud reached him, grunting and throwing the I-beam off.
"Can you walk?" Cloud asked.
"I'm fine!" Cody grunted, shoving himself up and jogging to Jessie, allowing her to climb onto his back again before they all began to run again.
They turned right, toward the door Wedge had opened for them, but as they did, a massive pipe crashed down on the catwalk between Cody and Cloud, breaking it loose.
"Cloud!" Jessie shouted, Cody stopping to look back in time to see Cloud leap from the catwalk to the pipe, then from there up to safety, landing beside Cody. "Okay, that was pretty cool."
Cody rolled his eyes inside his goggles and began to jog again, Cloud following. "Priorities Jessie. Live first, flirt later."
"I wasn't flirting!" Jessie said. "I was just making an observation about him jumping like ten feet from freefall."
They reached a ladder, jessie once again holding onto Cody tightly, this time with both legs wrapped around him, accidentally squeezing where the I-beam had hit, and Cody slid down the ladder, then stepped out of Cloud's way, Cloud getting into the tunnel they were in just as the entire reactor exploded, debris crashing down into the tunnel on both sides, though the section they were in held together, for now.
"You can get down now," Cody said.
"What?" Jessie asked. "You're done carrying me?"
"Considering you can obviously walk by yourself, based on how tightly you just squeezed with your supposedly injured ankle, yes, I am," Cody said.
"Oops," Jessie said, stepping down. "Well, it was fun while it lasted." She kissed him on the cheek, just above his mask's strap. "You're so sweet for being willing to carry me all the way out."
"You're unbelievable," Cody grumbled, turning and walking away to see if there was a way through the debris blocking their exit.
"Looks like we made it," Barret said. "And with nothing but a few scratches to sho-" he was cut off by the tunnel lurching as something in whatever was left of the reactor exploded. "Think you might've overdone it?"
"I followed the instructions to the letter," Jessie said. "Maybe it triggered a reaction with the mako?"
"Liquid mako isn't flammable," Cody said, walking over. "And even if it was, the reactor should have failsafe's for that."
"How do you know that?" Barret asked, then raised his Gatling gun. "And while we're on the subject of the things you know, what passcode did you use when you said the reactor's passcodes weren't the only ones that work?"
Cody stared at him for a long moment before sighing heavily. "I know both for the same reason I knew a passcode that would open the reactor. The passcode was mine. I was with Shinra before I quit and started trying to drink myself to death, at which point I wound up in Seventh Heaven, eventually."
"Oh, and you expect me to believe just any old Shinra troop has clearance into a reactor?" Barret demanded. "Not buyin' it! Who the hell are you!?"
"I wasn't just any old Shinra troop," Cody said, sighing. "I used to be a Turk."
"What!?" Barret roared, slamming the end of his Gatling gun into Cody's chest and slamming him into a wall as Jessie stared at the floor silently, everyone else looking between the three.
"You knew?" Biggs asked.
"Yeah," Jessie said. "I knew. But he's not loyal to Shinra."
"Bullshit!" Barret spat. "Turks are spies! This bastard is working for Shinra!"
"I would die before working for Shinra!" Cody spat.
"And I'm supposed to believe you!?" Barret demanded.
"I don't care if you believe me or not!" Cody said. "If you want me to explain, I will. Later. If we stay here too long we're liable to be crushed."
"He's right," Cloud said. "This tunnel's not stable. We should keep moving."
"We're not going anywhere until we deal with this rat!" Barret snarled. "I aughta fill you full of hole!"
"Go right ahead!" Cody growled. "Send me to be with her! You'd be doing me a favor!"
"Be with who?" Wedge asked.
Cody sighed, puling his goggles off and rubbing the inside corners of his eyes. "My partner in the Turks. Cissnei. She was...everything to me. I couldn't stand Shinra. I hated everything about it. But for Cissnei, I stayed."
"Bullshit!" Barret spat. "The Turks do all of Shinra's dirtiest work! Spying, assassinations, coverups! No way they'd have someone who's not loyal be a member of a group that knows all their darkest secrets!"
"Not all of their darkest secrets, but yes, we did the dirty work," Cody said. "All those mako explosions you hear about on the news that killed dozens of people were usually the Turks covering up one of Shinra's dirty little secrets. Mako explosion was our favorite cover story. And as for letting someone who's not loyal in, that's not true. I wasn't the only one that hated Shinra. It's all about leverage. I fell in love with Cissnei, and Shinra said they couldn't promise her safety if I tried to go rogue. So I stayed. I stayed by her side as much to protect her from Shinra without her knowing about it as I did to be with her. And in the end, I failed." he glanced at Cloud, choosing his words carefully to try and avoid setting Cloud's condition off. "One of the secrets we didn't know about, basically anything to do with Hojo, Shinra's lead scientist, was that someone Cissnei was in love with."
"Wait, you weren't together?" Wedge asked.
"No," Cody said. "I loved her, but her heart belonged to someone else. Hojo took that person hostage after he was wounded during a fight and reported him dead. After four years of believing he had died, Cissnei found him as we were tracking down an escaped test subject. When she realized it was him we were hunting, she couldn't take him back. She chose to betray Shinra and the Turks by letting him go. I, as her partner, was with her when she made the decision, so I was able to cover for her. Almost a year later, we received explicit orders to capture him before the army, who had orders to kill him, found him. Cissnei was prepared to go rogue entirely for him, to save him from Shinra entirely. And she would have killed me to do it, if I hadn't proven my loyalty to her."
"How'd you do that?" Barret asked. "The same way you infiltrated whatever other groups you spied on?"
"I reminded her that I didn't tell anyone when she betrayed Shinra before," Cody said. "I may be a spy, but I've always been loyal to Cissnei first and foremost. But in the end, it didn't matter. We were too late, and he died. Cissnei blamed herself for his death, believing he'd still be alive if she'd just captured him before. She couldn't handle the grief at the thought that she got the man she loved killed, so she killed herself. As she died, she told me to leave Shinra and find a better path to walk, so I left. But I don't care about a better path. I want to make Shinra pay for taking Cissnei from me. Then once I do that, I'll return to the planet to be with her. So if you want to kill me now and send me to her early, you go right the fuck ahead."
Barret glared at him for another moment before pulling his gun away. "I won't kill you. But you will never be welcome in AVALANCHE, or in Sector Seven. If I even hear about you bein' in Sector Seven again, I'll kill you."
"Barret, he saved my life," Jessie said.
"And I'm grateful," Barret said. "That's the whole reason I'm letting him live now. But I will never accept a spy into our ranks."
"That's not fair!" Jessie said. "He has just as much right to be a part of AVALANCHE as you! You were loyal to Shinra until they killed your friend over a misunderstanding and took you arm! He was never loyal to Shinra, he was just protecting the love of his life until Shinra got her killed! He's proven he's not loyal to them!"
"He's not welcome and that's final!" Barret snarled.
"Then I'm going with him," Jessie said, everyone staring at her. "If you're kicking Cody out unfairly, then I'm done."
Barret growled in annoyance. "You're really going to push this, aren't you?"
"Only if you make me," Jessie said.
"Fine," Barret growled. "We'll let Tifa decide. He can tell her who he is and she can decide whether or not to let him stay."
Jessie nodded. "Fine. But my warning stands. If he's kicked out, I'm leaving too."
Barret growled, turning and slamming a fist into the wall before following the tunnel toward Sector Eight. Cody remained where he was until it was only him and Jessie.
"Why did you stick up for me?" Cody asked.
"Because I know you're telling the truth," Jessie said. "And even if I didn't, you saved my life. I owe you."
He nodded slowly and she smiled at him before following the others, Cody bringing up the rear in silence, grabbing his gun off the ground as he passed it.
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