TWENTY-EIGHT

Tifa and I crept slowly toward our target, staying carefully hidden behind a low mound of discarded junk. The supply depot was actually an unmarked warehouse tucked away in a quiet corner of Sector 4 well away from the undercity. There weren't any Shinra logos or anything to show what the place was. But the guards standing just outside the main doors were a dead giveaway with their dark blue uniforms and the gray metal helmets that covered their eyes. The troopers used the trio of red scanners mounted on the front to see.

"Looks like this is the place," I whispered.

Tifa nodded. "Yeah. But why would Shinra keep spare parts for the reactors down here instead of on the plate?"

I shrugged. "Dunno. Unless there's more here than that."

"You think they're hiding something?" she asked.

"Could be," I said, gazing at the warehouse. "But the only way we'll know for sure is to get inside and see for ourselves."

Tifa pointed. "Only two guards."

I saw what she was getting at. "Yeah. We can take them by surprise, knock them out, and slip right in. Then we'll have a look around to see what's so special about this place."

"Sounds like a—wait, what's going on?" she blinked.

There was suddenly a bit of a commotion now as two more guards approached the Shinra supply depot dragging a beaten and blindfolded man in between them. He was yelling and struggling against their grip, but the soldiers just ignored him. Tifa and I could hear him protesting and swearing from our hiding spot.

"I'm tellin' ya, I ain't done nothin'!" he said. "Let me go! Goddamn Shinra assholes! You can't do this!"

"Shut up!" one of the guards punched him.

The other guard looked at him as he collapsed with a pained grunt, still in his captors' grip. "This tonight's volunteer?"

"Yeah," one of them said. "Let us in."

"Understood. Just a minute," the first guard said.

I barely stifled a gasp when I got a better look at the guy they were holding. He was young, about my age, with short, light brown hair and a thin, matching beard. A slim build, but toned from all the hours that he spent outside working. The guy was a local, one I'd met before a few times. Not a bad sort, really, if a little boisterous.

"I know him!" I hissed.

Tifa stared at me. "You do? How?"

I went on. "He's one of my customers. Danny. Installed some filters for him and fixed his refrigerator a few weeks ago. He's a nice guy, paid well. Even hit on me a little. Not exactly soft-spoken, though. Or a very big fan of Shinra. He hates them."

"I think I see where this is going," Tifa said.

"He talks to anyone around town here who'll listen about how bad Shinra is and how greedy they are. A bit loudly sometimes, too. But he isn't the type to actually act against them. Danny's all bark and no bite, Tifa. Dunno what they did to him, but griping's about as far as he's ever gone. So there's gotta be another reason he's here."

She nodded. "What did that guard mean about volunteers?"

"I don't know," I sighed. "But I think we should find out. And help Danny if we can. We've got to save him."

"Right," Tifa agreed.

Just then, the first soldier tapped a code into a keypad mounted on the wall. There was a single beep once he entered the last number, and then the large double doors at the front of the building slid open. We'd have to move quickly to get in there, and Tifa and I both knew it. I saw her tensing herself to run, same as I was.

"Ready?" she asked.

I smirked as I took a tiny white ball from my belt pouch. "You bet! Got something that'll help, too—smoke bomb! Once I toss this puppy, we'll rush in and lay out the guards before they know we're there. Then we'll slip right into the warehouse."

Tifa chuckled. "Good idea! How long will we have?"

"It'll clear up in about thirty seconds," I answered. "So we'll have to haul ass as soon as it goes off."

She eyed the guards. "They're taking Danny inside."

I saw that Tifa was right. The two Shinra soldiers that had dragged him here got moving again as soon as the doors opened, and in spite of Danny's constant struggling, they quickly got him inside. I lifted up the smoke bomb and glanced at Tifa. We'd have to act fast, before the other two guards could lock the warehouse again.

She nodded. "Now!"

I stepped away out of our hiding spot and hurled the smoke bomb right at the guards' feet. It went off instantly, billowing clouds of smoke rising up amidst the confused and angry shouts of the guards. Tifa and I were already moving, using our ears to guide us, and while she struck the soldier on the left, I went after the one on the right. She didn't even make a sound, just a slight whooshing of air as she moved, followed by a pained groan by her target as he collapsed.

At the same time, I drove my gloved fist into the gut of the second guard. He grunted, and I used the noise to find his face and smash the side my gun barrel into it. The guy tumbled to the ground as Tifa and I raced into the supply depot. My assault hadn't had the finesse that hers did, but it got the job done nonetheless.

When we could see again, we were inside. The place was dark, with brooding concrete and metal walls. Tifa and I crept side by side down a short hall, the sounds of Danny's protests and struggling ahead of us. A few doors led off to the left right, but his captors never turned. Though we couldn't see them, we heard them easily enough. Still roughing him up by the sound of it. My fist tightened.

Tifa and I followed them into a larger room, a storage area of some kind. To either side of us were shelves of different parts. Some of them were just various pipes and valves, nothing remarkable. But there were also stranger things—rows of single-eyed helmets, metal gauntlets with what looked like claws, and reinforced kevlar suits, among other stuff. I had no idea what it was all for.

Looking again at the gauntlets, though, I froze as my eyes widened and a chill swept down my spine. I recognized them now, those deadly weapons. I had worked on them when I was still at Shinra, made them even stronger than they already were, but I had never known until now where the guys that used them were actually prepared before being put into service. So this was where it was done.

"Jessie?" Tifa whispered.

I shook off my momentary paralysis and got moving again. "Sorry, Tifa. This place just creeps me out."

She gave me a little smile. "That makes two of us."

We hurried on, spotting Danny and the guards at the far end of the room just as they hauled him through another doorway. His cries were abruptly cut off a moment later, and in the eerie silence that came after that, Tifa and I exchanged a worried glance. What was going on here? I didn't like the feel of this at all. And a dark suspicion was steadily rising in my mind. I didn't want too look too closely at it yet, though. I hoped I was wrong, but deep down, I knew I wasn't.

My fears were confirmed when we snuck into the next room. I led Tifa quietly behind a row of stacked metal crates emblazoned with the Shinra logo before anyone could see us, and then she and I peeked out from the side to see what was going on.

Danny was sedated and laying on some kind of operating table, the guards on either side of him. Two more had been waiting in the room, and between the four of them, they got him into one of those dark blue combat suits we'd seen earlier. Then, as I watched helplessly with wide, dismayed eyes, they fitted a pair of those clawed gauntlets on him, one over each arm. The armored bodysuit was, like I'd noted earlier, kevlar reinforced with tough black leather, encasing his feet in a pair of metal boots with long, sharp toe spikes.

"What are they doing to him…?" Tifa breathed.

I found myself nearly overwhelmed with guilt. "Come on! We can't let them finish! We've gotta—"

But before we could do anything, an older man wearing a white lab coat walked out of another room and over to the table, a syringe ready in his hand. A Shinra ID hung from his front pocket with a metal clip. He was from the Science Division. One of Hojo's cronies, no doubt. My lip curled at the very sight of him. And then I let out a little gasp when he plunged the needle into the side of Danny's neck, injecting him with a pale, greenish-yellow fluid of some kind. My hand flew to my mouth as I finally realized what they were doing to him.

They were turning him into a grunt.

Also called shock troopers, they were deployed to guard the mako reactors and other Shinra facilities around Midgar. I'd thought that the men who went through the procedure did it by choice. But now… now I knew the horrible truth. There'd been rumors around the slums about people disappearing in the middle of the night, mostly young men who were fit and strong but didn't have much in the way of family or friends or anyone else who'd miss them. I hadn't known whether I should trust the stories or not, but now I saw they were true.

Shinra was kidnapping people from all over the slums and twisting them into brutal soldiers. What was that stuff the scientist had injected Danny with? I'd thought grunts had simply been Shinra soldiers who'd chosen to go through special treatments to enhance their strength and speed and use these high-tech suits and weapons. Not like this, people just grabbed off the street or out of their beds and homes, dragged into a cold operating room, and filled with drugs.

And I had helped arm them.

Rage, sadness, and guilt swirled around inside me, and as much as I wanted to leap into action, I couldn't move. All I could do was watch, my hand still over my mouth. Danny twitched as the chemicals entered his body, and he thrashed beneath the restraints that bound him to the table, thick straps around his arms and legs.

After the Shinra scientist withdrew the needle from Danny's neck, two of the guards fitted one of those round metal helmets over his face. It completely covered his entire head, with three tube-like horns on top of it. The large, single red eye was dark, probably since Danny was still unconscious. I couldn't bring myself to think of him as what they were making him into. I didn't want to do that.

"Alright," the scientist said. "One less troublemaker down here. Be sure to have him sent up to Reactor 1. Scarlet wants the defenses there beefed up before her next inspection."

One of the guards nodded. "Understood. We'll—"

Suddenly, the light on Danny's helmet flared to life, and he tore out of his restraints, his clawed arm slashing across the guard's throat in an instant. The others fell back, shouting in confusion as Danny sprang to his feet and started firing particle beams at them. The scientist backed away, his eyes wide as he saw what was going on.

"You idiots!" he yelled. "I told you to get the dose right! You didn't give him enough to keep him out! He's loose!"

Danny whirled around. The man tried to run, but he didn't get far. Danny leaped onto him and started clawing, tearing the scientist apart as his screams filled the air. Tifa and I moved at once, rushing into the midst of the chaos. She went after the soldiers, fists and feet flying, as I drew my gun and focused on Danny. Could I reach him? Could we still bring him back? Or was it already too late?

"Danny!" I yelled. "Stop, please! Don't do this!"

He answered with his particle beams, energy bolts flying at me as I quickly dove aside. I didn't want to do what I knew had to be done. So I kept calling to him, trying to calm him and help him remember who and what he was. There had to be another way besides killing him. My heart was pounding as I moved, and as she took out the guards one by one, Tifa glanced over her shoulder at me.

"Jessie!" she said. "He's gone. He isn't Danny anymore. He's not the guy you knew. We have to stop him!"

I shook my head. "I can bring him back!"

Tifa took down one of the guards with a backward thrust kick. "It's too late! There's only one way we can help him now. You know that just as well as I do. We have to take him down!"

"Danny!" I tried again, rolling away from his swiping claws. "Don't you recognize me? It's Jessie! You gave me vegetables from your garden and offered to buy me a drink, remember?"

"Jessie…" Tifa sighed as she fought the last two guards.

I kept at it. "Your fridge was breaking down and you thought you'd lose all your cold food, but I fixed it! Installed that water filter, too. You said I was the prettiest repair girl you'd ever seen, Danny. Couldn't take your eyes off me! I know I turned you down, but I have to admit, I was tempted to take you up on your offer."

He just kept attacking, firing mindlessly at me again while Tifa was busy dealing with the last two guards. I had my gun in both hands, but I didn't want to shoot him. Danny wasn't leaving me much of a choice, though. He suddenly jumped on me, sharp claws a blur as he knocked me flat onto my back, and I only had a split second to act. Pressing the barrel firmly against his chest, I stared up at the cold, bright red sensor scope on his face as tears flooded my eyes.

"Danny!" I yelled.

I fired, again and again, thunder in my ears as I emptied the entire clip into him and ignored the stinging pain in my arms from where he had slashed me. Danny's body shuddered with every shot, and then he slumped limply on top of me as the chamber finally clicked. I dropped my gun and just lay there for a minute, not wanting to believe what I'd just done. That I'd had to kill my friend.

Tifa ran over to me. "Jessie!"

Slowly, I sat up and pushed Danny's body off me. He landed on his back as Tifa joined me, and the guards all lay sprawled out on the floor nearby. I ignored her at first, grasping Danny's helmet and unfastening the clasps that held it in place. Then I pulled it off him and tossed it to the side. I just couldn't leave him with it on. I didn't want to see him as the terrible thing Shinra had turned him into.

"Danny…" I murmured, still crying.

He was dead, his eyes staring sightlessly up at the ceiling. I reached out a trembling hand and closed them as Tifa gently laid one of hers on my shoulder. I couldn't move at first after that, couldn't even think. All I was aware of was that Danny was dead, and I had killed him. I hadn't been as close to him as I was to Biggs and Wedge, but he'd still been my friend. He had grown the best veggies in his little garden, and I'd found his flirting cute even though I hadn't been interested.

I looked up at Tifa. "Are you sure… this was the only way?"

She knelt down next to me. "I'm sorry, Jessie…"

"Help me, will you?" I asked, taking hold of one of his gauntlets. "I don't wanna just leave him like this, Tifa. He's as human as you and me, and that's how I'm gonna remember him."

Tifa nodded. "Of course."

Together, we took off both his clawed gauntlets. There wasn't much we could do about the suit, so we left it. He looked human enough now that I thought I could accept what had happened. I held his hand for a moment, then gently set it down again, anger and resolve filling me. As Tifa and I stood up, I knew exactly what I had to do. I flipped open my belt pouch and took out a pair of raspberries.

"Here," I handed them to Tifa. "Two in here, and I'll toss two more in the next room. Then we run. This won't stop the production of these things, unfortunately, but it oughta slow it down for a while. It's time to give Shinra a message from Avalanche!"

Her hand covered mine. "Loud and clear, Jessie."

As we backed away toward the door, Tifa pulled the pins out of the raspberries one by one, then tossed them into the middle of the room. We ran back the way we'd come, racing through the large storeroom as I pulled out two more of my special grenades, yanked out the pins with my teeth, and threw one to either side of us.

The explosions started just as we darted through the doorway and into the entry hall. We kept running as the inferno grew and the other pair of raspberries went off. Fire and smoke rose up behind us, and we heard thunder in our ears. Tifa and I made it back outside just seconds before the blasts ripped the outer doors right off their hinges. We dove to the ground as they flew overhead and crashed nearby in a smoking, ruined heap of burnt and twisted metal.

Just we stood up, we heard a man's voice. "What in the hell!? We've got intruders! Grab 'em!"

"Shinra soldiers!" Tifa yelled. "Run!"

I winked at them as I followed her. "It's been a slice, but… gotta go! Better luck next time, fellas!"

The soldier pointed at us. "After 'em!"

We'd been seen by a whole squad, a dozen soldiers at least. Way too many to fight. They must've just come back from a patrol—no way that Shinra would leave a place like this unguarded, especially with what we had found out about it. Spare parts, my ass. At least Tifa and I had shut the place down for a while, and hopefully that would keep others from suffering Danny's fate. But I promised myself that if I ever had to fight any of those grunts again, I'd put them down quick, without hesitation. It was the least I could do for them.

I reached into my belt pouch. "Shit! Not good!"

"What is it?" Tifa asked as we ran.

"I'm outta smoke bombs!" I answered. "I knew I should've brought more than one. Damn!"

She led me past a mound of junk. "Your grenades?"

I shook my head. "No good, Tifa. Those guards are too close. We'd be caught in the blast right along with them!"

"Any bright ideas?" she grimaced.

"Thinking, thinking…" I murmured, trying look around as we ran and did our best to avoid getting shot.

Tifa yanked me out of the line of fire. "Think faster!"

"I'm trying!" I called, urging her onward.

We raced through the Sector 4 outskirts, weaving our way through the dirt trails with those Shinra soldiers chasing right after us. Gunfire erupted all around us, and we used as much of the fallen junk for cover as we could. Still, we couldn't keep this up forever. We had to figure out a way to lose our pursuers before one of us got hurt or worse. I already was, my arms still stinging from the slashes I'd gotten during the battle with Danny, but it wasn't too bad.

I glanced behind us to see the guards firing again, and on instinct, I grabbed Tifa and pulled her out of the way, diving to the ground just as the bullets flew past us. When we landed and rolled aside, there was a hollow clanging sound underneath us and the feel of metal amidst all the dirt. And I suddenly knew how we were gonna get outta this mess. I let go of Tifa and started brushing the dirt and bits of trash out of the way as fast as I could, searching for the edges of what I knew was there. She glanced back at our pursuers.

"What are you doing?" Tifa said. "They're almost here!"

I kept working. "Trust me! I found a way out! Gimme a hand, Tifa! This sucker's gonna be heavy!"

She looked at what I was doing. "I see it! Hang on!"

Together, we quickly got the manhole cover cleared off. I heard the soldiers coming and more bullets flying, but I focused on what we had to do. The cover was round, about three feet across, and heavy. While I took one end, Tifa took the other, and we lifted it off as fast as we could and quickly set it aside. Just as I'd hoped, a rusted iron ladder led down into the sewers. Not the most pleasant escape route, but I wasn't about to complain. Beggars couldn't be choosers.

"You first, Jessie," Tifa insisted.

I knew better than to argue, so while she whipped up her fists and took down a couple guards who had gotten close enough, I went ahead and started climbing down the ladder. The thumping sounds of a fight came from above me, and the pained groans of the guards told me Tifa was kicking ass and taking names.

Just I splashed down into the channel, I saw her hurrying down the ladder. The angry shouts of the remaining soldiers were getting closer, and I hoped they wouldn't try and come after us down here. This place was a maze, though, and we stood a good chance of losing them if they did. I eyed the ladder as Tifa stepped off it.

"Think they'll try to follow us?" I wondered.

She smirked, then spun around with a swift, hard roundhouse kick and smashed the lower half of the ladder to pieces. They clattered onto the damp stone floor in a pile of shattered junk as I watched in stunned surprise and approval, an admiring grin spreading across my face. I so wanted to be able to do cool stuff like that.

I laughed. "Guess that answers that question."

"Sure does," Tifa chuckled. "So… know the way home?"

"Uh… sort of," I told her.

She blinked as we started walking. "Sort of?"

"Never been down here myself," I admitted, "but I've looked over a few blueprints. I think I know the way…"

"I hope so…" Tifa said.

I smiled as reassuringly as I could. "Don't worry! The sewers go all the way across the slums—they're all connected—so we can take them right back home. We're just outside Sector 5 now, so if we keep heading clockwise, we'll get there eventually."

She laughed. "Okay, then. Guess you're our guide, Jessie."

"Just leave it to me, Tifa!" I cheered.

The sound of dripping water echoed throughout the tunnels as we went on, and the smell was totally gross. Better than getting caught and shot by those guards, though. At least they weren't a problem anymore. It would probably take us at least an hour to get back to Sector 7, but it didn't look to be a very eventful trip. Lucky us. We'd both had our fill of excitement for today. It would be a long, if smelly, journey back home, but we had finally put the danger behind us.

Or so we thought.