Midgar

Mako Reactor One


The world was far too different. Kuro had quickly realized that upon coming out on the other side of the Dark Corridor he conjured. From the silence of Traverse Town to the sudden noise of Midgar was a huge adjustment he needed to make fast.

He had found himself transitioning from the empty First District Cafe to being on a currently unoccupied train platform, not enough time to process the new stimuli before he heard the clanking of heavily armored boots echoing out from the nearby walkway tunnel to join the noise that buzzed around the area.

He immediately ducked behind a nearby large industrial garbage bin. He had needed to avoid arousing suspicion until Barret told him the plan proper.

He had been right to do so, because he had avoided the crosshairs of the nearby patrolling guards while they were waiting for the latest train to arrive. Kuro's eyes take in the area around him as he waits for the rest of the party to join him. His hand resting against the cold steel of the bin as the other rests on his bent knee.

Whereas Traverse Town was a modest village with humble small storefronts and quaint courtyards and three simple districts, Midgar appeared to be this absolute industrial beast of a city.

With towering buildings that loomed in the distance, the distant honking of car horns and the constant industrial steel walls made for a dark and narrow area to be in.

The train station appeared to be under repair, with several tarps, crates of metal pipes and bars, and ladders strung around the station. This depot has fallen under disrepair, with the whole stage being under a remodel. With the old worn steel beginning to bleed out between the dim blue and flat white paints. Now faded from years of being under the sun and having weathered years of neglect.

Kuro felt a massive hand clap against his shoulder, turning to see Barret and Jessie coming out of the corridor and crouching alongside the Heartless, the darkness dissipating behind them soon after. Evading the sight lines of the SHINRA guards that were waiting for the train to arrive.

Kuro peeked out from around the corner, seeing the soldiers with their guns in their hands and their triple helmet red lights shining in the dimly lit station.

The guards of the SHINRA corporation were wearing these uniforms of deep blue canvas with buckles and straps along their torsos. Magazines for their firearms tucked into their front holsters and a sidearm holstered into their belt.

Their armor is composed of pauldrons, knee pads, gauntlets and bracers all painted a bright and eye-catching white. Their bulky helmets were a similar shade of ivory, except their foreheads had immediately shifted into a chalky gray color that had these three red lights fixed into the shape of a triangle.

They were a dark gunmetal gray with a wooden grip bolted underneath the heated guarded barrels and lacked stocks. Their firearms were loaded and locked, primed to kill.

"So," Kuro whispered, glancing over at the huge leader of Avalanche with an inquisitive look. His hands flexed and prepared for the next phase of the plan. "What's the plan to get to the Reactor?"

Barret reached behind his back, and pulled out of his waistband a small sidearm. The pistol was made of a deep black metal with wooden grips. The word, Quicksilver etched into the side of the barrel. Barret placed the gun in Kuro's hand, tapping the gun with a stern finger.

"We are going to storm the castle, blow the shit out of this reactor, and make headway to Sector Seven while SHINRA is scattering like roaches under a light. We grab Wedge and Biggs tomorrow when things are blown to said shit, and your happy ass sends us back to Traverse Town through your fun party trick." Barret noted with a nod towards the two SHINRA guards that are posted up and around the corner of the garbage bin. "Me and Jessie are currently under an ordered manhunt, so if we get spotted by the guards, we are going to have SHINRA bearing down on us like hailstones. We need someone to pull aggro and clear the path ahead while we focus on getting inside. I'm here in case things get a bit too messy and need cleaning up, Jessie is here to access the terminals and we need someone to watch our backs."

"And without Wedge and Biggs-" Kuro quickly pieces together his role in the plan as he stares at the firearm in his hand with great confusion. He's going to be running aggro.

He fumbles with the gun to get a feel for the weight, finger tapping along the trigger guard before he glances up at Barret. Trying to understand exactly how to work this thing in his hands. He imagined it as a tinier version of Barret's own armament. Albeit, much smaller and possibly not nearly as loud. "And this?"

"It's my little gift to you. Use it to clear the path." He stated, as Jessie shuffled over and took the gun from Kuro's hands with a quick tap along his forearm to signify a handoff. Noticing immediately that he was very clueless about what exactly he had in his hand. Kuro hands it without hesitation. "You got exactly nine bullets. So, make them count. Understood?"

"You want me to kill them?" Kuro asked with a hollowed tone, his jaw locking and his mind bringing images to his mind of the guards under Frollo's orders and how he dispatched them. He had done grievous harm but never aimed to be fatal. The sound of knees snapping and the rattling teeth against stone when he knocked them out of the mouths of the guardsmen he fought.

Then he thought of Frollo, he had the image flash in his mind of how he carved out the old man's chest and the sensation of when he ate his heart. Kuro's hands shook at the recollection of the heat of a beating heart in his hands before he recalled that fear in Quasimodo's eyes when their eyes met. The fear that his friend held made him tighten his fist and let out a measured breath. "That right?"

"It's war, kid." Was all Barret could say in response, with an unconcerned shrug. The thought of their deaths seemingly did not bother him in the slightest. "They're SHINRA. They already dug their grave. We're just filling it with them instead of letting them fill 'em with us."

Barret hushed his voice, letting Jessie get to work. She quickly unlatches the magazine, catching it with her free hand before she pulls back on the slide to make sure it's loaded and notices that it isn't. She sees Kuro watch with great interest, and she shifts her weight to rest shoulder to shoulder with him. With a notable slowed and measured demonstration, she loads the magazine back into the gun and pulls back on the slide. The action pops open and loads a round into the chamber. She hands it back to Kuro, reengaging the safety and flashing him a wink.

"Here you go, Sunset. When you're ready to unload on them, push the button I just pressed in the opposite direction, point the barrel where you want to shoot and squeeze the trigger. Expect a little kick." She smiles, as she pats him on the shoulder and nudges him towards the open space before them. Kuro shifted from a rather uncomfortable crouch into his standing position, rolled his shoulders and let out a heavy breath. It was time to get to work.

The screeching of the huge locomotive had echoed throughout the station as a train came to halt right beside him. The horn bellowing throughout the station and the bouts of steam plumed out of the engine spout and out of the combustion pipes along the wheels.

The braking of the train had created this dense cloud of steam that cloaked the guards in front of Kuro in a translucent silhouette of gray.

The blaring sound of intercom noise to notify the train's arrival hurt Kuro's ears and the blinding light of the wall mounted spotlights that flicked on immediately had annoyed his eyes.

Kuro walked forward, the gun in his hand being swiftly tucked into his waistband as he shook out his hands and began to approach the two soldiers. Steeling his heart to what was to come.

Heartless don't choose. They are just destructive by their very nature. But men can be evil. Because they choose to be evil.

Kuro's thoughts focus on the words Barret said when he discussed the difference between these planet destroying soldiers compared to the heart devouring creatures of the dark. SHINRA made it their job and made a career of purposefully draining worlds of their resources and destroying them when they were done. They chose to do such things.

Kuro and Dusk were destructive by their very nature, DiZ said as much himself. It was in Kuro's existence as a Heartless to do harm, he couldn't be blamed for his proclivity towards violence. No matter how brutal it was to engage in. It was natural for him to do so.

And if this violence was done in the nature of helping others and saving worlds, then it was good. It had to be. That's the only way it made any sense. If not, what did Sora do to save the realm then? Talk Ansem down?

Frollo's death, had it not been squandered by the destruction of the planet's Cornerstone, would have guaranteed that his reign of terror would have ended with his demise. No more people would have to be hurt. And with Kuro eating his heart, The Judge was well and truly gone. Kuro's breath settled and his eyes grew focused. The shakes in his hands were dissipating, and he was prepared to make these people pay for the evil they chose to do.

While he couldn't save the City of the Bells, he could save Midgar. That would help ease his conscience, knowing he helped save a world.

The two guards saw Kuro approach with his hands at his sides and they steadily approached him in return. Their guns clanking and jostling in their hands. The one on the right gave a wave to what looked like to them a silhouetted train operator, currently hidden amongst the smoke.

"Hey there! So, we have received orders to check the haul and crew! New standards, considering we got those maniac Avalanche members about. Got your badge and ID?" The guards approached Kuro with their barrels pointed to the floor, the redlights of their helmets shining in the dense cloud. Kuro stopped upon hearing their voices, swiftly nodded to agree to their terms, and reached into his waistband. His fingers tracing the edges of his firearm.

They chose to be evil. They chose this.

"Yeah, sure thing." Kuro said as coolly as he could as he pulled the pistol out and unlatched the safety. The sudden weight in his hand felt much heavier, but Kuro breathed the anxiety out. He steadied his stance and raised the firearm up. The thick fog blocking out his silhouette and making him appear amorphous. His eyes wide open as he stared down the sights and lined up this shot. He eased his breath and squeezed the trigger. Just as Jessie had said to do. "This good enough for ya?"

The first shot rocketed through his arm in line with the question, the muscle in Kuro's arm vibrated and his ears rang as soon as the shot was fired. Kuro's eyes went wide as the guard fell to the ground into a heap and the other immediately raised his gun and disengaged the safety. Kuro's left arm was thrown up, the canine faced shield taking form and appearing in a cloud of purple and black smoke.

The rattled machine gun fire echoed out into the area, the bullets reflecting and ricocheting off of the shield as Kuro charged forward and holstered the pistol into his waistband. The machine gun clicked empty, and as the guard prepared for the reload, the Heartless burst out of the dense steam cloud and buried a pointed tip of the buckler's edge into the guard's chest.

The guard's ivory armor crushed on impact, denting deep into their chest, the man's eyes going wide as another gust of dense dark smoke erupts out of Kuro's hand and his blue hue blade connected into the man's stomach before the man could call for help.

The blade slammed into the man's torso, tearing into their abdomen and protruding out the other side drenched in red. Kuro, with a second shield bash to the chest, knocked the man off of his sword and sent him crashing into the ground.

Kuro's eyes darted to the first man he dropped with a precise pistol shot to the jaw, their face a mess of bone, loose meat and it bled rapidly. That pistol round tore through the man's profile without issue.

There was a shimmer of light that lingered over his chest, before the golden burst of his heart erupting out of his armored torso and hovering over the now dead body.

The crystalline shaped red heart then floats stagnantly for a moment before it immediately rushes into Kuro's side.

As though it were pulled in by an unseen current, the heart is directly sucked into Kuro's being. That heat spread and plumed the spot in his ribs where the heart made contact before being drawn up into his chest. Just as Frollo's heart did when Kuro devoured it.

His own beating heart once again illuminated by a dimly lit crimson hue.

The soldier that was felled by his blade, their heart followed a similar fate. Being vacuumed directly into Kuro's chest and illuminating his now quick beating heart again.

Whereas Frollo's was purely malicious and full of deceit and contempt, these hearts had their own taste and were not as stained in as deep a darkness as the Judge's own bleeding heart was.

Kuro felt the warmth of laughter, one felt the heat of love and passion, both of them were settled with joy and happiness found in their lives. While the darkness that stained all hearts was still there in the core of the guards, they had their share of levity and held humanity's light as well.

The thumping of Kuro's dark heart and the sudden burst of energy that followed made Kuro's lips curl into a truly ravenous grin. Unlike Frollo's, which felt as though he were given a hot sip of coffee, hot and bitter, these hearts tasted as though he had bitten into that ice cream that DiZ enjoyed. It was a tad salty, but oh so sweet. Regardless, Kuro came to one realization.

Their hearts tasted just as delicious as Frollo's pitch covered heart.

His eyes aglow with this new discovery and made quick work of understanding his own power.

He couldn't see or release the hearts of the Heartless he destroyed because those hearts were already taken into the darkness. They already were claimed and couldn't be taken by the dark again.

However, fresh hearts were prime for the taking. Unlike other Heartless, who released hearts to fill out the ranks of their malevolent armies, Kuro consumed them and in turn he was bolstering his own personal strength with their power.

Kuro's chest heaved as he glanced over his shoulder and saw Barret and Jessie run past him and take cover beside the station archway. Kuro secured his hold of his sword, and charged on ahead with the sensation of devoured hearts still fresh in his chest.

The budding feeling of regret had begun to rise in his chest as he felt the dead's light, those feelings of happiness and joy they held onto reared its head. Making the Heartless begin to feel remorseful that their lives were considered forfeit in this world.

"This is for the greater good." Kuro's mind whispered to reprimand the Heartless for feeling such things as he continued to trek forward. His heart pumping hard in his chest and his eyes growing more void as he prepared for the next enemy to approach him. "These men chose to do evil. I chose to fight for good. Regardless of the choices that they had, they made this one. And it led them here. It was either them, or me. I had to kill them."

The next three guards came marching down the stairs to the station's lower level, hopping over the turnstiles taking position at the bottom of the stairwell.

"Target is armed! Go loud!" The one in front shouted, the simultaneous clicks of safeties flickering off sounded. Kuro raised his shield as they unloaded their armaments onto him. The majority of the round pounded into the dog faced shield with only four rounds piercing Kuro's left leg. The sting echoed through his form and made Kuro let loose a furious roar.

The magazines ran empty with several clicks, and Kuro bolted forward. A harsh cleave into the clavicle of the nearest guard broke through armor and bone, resting the blade snugly into the man's torso before releasing his hand of the handle.

Kuro's left arm swung out and smashed his shield into the guard that stood beside him on his left, knocking his gun out of his hand and sending it crashing to the floor.

Kuro's hand drew his side arm and fired off three shots into the untouched third guard's chest, the bullets embedding deep in his chest and sending him to the floor. Kuro turned to the still standing guard who was now weaponless, slamming the heel of the pistol into the man's chin and again into the center of his face.

The man fell with his hands clapped around his broken nose and a millimeter round was fired shortly after. Piercing through his hands and lodging in his skull.

Kuro watched as Jessie and Barret rushed forward, their eyes seemingly not processing the fact there were these giant floating crystal hearts hovering above these dead combatants.

Jessie shot Kuro a quick grin as she ran, full on running through the floating heart without it impeding her step. Phasing through her as though it never existed.

Kuro watched with curiosity. She didn't seem to notice the Heart as she ran through it. Perhaps because he was a Heartless and as such was attuned to the presence of these hearts? That's why maybe only he could perceive them?

Regardless, the three hearts gravitated to the Heartless, who absorbed them without paying much mind. The heat that plumed from where they landed on him was cozy and warm, just as the previous hearts were.

There was one in the trio whose heart was deviantly dark and malicious, with the darkness that inked the crystal noticeably more pungent and intense than the other two. They tasted good by the end of it, delectable all the same.

Kuro's eyes darted to the lingering pain in his leg as he took his step, recalling just now that he had been shot four times. A pain he was sure should've been more serious than it felt.

Unlike Barret's rounds, which tore through bone and had exit wounds, these bullets were barely lodged into the Heartless' leg. Looking more like ticks that burrow themselves underneath his skin rather than the gaping bullet wounds one would expect.

Kuro's mind focused, and his accelerated healing factor shoved the lead out of his leg and closed the wounds properly. The blood that drained out of his legs now stained his jeans.

The four bullets trickled down his pant leg before they clatter against the floor and ring out in the now empty space. Kuro's eyes shifted to his chest, wondering if the hearts he had devoured had boosted his constitution, and what were going to be devastating gunshot wounds were now mere annoyances because of it.

Without wanting to linger for much longer, Kuro hopped over the turnstile to catch up with Jessie and Barret.

He followed the stairs up to the next level and found the two of them stationed alongside a large doorway that reads 'Restricted Area'. Jessie was punching in numbers into a small handheld device while Barret kept vigilant with his gun arm primed and ready to fire as Kuro approached her. Strolling up beside her before crouching down to her level and watching her work. His shoulder tapping against hers as he peered over her to watch.

She can see his amber shaded gaze reflected in the small screen and she grins in response. Those eyes of his were so beautiful. Just pieces of evening sunshine warmly captured in a gentle gaze.

"Hey there, bright eyes." She whispered to him, glancing over her shoulder at him and showing off that beaming smile of hers. She sees him return the expression back, nodding towards the device. "Are you a little curious or just like being close to me?"

"What are you doing?" Kuro inquired, reaching over and tapping on the side of the device, his hand absentmindedly trailing along her wrist as he withdrew his fingers. The brushing of his fingertips sending a shiver up her arm.

"I'm pretty close with someone who can get us the passcodes. Some short espionage. Comes with the territory of being the tinkerer of the group." Her eyes returned to the device in her hands, before taking another glance at the Heartless who watches, truly enthralled with what she was doing. "It's pretty simple once you get connected. Just need to bypass some security codes and get the elevator down here with a quick algorithm."

"That's amazing, Jessie." Kuro whispered with pride, glancing at her with a bewildered expression. "I wouldn't even know where to start with that kind of stuff. That's awesome-You're awesome!"

Jessie felt her hands stiffen for a moment, with a rose glow beginning to shine in her cheeks. Such a compliment hardly came her way, and she could feel her heart race. She glances at Kuro out of her peripherals, her lips pulling in and her eyes squinting as she feels butterflies flapping wild in her stomach. His smile shone in the dark, eyes fixated on the sight of her working with such pride. She eased the fluttering with a steady breath. "So… How old are you anyway, Kuro? Think we can get a drink after this mission?"

"Old? Oh…" Kuro squinted his eyes, clicking his tongue against his teeth in a quick ponderance. How old was he? Logically, Kuro is a little over a month old. Technically, anyway. He took his first breath just shy of forty days ago.

But physically? Going off of his original self's age? He brushed his thumb over his chin and felt his stubble peppered across his face. His shoulders shrugged as he turned attention back to Jessie. "Not sure, really."

"Looking at fifty with all that silver and gray hair." Barret grumbled under his breath with a teasing grin, before nudging his chin towards Kuro. "How the hell do you not know how old you are? Ain't you ever had a birthday?"

"My memory isn't the best, Barret. Give me a second…." Kuro admitted, with a hint of shame, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck. He had to have had a birthday. Maybe even two? He couldn't just be ageless, that would be weird. Do Heartless even age? How old was Dusk? Were they a day or millennium old? Kuro shook the thought away, he had to focus on himself.

He shut his eyes and focused hard on the idea of a birthday. Letting his mental thumbs brush over the vague memories he had thundering around his skull at all time. Jessie glances over and sees Kuro's hand fidget and twitch, his eyes shifting underneath the hoods of his eyelids.

Trying so hard to try and remember such an event. She moves a hand to rest along his own, feeling him twitch before curling her fingers around his knuckles and squeezing tightly. Assuring him that she was there and he could relax.

His breathing begins to settle into a steady rhythm and his body relaxes under her touch.

Which turns that tight and twisted contorting and scrounging around his mindscape for a memory to instead be as simple and easy as drawing back a curtain to stare out a window.

For a brief moment, he finds something in the form of a vague image playing in his mind. The irritating smell of burning wax, the echoing sound of applause, the distorted rhythm of the song was jumbled and incoherent. The sensation of not knowing what to do with his hands made them lock at his sides as he looked in the swirling masses of his loved ones.

Brown endless spirals wishing him a merry day. He stares out ahead of him at the huge birthday cake in front of him, the message written in red and gold frosting, 'Happy 18th Birthday'. As his eyes go to read the second part, right where the name is typically written, a hand shoves his face into the middle of the cake with a hair raising laugh.

The owner's chuckle sparks something fierce in Kuro's own chest, so it must've belonged to someone that truly meant a lot to him.

Kuro's eyes shoot open and he feels that phantom feeling of smeared frosting and smushed cake on his face. Kuro wipes it away immediately, despite there not being a drop of frosting or a bite of cake on him at all.

"I want to say… eighteen? I remember a birthday…" Kuro turned towards Barret whose stoic expression curled to a grin and he shook his head at the answer he was given. "I think I'm still eighteen?"

"You're young buck!" The older man hollered with a hearty laugh. His eyes squirmed shut and his hand clapped on his thigh. Shaking his head and letting his laughter echo in the area. "You're just a baby! Must've been a stressful eighteen years to have you already planting grays and silvers."

"And we're good!" Jessie said with a giggle of joy as the elevator doors slowly creak open. Barret marches inside without another word, Kuro rising to a stand before Jessie grabs him by the collar and pulls him back down. Her half lidded gaze meets his, her face inches from his own. Her plump red lips curled to a smile. "Hey there now."

"Hey there, Jessie." Kuro muttered with a mass forming in his throat. His cheeks flushing and his heart beginning to face. She was so close to him, so close the tips of their noses brushing against each other. "We should get going-"

"We will. We will. I was just thinking though, all things going according to plan? Do you mind coming over tonight? Celebrate our little victory together?" Jessie suggested with a quick wink and a glance to his dark lips. The tip of her tongue gently tracing over her lips as she looked back up at him. The sight of her pink tongue made Kuro's heart race. "My roommates are with my mom in the higher end of Sector Seven and we will be getting them tomorrow to leave the world, so it'll be me all by my lonesome in the room for the night."

"Oh," Kuro mumbled, his heart now fluttering and his hands becoming clammy. He glanced up at the ceiling and back at her. Unsure of what exactly she was asking of him. He glances to the elevators and then feels her hand let go of him. She stood up, smoothing out the wrinkles in her trousers as she stared down at him. Her hazel eyes looking over him with a lecherous expression on her face. "Um-"

"Just something to consider, darlin'. Don't keep me waiting." She offered with a nonchalant shrug and a giggle for good measure. Kuro watched her head on into the elevator, his eyes shifting down and lingering on her hips and thighs as she walked on ahead. Her hips swayed a little wider as she felt his gaze rest on her while she walked. "You gonna enjoy the view or you gonna keep up?"

He felt his hands tremble and immediately squeezed them tight. This odd sensation echoing in his chest. He felt his tongue get uncomfortable in his mouth and his stomach began to twist. Ignoring it as best he could, he stands up and follows her inside. She presses the button once he's inside and the lift begins to descend down. Barret stares into the next doorway, his arm ready to fire and prepare to fight as soon as the door opens up.

"So, this reactor," Kuro leaned up against the steel paneled wall of the elevator. Letting his hands move to rest on his knees as he rolled his shoulders out. His fingers pointing to the floor of the lift, gesturing to the reactor as a whole. "This does the planet killing?"

"Oh, indeed. This pump's sole purpose is to drain the planet dry. While we sleep, while we eat, while we shit—it's here, sucking up mako. It doesn't rest and it doesn't care about what it's doing! Do You have any idea what mako is? Mako is the lifeblood of our world. Of every world." Barret's words echo out in the small space, Kuro's eyes widening as he stares at the floor and squints his eyes.

He thought for a moment of the bourdon Bell of Notre Dame cracking underneath his finishing blow, and those barbed hooks that dug into him. Filling him with vitality and strength not unlike when he would eat a heart. Was that the Mako? Did he eat some Mako?

Did he absorb the literal 'life blood' of a planet? Perhaps why he felt such a powerful surge of energy from that bell? That could have been the Mako of Quasimodo's world?

"The planet bleeds green like you and me bleed red. You gonna stand there and pretend you can't hear the planet crying out in pain? I know you can!" Barret punctuated his speech with a stern punch to the wall, his eyes narrowed as he cast a glance at the Heartless. "Don't you feel it?"

Kuro's eyes shut for a moment, taking in a measured breath and breathing it out all the same. If worlds did in fact have hearts, maybe he could feel it. The sound of his heartbeat echoing through his body was the only he could feel. No worldly heartbeat was registering. The humming of the elevator slowly fades into the background. Being drowned out by his boxed breathing.

That is, until he hears not one but two steady beating hearts in the same room as him. Kuro's eyes shot up and stared at Barret. His form seemed to have darkened, his skin was muted and dim leaving the only source of light to be visible in the room was the thumping organ in his chest. Kuro could see it, as though the man's broad chest suddenly became transparent.

With each pump of the heart, a wave of flickering red echoed out through the leader's body. As a thrown stone plummets into still water and reverberates out in ever expanding ripples.

Kuro's sights turned towards Jessie's heart, to the sight of a similar red light flickering with each beating of her heart, that is until her eyes met his. Then something strange happened.

The once red waves instead pulsed out as shimmering flutters of pink. As if the sudden change in color was caused by him staring at her. Jessie noticed Kuro staring at her, that heart of hers now thumping faster.

Kuro shook his head and hiked up his breathing, the color returning to the world and those hearts dimming back into the depths of the shadows and his eyes and ears unfocusing.

"I think I feel something." Kuro whispered, as the elevator 'dinged' and the doors flew open. Kuro straightened his stance and marched out of the elevator, Barret and Jessie following after him. Kuro's eyes trail up to the massive reactor core that loomed in the distance.

It was a truly remarkable structure, easily towering over the already impressive buildings of the sector by at least half a mile. It was a tall cylinder building, its surfaces covered in dozens, if not hundreds, of glass windows and the facing side towards the center of the city had these huge letters adorning it. In a language that Kuro didn't understand but assumed it would indicate that this was a Mako Reactor One.

Kuro's breath halted at the sight, he had never seen anything quite as impressive or as large before in his life. Even the Twilight Town bell tower would possibly be dwarfed by this huge building. Kuro needed to consciously take a breath to gather his senses. Barret walked past him, shoving past the Heartless and towards the path leading up towards the Reactor main entrance. Jessie walked along towards Barret, leaving Kuro to pull up the rear as they continued.


Midgar

Mako Reactor - Interior


The trio advanced on through the main entrance to the core, bypassing any security gates with Jessie's keypad and ducking out of the way of patrolling guards as they make their way deeper into the facility. They didn't need to arouse much suspicion as they closed in further.

They turned the corner leading to one of the descending stairs that lead to one of the more open platforms. As open as the following last four floors, which were mostly dilapidated and unoccupied platformz they managed to evade SHINRA Guards on.

The floor they were on seemed to function as both a loading dock and a repair shop for the mechanized units that were labeled Sweepers, half a dozen of which were currently inoperable machines of destruction that were at various points of disassembly and repair.

Jessie's feet had started carrying her ahead of the other two, ready to get to the chute that would take them down to the Reactor's Core. Her hand shifted to wave for the other two to join her in the next area just before a series of safeties are flicked off and the jostling of firearms are heard. Jessie's excitement had led the three of them directly into the path of a troop of guards.

Jessie's feet stumbled, freezing like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming truck upon seeing four men standing beyond her at least two dozen feet and drawing her in their crosshairs. Their triple red dots glowing in the dimly lit assembly area as they steadied their stances and prepared to fire.

Kuro's blood ran cold, and his heart stopped beating for a single moment. It was as though time had stopped, just for the briefest moment. Jessie was about to come under fire. And he had to choose what to do.

He could summon his shield but a fireball was much slower than a bullet. By the time his shield was in his hand, she would be torn to shreds. He was already running, and he needed to get to her immediately.

There was no hesitation, no thought of any other course of action except for the one that he had to choose to keep her safe. It was obvious and he had no regrets as soon as he began his sprint towards her.

"Jessie, get down!" Kuro's voice hollered before he charged into her, rolled his back towards the troops and shielded her entire form from the immediate wall of gunfire.

Burying her face into his chest as he took both of them to the ground. His arms clutching hard around her and his head tucking hers underneath. He refused to give them a single inch of her flesh for their rounds to catch. Even if it meant he would catch every one of them that would have hit her. Which from the sudden pain he was feeling, he did.

The gunfire broke out in a series of bursts that only lasted about two seconds, the echoing and ear piercing sounds of the rifles echoing in the area as they focused on their target.

Kuro felt the stinging and rapid pain slam into his shoulders dozens of times over, peppering the entire back half of his body with their rounds.

Each slamming of bullets into his being shocked his system, the heat of the lead was scalding as they embedded themselves into his body. But it didn't matter, it was either he took the pain or Jessie would have. And the answer was simple in Kuro's eyes.

Barret turned the corner, and in a single magazine of his gun-arm, proceeded to decimate the four men with his wall of fire and dropped them to the ground. Their bodies were torn to pieces and only held together by the fact that they were wearing armor that was linked together. The four guards collapsed into piles along the floor.

Kuro's eyes open slightly, meeting Jessie's wide eyed state and her mouth ajar as she meets m his now agony stricken eyes. His trembling hand reaches up to cup her chin, inspecting her inspite of his own pain.
"Kuro-"
"Are you ok?" Kuro interrupted her, his voice hoarse from the mind shattering pain, and he couldn't speak anymore past that question. His teeth clenched together as he rolled flat onto his bleeding back.

He tried his best to bite through the pain, however his mouth flew open to let out a tormented howl. Tears that gathered in his eyes now streaming down his cheeks as he hollered out.

"Kuro! Kuro!" Jessie's voice hollered as she leaned over him and cupped his cheeks. His wild blinking and rapid shifting of his eyes made her own hands tremble as she desperately tried to make his eyes focus on her and focused her breath to get him to match her rhythm. Trying to get him to center his breathing and calm him down. "Breath with me. Breath with me, Kuro!"

His eyes broke the stare he was sharing with Jessie as he unsteadily attempted to unlatch his messenger back. Jessie immediately notices what he is trying to do and finishes it for him. As her hand begins to scrounge around in his bag and feels the cool glass of a full bottle of a potion, that's when they hear the mechanical whirring of a nearby machine.

Three sets of eyes turn to see one of the Sweepers at the end of the hall beginning to lumber forward. The open panels sliding shut and the lights along the side illuminating that it was online and functioning.

The Sweeper Units were huge machines, standing on two wide flat feet that shifted into bent hind legs and upheld the motorized center body. The face of the motor had a grill that was fashioned into the shape of a reinforced heater shield, made to protect the rumbling motor housed behind it from front-facing gunfire. Hanging off of the sides of the machine were wide square arms that had mounted two massive assault cannons, with magazines not unlike the guns that belonged to the very guards that Barret had just shot to hell. The machine refocused its sights and slammed open its action to load a fresh round, the guttural metallic sound of its idling echoing in the chamber roaring like its mechanized war cry.

"Get him back on his feet!" Barret shouted as he reloaded his own gun arm, charging forward to draw its attention as he unloads a fresh magazine into the front face of the Sweeper. His rounds tear into the grill of the machine.

Jessie opens the high potion and swiftly feeds it to Kuro, the excess draining down his cheeks and dribbling off of his chin. He swallows as fast as she is pouring it, his constitution restored fully before giving her a few claps on the shoulders and rolling onto his stomach. His breathing settles into a focused series of breaths, his heart stops thumping in his ears and eases into deep chested sighs. His body heals fast and begins to shove out the dozens of rounds that were shot into his back as the muscle fibers and tendons begin to reconnect. Pulling and snapping back together as bound rope anchors and is tied tautly.

"Jessie! Get to cover! Now!" Kuro shouts, slamming his hands into the ground with vigor and rage before he shoots up onto his feet, the flat lead pieces rolling down his back and sprinkling the floor underneath him in a small pile of spent rounds.

Kuro throws out his arms and summons his blade and shield into his hands. Rushing off to join Barret in the fray. Jessie listening and ducking behind some cover.

The Heartless slams the blade into the hind leg of the Sweeper, dragging his steel through as it cleaves the joint and comes out the other side.

Kuro slashes the sword against the steel of its leg, cleaving through the metal and out the other wide. The Heartless keeps an eye on its massive armaments, as they spin and begin to unload rounds into him. The rounds they were firing echoed like cannon fire, and fired as fast as the guards own machine gun.

"Barret! Get something ready!" Kuro shouted as raises his shield to guard against the incoming fire, the quick barrage of gunfire rattling his arms as the canine-faced buckler kept him safe.

Each bullet connected felt as though it were the size of a small ball against the steel of his canine shield, the contact it made with his defense sparking off in flashes of white sparks and red flashes with every blocked shot. The Heartless quickly circled around the machine to attempt to avoid the oncoming gunfire and maintain aggro, pulling its attention away from Barret.

The machine spun on its pads in a quick motion to keep Kuro in its sight. Rolling around on the wheels beneath its pads. Both barrels kept up with the Heartless as he ran. The constant stream of bullets either managed to be blocked by him or missing him as he sprinted away.

Kuro kept his shield up as he vaulted over a short guardrail and shoved his shoulders to the low wall. The barrage of bullets ricocheted off of the railing or slammed into the wall that Kuro was ducked behind.

Barrett, whilst the machine was distracted, he loaded a large grenade clip into the chamber of his gun and prepared his arm for the blast. Steadying his stance and bracing his gun-arm by using his free arm to ready himself for the blasts. His lips curled to a devilish grin.

"Eat this, you piece of shit!" The fired off grenades erupted out of the armament and sent a barrage of explosions that thundered against the war machine. The Sweeper was slammed with blast after blast, chucks of iron and steel crumbing to the floor in bits of heated debris.

The grenades shred the armor plating off of its grill and side plates, leaving the interior of the motor open to be attacked and focused upon.

The Sweeper roll on its flat pads towards Barret, rotating in its spot to keep him in its sights. Its right side gun loaded with a loud action slam and promptly unloaded its rounds unto Barret. Barret rolled behind the guardrail of a nearby repair dock. The rounds pounding into the steel behind Barret's back.

"Kuro! You're up!" Barret shouted as he reached into his bandolier and grabbed another clip of grenades. He loads the magazine and proceeds to cock his firearm. "Cook it's ass!"

Kuro jumped over the wall and raised his staff up into the air. Eyes honed in on the machine.

"Bolt! Bolt! Bolt!" Kuro's voice shouted as rolling thunder is heard and a jagged bolt of lightning comes crashing down atop of the Sweeper. Then another. And the last bolt coming down a third time. Kuro's mouth unfurls into a scowl as he raises his staff and slams it into the ground. His eyes briefly glow with an intense golden hue. "Storm!"

Dense black clouds gather above the war machine. In rapid succession, the machine gets stuck with the crashing of several lightning bolts, the white light flashing and blinding those around it.

The machine, due to getting overloaded with the shocks, begins to short circuit and collapses into the floor.

Its legs splayed out and the guns began to malfunction. The ammunition within is ignited from the constant battering of thunder, the bullets then exploding in its magazines. Bursting in fireballs along its sides as the unspent rounds fire off into the walls and floors.

The arms of the machine are blown into pieces, the automaton struggling to get back onto its feet. Barret rises out of his cover, and fires off three more grenades into the exposed and seizing Sweeper. Each explosive crashing into the front grill and finally destroying the machine.

The grenades end up tearing apart the Sweeper's central motor, the automaton falling into a heap of smoldering steel and metal. Its flickering lights went dark and the machine crumbled into scrap. Barret looks over the carnage, and lets out a breath of relief. "Clear!"

Kuro dismisses his staff and shield immediately, rushing over towards Jessie and finding her hiding behind the furthest steel guardrail.

She sees Kuro round the corner, a look of worry on his face soon fades to one of relief as he crouches down beside her and offers her his hand. His eyes looking over her as he inspects her for any damage.

"You're not harmed, are you?" Kuro asks quickly, his eyes softening when she takes his hand and gets pulled up onto her feet. She nods, turning to see Barret walking past the downed Sweeper to the large steel doors it was protecting. Jessie glances down and sees Kuro still holding her hand, her cheeks flushing before she coyly pulls away and clears her throat. Jessie nudges her chin towards Barret, Kuro following her as she picks up the pace and joins the leader of this party. Jessie approaches the station besides the gates, taking out her touch screen pad and getting to work on unlocking the gates. Kuro marched up besides Barret. Eyes focused on the doors as well. "This the final gate?"

"Yeah," Barret said with a heavy nod, the huge steel doors opening and revealing the core of the Reactor. This giant machine, connected with various pipes and chutes that move up and into the walls. Drawing out the Mako and energy from the world. Kuro's eyes focus on the pulsing light windowed at the bottom. The shimmering glow reminds him of a similar looking machine back in the world where he met Ansem. Where that pulsing heart was connected with copper pipes. "You ready?"

Jessie walks over, opens Kuro's messenger bag and places the device inside. Giving it a quick pat for security before glancing up at the Heartless.

"Hey," Jessie started to say, her fingers lingering on the bag's strap before she steadied herself and flashed him a grin. "I won't be down there to save your ass if you get downed again. Be safe, ok? For me?"

Her fingers trace up the edges of his jacket before her deep brown eyes meet with his orange stare. Kuro smirks, giving her a quick nod and taking hold of the strap.

Barret grunts and gestures to a series of ladders, and Kuro wastes no time and begins his climb down into the depths of the Reactor. Barret followed right after him.


Midgar

Mako Reactor - Core


The rapid descent down into the reactor core's central landing was done by sliding down ladder after ladder, crossing platform to platform all the way to the bottom floor. It must've taken about four different series of landings and ladders before Kuro finally hit the bottom floor. Then soon followed by Barret as they both approached the Reactor.

The lowest platform in the building housed the very core of the Reactor. Which was a huge, constantly whirring device that glowed bright and vibrant with the Mako it was collecting from the planet.

The machine resembled a furnace in its shape, with the various pipes and chutes leading out of the core trailing up and into the ceiling far above them now.

The mouth of the machine housed the thumping and humming light, the heartbeat of the planet.

Pumping unknown amounts of Mako back up to the surface for use. Bleeding the planet dry.

Kuro turns to Barret for guidance as he reaches into his messenger bag and pulls out the explosive device. Kuro goes to hand it off to Barret, who takes it from his hands and inspects it for a second. The leader turns his attention back to Kuro, and huffs with a squint stare.

"You want to be a part of Avalanche?" Barret holds up the explosive in his hands and hands Kuro back the device. A devious grin on his face as he nods his chin towards the Heartless. "Make me proud, kid. With this, you earn your stripes. Send this reactor to Hell."

Kuro felt the weight of power resting in his hands. Those orange eyes stared at the explosive tentatively before turning back to Barret. Whose plain expression couldn't hide the expectations he held in his gaze. To do what was necessary for the cause. Barret's eyes focused on Kuro, waiting for his next move.

Kuro didn't have to think even for a moment what he wanted. He wanted to earn his stripes with Avalanche. He wanted to make Barret proud. He wanted to make Jessie proud.

Kuro's dark eyes stared at the detonator in his hands and he began fiddling with the mechanism. The timer offers the choices of thirty minutes and twenty minutes. Kuro shrugs, switching the dial to twenty minutes and resting it besides the humming core of the reactor. The constant working of the machine had made the surface Kuro had chosen to vibrate constantly. Kuro presses in on the start button, and then pulls away to stand beside Barret. Pointing to the bomb with a single point and a nod of acknowledgement. "We got twenty minutes to get out of here."

"Feeling cocky, huh?" Barret suggested, tapping the younger man on the shoulder and turning back towards the ladders. "Let's get out of here before we get blown to Hell with it."

There was rumbling in the area just as the pair began to move. Barret locked and loaded his gun and Kuro summoned his shield and his blade. The sound of metal piercing metal, the scurrying of a fast moving machine being heard. Out of one of the open grates along the ceiling, the warmachine burst out of hiding. The platform shook when it landed right in front of them, the reverberations of its weight nearly knocking the two men to the ground.

The massive machine was suspended atop six pointed and thick legs, a huge tubed tail along the back of its frame that held a four pronged electrical claw. The main torso of the machine housed three bright green lights, with these two massive cannons attached to swivels along the thorax of the machina.

The Scorpion Sentinel focused its attention onto the Avalanche leader and the Heartless, locking its guns and preparing for combat.

"Another goddamn machine?" Kuro readies his blade and his buckler, Barret takes aim and begins to fire. His constant stream of machine gun fire blasting into the Scorpion.

"We need to get scrap this thing and get out of here before we get blasted!" Barret ordered, strafing around the machine as his bullets focused upon one of its pointed legs.

Kuro charged forward and slammed his sword into one of the front facing legs of the Scorpion, skirting off and leaving a cut across the reinforced steel armor around it. Kuro saw the tail of the Sentinel clamp together, forming a sharp stinger and diving down towards him in an effort to stab him.

Kuro raised his shield and the stinger crashed into his form, knocking him off of his feet and rocketing him across the platform. The Sentinel Scorpion loads its launchers and fires off a barrage of missiles into the air. The green explosives flying around the room and crashing into the walls, the floor, and a few made it as high as the ceiling. Barret does his best to avoid the wild fire.

Kuro initially goes to block any incoming projectiles, only for his eyes to widen and his heart to sink into his chest as he turns his attention to the detonator that continues to click away in spite of the fight. Kuro steadies his stance, realizing that one unlucky rocket would blow them all to shreds, flings his shield towards the Core and embeds the buckler into the steel machine. Protecting the explosive device from any wayward rocket.

A rogue rocket did crash into the dog-faced shield, which ended up saving them from a deadly accident. Kuro sighs a breath of relief just before he is blasted off of his feet by a swing of the Scorpion's tail.

The Heartless tumbles and drags along the floor, the world spinning and circling around him until he rolls up onto his hands and knees to slided the rest of the distance away.

Kuro's teeth gnash together in a scowl, his eyes squinted in rage and his hands curling into fists. He glared at the Sentinel, his jaw clenching and his vision going red.

Kuro's fury spikes and his adrenaline rises, he angrily slams his blade into the ground, feeling the nefarious energy course through his veins and igniting a powerful fire in his chest. His heartbeat drummed in his ears as fast as a humming bird's own heart, and his hands mirrored the sensation with its flexes and twitching.

"Barret! Get out of here! I'll deal with this!" Kuro's voice became rough as it rolled out a deep and spine chilling cackle as he finished his bark. His skin darkening into an ebony tone, his orange eyes bleeding out and being replaced with the solid glow of golden light. His knuckles popping and his nails forcibly elongating into vicious claws. His body tensing and his silver hair standing on end. Kuro let out a vicious bark, his fangs barred as he charged at the Sentinel Scorpion.

"What the hell?" Barret whispers with a confused look in his eye, but opted to save the questions for later and begins his ascent to leave Kuro with the war machine.

What was once a two foot sprint from Kuro quickly turned into an all fours gallop of a Heartless beast, Kuro darting along the floor as a hunting animal would stride, his feet spring boarding his body forward as his hands drag along the grates beneath him and his eyes focused on his quarry.

The constant machine gun fire from the Scorpion immediately turns to focus on the Heartless, whose body secretes ichor of black sludge and dense gray smoke when the bullets tear into him and exit out the other side.

The Heartless dips and dodges as well as he could as he charges ahead, rolling over his shoulders, pouncing from one spot to the next to avoid as many rounds as he could.

Although the wounds he sustains heal as quickly as they are torn open, which didn't do anything to stop the feeling of the hot lead tearing through his body. The damage he undertakes makes his frenzied howls louder and monstrous.

Kuro's claws ripping into the floor and scratching through the steel floor beneath him as he fast through the Sentinel in his scurry. Kuro's claws drive forward with a lunge, impaling the right front facing leg of the machine. The momentum carried the Heartless as it carved through the steel, spinning around until he landed just under the bending joint of the leg. Kuro stabbed his claws into the joint, the nails pierced through and tear alert the hinge. The leg, with a quick pull of his arms, is then torn from the body and collapses onto the floor. Kuro's hands grabbed the leg and slammed its pointed tip into the torso of the machine. Skewing the body with its own dismembered limb.

The Sentinel's mechanical cries of system shock orders for an attack, the tail spinning rapidly as its four prongs come together to form a stinger and strike at Kuro.

His hands rise up and catch incoming sting, his heels scraping against the floor as he wards off the attack. His claws sink into the metal as the Scorpion slams itself into the floor and uses its wheels then drives forward in an attempt to run him down.

Kuro, after being pushed back several feet, locks his knees, his shoulders tense and his arms begin to push back against the force.

The machine then screeches to a halt when all three come together, Kuro's hands vibrating as sharp bolts of darkness course out of his palms and pierce through the sharpened steel prongs and tear through its tail.

Kuro, with a swift and hard tug, tears the metal bulb off, leaving its steel barreled tail without its stinger. Kuro throws it aside, his hands gathering at his sides as he vaults up into the air and brings his hands together into an interlaced hammer.

In a thundering strike, his fists come down as hammers onto the top of its torso. The strike reverberates and shatters the steel into jagged and sharp pieces, the area of impact denting into and through the other side of the war machine. The Sentinel crumbled into a heap immediately after, systems shut down and its engine dying.

Kuro's huffing and growling soon ceases, his claws retracting into his hands, his skin fading back into his dark skinned tone and his eyes easing from a bright gold to its cool amber. His breathing returns to normal, and he gathers his senses and prepares his escape.

"Gotta… get out of here." Kuro's voice returns to its normal rumble and loses that bite of rage it once held.

Kuro's sights turn towards the ladders, racing up the platforms as the explosive prepares its final countdown and blows the reactor to hell.

Jessie lingers on the floor where they initially entered, eyes focused on making sure Kuro got out safe and sound as the room begins to fall apart. A chunk of the ceiling comes down atop of her.

Kuro's rush to the top level has him scaling the last ladder, his quick breaths matching the beating of his heart as he reaches the top and happening upon a downed Jessie as she attempts to lift the beam that crashed atop of her.

Kuro bolted to Jessie's side as she struggled to lift the fallen piece of debris off of the lower half of her body. Kuro curls his fingers underneath the metal piece, quickly lifting it up and tossing it aside. Jessie's eyes go wide as she notices just how strong Kuro actually was.

Kuro, not wanting to waste any more time than absolutely necessary, opted to keep the two of them moving by carrying her. Kuro's arms hooked under Jessie's legs as he proceeded to lift her up and keep the pace they were on to follow Barret. Who was currently out in the loading dock and desperately trying to find a way out.

Her cheek rested flat against his chest, feeling the fast beating of his heart under her ear as he rushed her to get them out of the currently falling apart Reactor.

"What's the plan? Barret! The plan?" Kuro shouted, seeing the leader glance over his shoulder and stare at Kuro. Barret glanced around, cursing under his breath and turned a sharp corner to a different part of the building. Kuro followed suit.

Barret led them to the nearby inlet, loading an explosive into his chamber and firing it into the floor without warning. As he lines the shot, Kuro turns his back towards the grenade to save Jessie from any shrapnel that could be blasted towards them.

The shot explodes, splitting open the ground and creating a drop into what appeared to be a service tunnel below the Reactor's main floor.

Barret hopped in first, with Kuro still carrying Jessie as they both dropped in after him.

The tremors of the Reactor's destruction shake the very earth beneath their feet as they descend down into the dark.

Soon after, the explosive device reaches its end, and destroys the reactor in a devastating explosion.

The blast had been accelerated by the Mako still coursing through the pipes of the Reactor at the time of detonation, the top half of the building igniting like a firework and exploding soon after. Showering the city streets below in debris of the destroyed reactor.

The radius of the blast shook the windows of buildings in different sectors on the other side of the city, the huge clouds of smoke rising out of the destroyed building looming over half the city as it smoldered.

The city streets come to a screeching halt, the world's eyes on the reactor as it burns down. All thanks to Avalanche.


Midgar

SHINRA Headquarters - President's Office


"We're having issues identifying the trio rather blurry individuals. It has been difficult… to… Sir?" The rumbling voice stopped upon seeing the man in charge of the entire corporation slowly saunter over to his drink caddy. His hand combing through his graying slicked back hair, tapping his fingers against the base of his skull as he glances over the selection. Although he wasn't celebrating a victory of any sort, he decided it was worth the price and popped open a fresh bottle of his premier bourbon and poured himself a stiff drink. He cleared his throat, expecting the silence to be filled. The executive continued to speak. "Right. I imagine they have some kind of jammer that interferes with the signals our cameras transmit. This was meditated and planned, which means that we aren't dealing with just some run of the mill criminals. They had an idea of the layout of the reactor, from our data they got there in a timely manner. Which means these folks are possibly part of one of the local hit squads-"

"Avalanche." The President said with a reserved tone of voice. His unimpressed eyes leave the bottle to glance back to the screen. The unfocused, undecipherable images of these three walking blobs of just nothing. Which offered nothing. The President sighed with indifference, shaking his head as he stared into the glass bottle. The liquor in question had come from the world of Spira, the language inscribed on the glass was written in Al Bhed. Seeing that reflection of his dull expression in the bourbon's murky waters. "Just say their goddamn name. You know it. I know it. It's Avalanche. Just say Avalanche. They aren't boogeymen. Saying their names doesn't give them power. Just makes them think we are afraid of them."

The loss of one of their prime reactors is definitely going to halt production of Mako for the moment. Might as well enjoy a damn good drink while he waits for the board to inevitably begin calling in, no doubt to voice their panic and terror about plummeting stock prices. He would soon hear from his son that the troops need to be gathered and the word needs to be put on the street to bring in Avalanche and have them pay for their crimes against the company.

The President stops mid-pour to the sound of silence, casting a glance over towards his trusted executive and raising his eyebrows.

"Continue the report, Heidegger." The President said with a stern growl. His voice drew out an annoyed sigh that punctuated his statement. "Now."

Heidegger was a much larger man, twice as broad with a full head and shoulders height difference compared to his President. He was clothed in a forest greet jacket with red buttons and a gold trim along the cuffs and inner seams of the coat. His dark hair was slicked down as well, and bushy beard that had begun to unfurl and become unkempt as records of the damage increased. With his free hand, he traced the edges of the vertical scar that ran along the right side of his face. He stared at the pad in his hand, before clicking his teeth together and continuing the report.

"We do have a silver lining. Funnily enough. A somewhat clear vision of a single attacker. It's very brief prior to the explosion but it could be useful in identifying the rest of the group." Heidegger tapped on the image and dragged it from his tablet to be enhanced on the screen with a quick flick of the finger. The President turned his attention to the image now plastered on his screen.

There was a single, clear break in the static lines of an otherwise blurred and hazed image. Standing beside the elevator panel, speaking to what appeared to be a brown blur was the figure that came in as clear as any image could, with silver hair and dark tanned skin. Their eyes are a shade of burnt orange.

The president walks over to the screen for a closer look, taking a long sip of his drink and staring at the monitor intensely. The image of the killer of his men appeared to be no older than some of his recruits. Maybe even younger.

He tapped his finger against the giant computer monitor, right on the silver haired man's face as to try and smush it into nothing, before taking a few steps back. With a mental note that it's a waste to slug down such a beverage, nevertheless did he end up finishing his drink with a huge throwback of his head. His throat burns as he clenches his jaw and lets out a dissatisfied, 'ahh'.

"Paint his mug on every screen we have throughout the sectors affected by the blast and have people run reports on repeat to smoke out this anarchist. Outside of the Sectors Eight and One, run stories that this was a malfunction due to some bullshit the people will nod their heads to and buy. Call it… A mishap. Blame some scientists. I don't care. Anyone who says differently, they know something and are to be arrested. I don't care if it's five people or fifty, they mention that it's an attack or hint at Avalanche involvement outside of Sectors One and Eight, they are detained for questioning. Keep the screens playing for about forty eight hours. He's not going to be hard to miss. Not with those eyes and that hair. If he's not found before then, I want sweeps done throughout the sectors as part of a routine check up. And while you're at it, order me a new screen." Before Heidegger could process the last request fully, the President let out a warcry just before he threw the now empty cup into the screen and shattered its surface, the splintering of the glass spider webbing from the crash. That small liquor glass exploded on impact, littering the floor in it's broken shards of glass

The cup smashed just under Kuro's chin, cracking along his features and breaking his face into cracked pieces. Those orange eyes of his were the only thing untouched by the damage as the screen flickers its red, green, and white flashes before shutting down entirely, fading into black.