"Remind me again why we have to do this?" Wedge complained. "I can't get this damn thing to fit."
With a loud sigh, Jessie walked over to help him with the armor he was struggling to put on. "Because we'll have a much easier time getting inside if we're in disguise."
"This mission is hard enough as it is," Tifa pointed out. "We need every advantage we can get."
"Sure, I get that, but that doesn't change the fact that this armor smells like shit," Biggs said, wrinkling his nose.
Cloud could understand where the other two guys were coming from. He was perfectly fine with storming the reactor and cutting down anyone who tried to get in their way. Whatever it took to make Shinra pay. The girls' plan made sense though, and successfully taking down the reactor would do far more to hurt Shinra than taking out a few grunts. As he pulled his helmet on, he was thankful that the soldier from whom his armor had been stolen had at least taken decent care of it.
"Enough bitching," Barret grumbled. "I don't like this any more than you do, but we've got a job to take care of. Shinra thinks they're free to suck up the lifeblood of the Planet like a goddamn mosquito, but today we're gonna show 'em what it means to get slapped."
Biggs and Wedge both cheered, although Cloud could have sworn he saw Tifa roll her eyes. Barret's hatred of Shinra didn't burn nearly as hot as his own, but at times he'd admit it could get close. Of the five of them, Tifa was the most moderate—often stepping in as the voice of reason—something Cloud at least recognized they very much needed more often than not.
Once everyone had finished putting on their "borrowed" Shinra armor, Jessie spoke up. "Alright guys, remember the drill. We're a returning scouting party, stopping by on our way back to Midgar. Let Barret handle all of the talking. Once we're inside, we'll sneak our way into the core, drop off our little present, and then get the hell out. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah, we've gone over it a hundred times already, c'mon Jessie." Wedge pumped his fist. "We've got this, easy."
"Right. Let's do this," Barret said, gesturing with his arm for the rest of them to follow as he set off.
It only took them five minutes to reach the dead zone around the reactor. One moment they were walking through a lush, green forest, filled with life, the next—nothing but rot and decay. Cloud had seen it many times by this point, but it never ceased to disgust him. The fact that Shinra continued to try and pretend that the reactors were perfectly safe only made his blood boil. Were people blind? Stupid?
The light chatter died out as they made their way through the blighted terrain, the seriousness of the situation making itself all too clear. Cloud had initially proposed the plan to attack a reactor a month ago, not even taking it all that seriously himself until the others had started to go along. It had seemed too farfetched, too large of a goal for only six people to tackle, but once the plan had slowly formed, things had started to seem possible.
Fortunately, they didn't have to spend much time in the wastes before the reactor came into view. This was one of the newer ones, so the destructive spread hadn't yet grown as large as with some of the others. The hope was that by destroying this one, they could both send a message to Shinra and save a large portion of the surrounding area from continuing to be destroyed. The best-case scenario was that if things went well enough today, then more reactors would be next.
Cloud joined Tifa behind Barret, with Biggs and Wedge directly behind them and Jessie bringing up the rear. It was the same formation the Shinra soldiers had been using right before they had ambushed them, so, hopefully, it would help them further blend into the disguise. Once they arrived at the base of the stairs leading up to the reactor's main entrance, a guard wearing the same armor as they were stepped forward to meet them, his hand raised in a stopping gesture.
"We weren't expecting anyone to show up today, what's going on? Why are you here?"
It certainly wasn't the best start, but it was well within their expectations. Cloud did his best to look bored and disinterested while still being ready to grab his sword the moment things started to go south.
"Not surprising," Barret said, sounding more . . . stiff than normal. "We're on our way back from the front with updates for H.Q. on the state of the war. It's been a long march, and once we realized how close we were, it seemed like a good idea to take a small break to recharge ourselves. If that's okay, of course."
The guard's posture relaxed slightly at the words, his hand lifting away from the gun at his waist and moving over to a communication device strapped to his chest. "I can't imagine that'll be a problem, just give me a moment to double-check with my commanding officer."
Tifa gently elbowed him, her eyes darting down to his hands for the briefest moment, and Cloud realized they were tightly clenched at his sides. Taking a deep breath, he tried to relax.
"Sir? It's a group from the war on the way back to Midgar, hoping to resupply."
A muffled reply could be heard from the device, although it wasn't clear enough for Cloud to make out what had been said.
"Understood." The guard switched off the communicator and returned it to the pouch on his chest. "You have permission to enter. Access is to be restricted to the supply and commons areas, but I can't imagine that should be a problem."
"Not at all, thank you very much," Barret said as he began to move past the man.
"Hold on a moment, I'd love to hear how the war is going. How many Ancients have you all managed to kill?"
Barret came to a halt with one foot on the stairs. "It's still dragging on. As for the Ancients . . . well, they're tough bastards."
"Really?" the guard asked with a laugh. "I've heard they're cowards, afraid of a good fight. It'll be a relief once we've finished wiping those scum out, eh?"
"You shut your mouth," Cloud snapped, only realizing what he'd said once the words were past his lips.
There was a long moment of silence.
Barret cleared his throat. "If you'll excuse my men, we've had a long and—"
"Who the hell are you people?" the guard demanded, reaching for the gun at his side with one hand and the device on his chest with the other.
"Jessie!"
In response to Tifa's shout, the woman in question darted forward, dropping the guard from behind with an elbow to his temple before he was able to do anything.
"The fuck were you thinking?" Barret demanded, spinning to face Cloud, his face glowing red with anger. "Is it really that damn hard to keep your mouth shut? You just compromised this entire mission!"
"Barret, enough," Tifa said, putting a hand on his shoulder and slightly pulling him back. "The guard didn't manage to raise the alarm, we can still pull this off."
Biggs walked up and lightly threw his elbow into Cloud's side, a grin on his lips. "Tifa's right. Even if this hothead messed up Plan A, we've still got Plan B."
"Does that mean we can take this armor off?" Wedge asked hopefully.
Cloud wasn't going to apologize, even if he had fucked up. Nothing pissed him off more than Shinra trash-talking the Cetra, as if this whole situation were somehow their fault. "Whatever. Let's get inside and finish this," he said, brushing past Barret and making his way up the stairs.
"Keep it on, big boy," Jessie said, clapping a hand onto Wedge's back. "We've still got to make it to the reactor's core without drawing attention."
The rest of them clanked up the metal steps behind Cloud until all six of them stood in front of the entrance. It was a gaping maw, a black pit without a door leading into the depths of the reactor. As Barret pushed forward and led the way inside, Cloud couldn't help but feel like they were being swallowed alive.
"Ugh, that stench," Barret said, wrinkling his nose.
"What is it?" Tifa asked, sounding slightly off since she was pinching her nose.
"The smell of death," he replied. "That's the mako they're makin' in here. Just smelling it is all you need to know it ain't good."
Pushing her way into the lead, Jessie glanced down either side of the T-intersection they found themselves in. "Based on the schematics we stole, it should be this way," she said, taking the left path.
"How long do you think we have until they realize something is up when that guard fails to report in?" Biggs asked.
"Let's just hope it's enough time for us to get in and out without much of a fight," Tifa said.
Cloud was perfectly fine if it did. He almost wanted it to, just to have the chance to punish Shinra even more. Of course, he knew that not all the people working for Shinra were necessarily evil—some of them didn't have a choice or might not even realize what they were doing. The company was all too good at selling its lies.
The tension in the air as they ran through the hallways was palpable, but the few Shinra employees they passed all ignored them so the disguises seemed to be doing their job. It didn't take them too long before they were standing in front of a large door with a metal sign over it labeled "Core." Set into the wall on the right side was an electronic scanner that would presumably open the door with an authorized keycard—something they obviously didn't have.
"Right, it's my time to shine," Jessie said, crouching down at the base of the door and pulling off her backpack to rummage inside. "Keep a look out and let me know if anyone is coming, okay?"
"Did you hear the latest rumors?" Biggs eventually whispered, breaking the silence that had settled over them as Jessie worked.
Cloud only paid partial attention to what they were saying, his eyes locked on the hallway.
"Which ones?" Tifa asked, laughing softly. "There are so many these days."
"Shinra's plans for Midgar. They're talking about putting up massive plates above the current city and building a whole new one on top of them."
"Oh yeah, that's a funny one," Wedge said, a huge grin on his face.
"Quiet, we can talk about Shinra's weird fantasies later," Barret scolded, killing off the conversation.
It only took Jessie a few more minutes to finish up, thankfully without any interruption from Shinra. Cloud would have been suspicious that things were going too well, but then again, that was exactly why they'd selected this reactor as their first target. It was far enough from the front lines of the war that Shinra wasn't too worried about its security—only stationing half the normal troops to defend it.
Flicking her ponytail over her shoulder, Jessie gave them a thumbs-up and a wink. "All good to go. We should fall back a bit just to be safe."
They followed her back down the hall to the nearest corner, drawing a few looks from people passing in white lab coats, but nothing more.
"And . . . boom," Jessie said, pressing her thumb to the red button of a device in her hand once no one was in sight.
A split second later, there was a loud explosion from the direction of the core—sending tremors through the building and causing the ground to shake.
"Let that be a lesson to anything that gets in my way," she said, giving Tifa a high five. "Come on, door's wide open now."
Following the girls back the way they'd come, Cloud made a quick mental note to never get on Jessie's bad side. The door was indeed open if you could call it that. The blast had shot it into the room beyond, leaving a gaping, charred hole in the wall where it had been before.
"Alert! Alert! There has been a breach into the reactor's core room. All non-combat personnel should immediately head for a safe room. Alert! Alert! There has been . . ."
The loud, electronic voice continued to repeat the warning over and over as red lights began flashing along the corridor behind them.
"The time for hiding is over," Barret declared, striding forward through the doorway. "They'll be coming for us now."
"That means it's time for Plan F," Biggs said. "The four of you should go finish the job, Wedge and I will stay here to hold them at the door, it'll make for the perfect choke point."
"You sure?" Tifa asked, biting her lip. "Maybe I should stay behind too."
Wedge bumped his fist into his chest. "Don't worry about us, Tifa. We've got this."
As he stepped over the door, Cloud took in the room on the other side. It was massive. Ringed platforms around the edges, connected by ladders, led the way down into the depths where their final destination awaited them. Thanks to the documents they'd stolen he'd mostly known what to expect, but actually seeing it in person was a completely different thing. It would almost be impressive if its purpose wasn't so repulsive. Most notably, there didn't seem to be anyone working inside—they hadn't been sure if that would be the case or not.
"We're, uh . . . awfully high up, aren't we?" Barret asked, noticeably not looking down.
Biggs chuckled in response. "You afraid of heights, old man?"
"Hell no! I just have a healthy respect for the ground beneath my boots."
Even Cloud struggled not to laugh at the response—it wasn't often Barret got so flustered. "Let's move, " he said, earning a thankful look from their leader.
The four of them made their way around the platform to where the nearest ladder waited at the far end. Glancing down, Cloud couldn't see any signs of movement from below although it certainly was quite a long way to the bottom. Heights had never really bothered him, though, so had no trouble grabbing the ladder and taking the fast route to the next level by sliding down it. Tifa and Jessie followed close behind him with Barret bringing up the rear, grumbling under his breath the whole way.
"Isn't it a bit strange how little security there is in here?" Tifa asked as they continued to make their way from platform to platform.
Jessie shrugged. "Not really. The Ancients are focused on the massive reactor still in construction so Shinra isn't concerned about the other ones."
"Don't get me wrong," Tifa said, "it's honestly a huge relief how well this is going so far. I'm just a bit surprised."
Before too long, and without incident, they reached the bottom level where the heart of the core and their final destination awaited them. A huge number of pipes all fed into a machine that took up nearly the entirety of the far wall. The familiar glow of mako could be seen through the various glass panels along the device. Worst of all, that stench of mako they'd first smelled on entering the reactor was almost unbearable here, clogging the air and making Cloud's eyes water.
"Let's get this over with," he muttered, walking toward it.
Three steps later, there was a loud metallic clanging from above before an enormous metal object slammed down between him and the core. With six legs, two gun-arms, and a giant tail coming out of the back, it was like nothing Cloud had ever seen before.
"I knew this was going too damn smoothly," Barret growled. "What in the hell is that thing?"
"Looks like some kind of automated security system," Jessie replied, unholstering her gun. "I'm not going to be able to set up the charges with it getting in the way."
Nervously tightening her gloves, Tifa looked between Cloud and Barret. "How are we supposed to beat something like that?"
"Hit it until it stops moving," Cloud replied.
Barret looked over at him before letting out a short laugh. "Alright, time to show us what you can do with that hunk of metal on your back then."
Giving a curt nod, Cloud drew his blade. It was the same one he'd seen at the smithy, five years ago when he'd bought his first sword. Since then, he'd focused on training and making up for all the time he'd lost in his early teens—polishing his sword technique and increasing his strength. True to his word, the smith had let him have it, insisting the weapon wasn't worth anything, especially considering no one else had bought it in all that time. Cloud disagreed, and now it was time to show his friends exactly why.
He charged forward and swung the blade using both hands into one of the machine's legs. There was a loud clashing ring as his sword bounced off, vibrating so hard from the impact that he struggled not to drop it. Inspecting the location he'd hit, Cloud was dismayed to see almost no visible damage. If anything, there might have been a small dent in its plated armor, but he wasn't entirely sure.
"Shinra does not negotiate with terrorists! Do not resist or else we will use lethal force!"
Similar to the alarm from before, another electronic voice began screaming a warning over and over. Simultaneously, the machine spun to face Cloud and began firing the guns on its arms at him, forcing him to narrowly roll out of the way.
"I've got your lethal force right here, asshole!" Barret yelled, drawing his gun and firing it repeatedly into the robot's back.
Jessie joined him, also staying at a distance and using her gun, while Tifa moved opposite Cloud and delivered a spinning kick to another leg. Considering how well his attack had gone, he was worried she might hurt herself, but even though her blow seemed to have had as little impact as his had, Tifa looked none the worse for wear.
Shifting its attention to the two shooting at it, the robot swiveled its upper body around to fire back, while at the same time swinging its tail directly into Cloud. He barely managed to parry the blow with his sword, saving himself from any real damage, but there was still enough force to send him flying into a nearby railing. Grunting with the impact, he shook his head to clear it before tightening his grip on his sword and charging back in.
"This isn't working!" Tifa called out as she continued to alternate between avoiding attacks from the legs and darting in to deliver her own blows. "All of our attacks are just bouncing off of it, we need to try something else!"
Jessie ducked behind a metal barrier for some cover as she began quickly reloading. "It's got to have a weak point, somewhere. Look for an exhaust port or some kind of opening!"
It was easier said than done, especially considering the machine was almost always in constant motion, but given how poorly his plan was working out, Cloud shifted from trying to do damage to it, to instead focusing on Jessie's suggestion.
"What about up top?" Tifa asked, pointing at the four, mako-lit displays that made up the closest thing the robot had to a face.
While it was as good an idea as any, the obvious question was how to get all the way up there. Barret and Jessie had already tried firing at them to no avail, but it was possible a physical attack from him or Tifa could have more success. A crazy idea came to mind, and before he could second guess it, Cloud ran over to join Tifa.
"Here, hop on," he said, holding his sword out perpendicular to the ground with the side facing up.
Tifa shot him a nervous look before doing as he'd said, dropping into a crouch on the weapon.
Not wasting any time, Cloud used all of his strength to throw her up into the air. She shot up before spinning and bringing her heel down directly on the display. There was a loud crack and the machine seemed to recoil—the gunfire spraying from its arms coming to a halt. Jumping off, Tifa rejoined Cloud as they watched the top half spin back and forth aimlessly.
"Nice! I think you damaged its sensors," Jessie said.
This was seemingly backed up as the robot began to fire once again, this time randomly around the room instead of at anyone in particular. The completely unpredictable nature almost made it more dangerous, but Cloud used the opportunity to slide in under it, hoping to find some kind of weakness on the bottom. His eyes were immediately drawn to an area glowing red, directly under the base of the tail. The positioning was awkward, but he did his best to bring his sword up and shoved it as hard as he could right into it.
The reaction was immediate. A bright, blue glowing light filled the air and the hairs on his arm abruptly stood up on end.
"Cloud, get out of there!" Jessie yelled, raw panic filling her voice.
Not entirely sure what was happening, he didn't need to be told twice. Cloud frantically rolled out, dodging the legs, and barely caught Tifa's hand as she helped pull him away. A split second later there was a loud blast of crackling electricity that lit up the entire area around the machine—narrowly missing the two of them.
Barret whistled. "Whatever you just did, it really did not like."
"I think I found that weak point Jessie was talking about," he said. "A glowing spot, under the tail."
Now that they knew what to look for, it was only a matter of hitting the somewhat hard-to-reach spot. Barret and Jessie had a slightly easier time since they didn't have to risk getting in range of the swinging legs, but Cloud and Tifa were able to do more damage when they did manage to sneak in an attack. Before too much longer, the giant robot slumped to the ground, tendrils of smoke trailing upward from various gaps in its metal plating.
"Well, it stopped moving alright," Barret said, nudging Cloud with his elbow.
Sheathing his sword on his back, Cloud ignored the jab and walked past him toward the core. "Let's get this over with."
Tifa nodded. "Yeah, I'm worried about Biggs and Wedge. That fight took up far too much time."
"How long should I set the timer for?" Jessie asked, pulling her pack off her back as they gathered around the base of the core.
Barret's brow furrowed. "That's an option? Why didn't we already decide on something important like that in advance?"
"Because it depends on a lot of factors," she explained. "If we're not under very much pressure then we'd be able to make it out pretty easily with a shorter timer. Otherwise, we'd have to make it longer, but that also gives Shinra more opportunity to try and disarm it."
"Well, it seems like our choice was made for us then, go for the longer timer and we'll have to hope they can't stop it."
"No," Cloud said, shaking his head firmly. "We go with the shorter timer. No chances, we just have to make it out."
The others looked at him with various expressions of concern.
"Cloud . . . are you sure?" Tifa asked. "It's not worth risking our lives to blow this place up."
He nodded. "Twenty minutes. We can make it out with that much time. I know it."
"We're wasting too much time on this," Barret grumbled, rolling his shoulders. "Just go with it. I'm sure as hell not dying here today, and I'm not letting any of you either."
"Right, got it." Jessie placed the charge at the base of the reactor and pressed a few buttons, a red panel blinking to life on the bomb. The numbers displayed quickly climbed upwards until stopping at twenty. "Last chance, you sure?"
"Do it," Barret said firmly.
Jessie pressed the large button under the display and the numbers began to count down. "Alright, let's blow this popsicle stand!"
Cloud blinked, frowning. "Wait, what? Popsicle stand?"
"It means it's time to get out of here!" Tifa shouted, grabbing his arm and yanking him into motion behind her.
The four of them raced away from the bomb, back in the direction of the ladder they'd used to reach the lowest level. Cloud's blood was pumping, his senses feeling like they'd amplified a hundredfold from all of the adrenaline that was flooding through him. It had been a long time since he'd last felt this alive.
"Next time we've got to use a remote detonator," Tifa called back having taken the lead. "This is way too dangerous."
"Shut up and run," Barret gasped, "or else there isn't going to be a next time."
They passed the still-smoking remains of the robot on the way back to the ladder leading up to where they'd left Biggs and Wedge. Light gunfire could still be heard above, indicating the two men were still holding off reinforcements. Thankfully, nothing was around to slow their ascent other than the occasional flying drone. Jessie was able to take most of them down with well-placed shots, but the few that managed to make it closer met with a fiery demise thanks to the edge of Cloud's blade. As a result, the largest concern was just how many ladders there were, and how much longer it took to go up than down.
Arms straining from the climb, Cloud sighed in relief as he finally reached the top level, turning to help pull Jessie up the last few rungs. The four of them took several deep breaths before charging down the platform toward Biggs and Wedge.
"Go, go, go, go, go!" Barret yelled, not slowing down as they barreled past the two men.
"Careful, there's still a bunch of them holed up outside!" Biggs shouted.
Barret barely managed to skid to a stop before stepping in front of the blasted doorway, a few shots flying through the hole ahead of him. "Shit! Jessie, how much time we got left?"
Glancing down at the timer she was carrying, Jessie cursed as well. "Not sure! This stupid thing picked the worst possible time to stop working. Maybe seven minutes?"
Seven minutes. It wasn't much time, especially when there were soldiers trying to prevent them from escaping. For the briefest moment, Cloud regretted having her set the timer so short before shrugging it away. Now wasn't the time for regrets, it was time for action.
Pulling his sword from his back, he held it out in front of him—almost like a shield—and moved up next to Barret. "I'll lead the way, take most of their fire. You guys cover me. It doesn't sound like there's many of them left so we just need to break through and get out of here."
Barret's brow rose in surprise, but he didn't argue. "You heard the man, let's move!" he shouted.
The moment Cloud stepped into the doorway, he both heard and felt multiple bullets smash into his sword. Letting out a shout, he charged forward, hoping to surprise the soldiers and reach them before they could fire too much more. A trick like this would only work for so long, especially since the blade wasn't wide enough to fully cover him and he really didn't want to get shot.
It seemed to work better than he'd expected, the covering fire from Biggs and Wedge helping as they ran down the hallway. The soldier's morale broke as Avalanche neared their position at the intersection, multiple guns hitting the floor as the men carrying them dropped them and fled. With Jessie shouting directions from behind, Cloud led them through the deserted hallways until they finally reached the entrance and sprinted down the stairs outside.
They were halfway to the tree line when a loud explosion rang out from behind them, quickly followed by several smaller ones. Spinning around, Cloud saw black smoke pouring out from several of the reactor's upper windows.
"It's a shame we couldn't just blow the whole thing sky high," Barret said, mirroring Cloud's thoughts.
Tifa punched his arm. "Barret! We're trying to take it out of commission, not kill everyone who works there."
"I know, I know, just sayin'. Damn things disgust me."
"Well, we cut it a bit close at the end there, but I think it's safe to call that a successful mission, right guys?" Jessie asked.
"Hell yeah!" Biggs and Wedge both shouted, high-fiving each other.
While Cloud didn't directly share their excitement, it did feel incredibly good to finally take direct action against Shinra in such a large and impactful way. Shutting this reactor down admittedly wasn't going to be a massive setback for the company, but it showed them that Avalanche was serious. And this was only the first step.
Clearing his throat loudly, Barret gestured for them to gather around. "Good work, everyone, we should be proud of ourselves. Shinra has gotten their way for too damn long and all of that changes here. Today. Not really one for speeches so I'll leave it at that, but we should all be proud of what we've accomplished. Now, let's get back to the bar and celebrate, eh?!"
Another round of cheers filled the air, this time with Tifa and Jessie joining in.
Cloud didn't. "I'll be a bit late. I want to stop by somewhere while I'm out here." He winced, already anticipating the reaction.
"You can't be serious," Barret said, looking at him in shock. "All the way out here? Now?"
"Leave him be," Tifa scolded before facing Cloud. "Take your time, you know where to find us."
He gave her a grateful look and a nod of thanks before turning and moving away, his destination fixed firmly in his mind's eye.
I imagine this chapter feels pretty familiar, haha. I always love to tie my stories into canon where possible, and an attack on a reactor is just too iconic to pass up. This time around, we get the entire crew involved, and I also poke a bit of fun at some elements of the canonical scene. There's also *quite* a bit more action here, especially compared to the earlier arcs, which will continue to carry on—you can expect some big fight scenes in the future.
As far as Cloud's doing, he's certainly much better off than after the last time skip, although not great by any means. Revenge is driving him hard and things could be much, much better, really. This is made especially clear as he opts not to head back to Midgar to celebrate, but instead has a different destination in mind...
Next Chapter: Trial