Alex and Claudia were on one of the numerous Shinra facilities that were scattered all over Midgar. They were hiding on the roof of a truck, watching as patrols walked around the complex territory, carefully examining the area. Seeing another detail that had passed quite close by, Alex for a brief moment felt like a character from a video game who loved hiding in cardboard boxes. Unable to hold back from such thoughts, Alex slightly snorted with laughter, quickly covering his mouth with his palm.
And in that same instant he received a solid blow to the leg and a strict look from Claudia, who was lying next to him on the truck bed. Looking at her, Alex forced out an awkward smile, showing that he had laughed completely by accident. After all, he couldn't tell her that he had recalled a game he got stuck in during his free time at every free minute. Narrowing her eyes, Claudia averted her gaze and pointed a finger toward the gun control post.
Turning his head, Alex saw that Biggs and Wedge were already creeping up on the target from the outer side of the building. At that same moment Biggs and Wedge carefully stole along the lower parapet while right above their heads the grunts were walking, patrolling the perimeter. Quickly noticing that one of the sentries had stopped and was about to look over the railing, Biggs pressed himself against the wall and immediately grabbed Wedge in a bear hug.
Freezing against the concrete masonry, Biggs sincerely hoped they wouldn't be noticed before they reached the control post. The grunt who had looked over the railing lazily surveyed the bottom and continued his patrol. Listening to the departing footsteps, Biggs already thought everything had gone fine, but suddenly Wedge decided to sneeze.
And before Biggs could clamp his friend's mouth shut, a fairly loud sneeze rang out across the entire area. The grunt, hearing the suspicious sound, immediately turned around and returned to the railing. Looking down, he stared straight at Biggs and Wedge standing on the narrow parapet. Realizing they had been spotted, Biggs was already about to draw his pistol when suddenly a thin needle whistled and stuck into the grunt's neck.
Before the guard had time to topple over the railing and crash down with a noise, Biggs quickly pushed him back onto the balcony and jumped after him. Helping Wedge climb up, he gratefully looked toward the truck where Alex and Claudia were hiding.
"Nice throw," Biggs whispered, raising a thumb toward Alex.
Alex smirked in response and raised a thumb in exactly the same way, after which he showed with gestures that the grunt needed to be hidden urgently so that other patrols wouldn't spot him. Nodding, Biggs turned to Wedge and lightly pushed his comrade in the shoulder so that he would stop senselessly staring at the unconscious sentry. Quickly figuring out what was required of him, Wedge grabbed the guard by the legs and dragged him toward the stacked containers.
Reaching the nearest crate, Biggs lifted the lid and looked inside: making sure there was plenty of space, he gave Wedge a sign. Together they lifted the unconscious body and deftly laid the grunt in the empty crate. And before slamming the lid shut, Biggs pulled a valuable keycard from the guard's pocket with which they could freely open the doors to the gun control post.
Creeping along the wall to the coveted doors, Biggs and Wedge stood on either side of the passage. Holding the keycard in his hands, Biggs looked at Wedge and briefly nodded, letting him know that he was about to activate the lock. However, before Biggs had time to hold the card to the reader, the doors unexpectedly slid open by themselves, and right on the threshold appeared a grunt in a bright red helmet. Coming out of the cabin, the grunt-captain fixed his gaze on the frozen Biggs with the keycard in his raised hand. Meeting eyes with the commander, Biggs forced out the most awkward smile he was capable of.
"Good evening," Biggs said in an awkward tone, slowly lowering his hand.
"And good night!" immediately rang out Wedge's cheerful voice right from behind the grunt-captain's back.
Hearing another voice behind him, the grunt-captain didn't even have time to turn around when he felt hands clamp around his throat in a death grip, and he suddenly had nothing to breathe with. Feeling consciousness beginning to fade, the officer in the red helmet frantically reached for the stun gun on his belt, hoping to knock out the attacker. Having already found the weapon, the captain completely forgot that there were two outsiders here, and one of them was still standing right in front of him.
Seeing what the guard was doing, Biggs without extra thought delivered a precise blow with the butt of his pistol straight to the bridge of his nose. Choking in Wedge's hands and receiving a powerful blow to the nose on top of that, the grunt-captain could no longer stay on his feet and immediately went limp. Still holding the knocked-out officer, Wedge raised a thumb with a satisfied smirk.
Smirking and nodding in response, Biggs carefully peeked into the gun control post room and saw that two more grunts were sitting at the terminals. Hiding back behind the doorframe, Biggs turned to Wedge and showed on his fingers how many guards were inside. Nodding, Wedge carefully lowered the unconscious body to the floor and lightly patted himself on the stomach.
Already knowing perfectly well what was about to happen, Biggs wanted to stop his friend from the stupid act, but Wedge with a wild cry had already charged across the threshold of the cabin, racing at full speed straight toward the terminals. Hearing the yell behind them, the grunts immediately reacted and jumped up from their seats. But the moment they turned around, they saw the large Wedge charging at them with a yell.
In that same instant Wedge with a running start leapt over the console and with his considerable weight knocked both grunts down, toppling them onto the concrete floor. From such a powerful ramming collision both guards lost consciousness in the same second. Having knocked out the patrolmen, Wedge turned to the doors and with a victorious expression on his face showed Biggs a thumbs-up.
"You're at it again! We could have knocked them out completely quietly!" Biggs said with a weary sigh, dragging the unconscious captain inside the cabin.
"He-he! My stomach isn't just here for looks. It can also be used perfectly as a battering ram… Although I think I bruised it a little," Wedge answered with a smirk, stroking his plump belly.
"That's all because these last few days we've been running back and forth too much. So you've dropped a couple of kilos, and your airbag isn't as soft anymore!" Biggs said in a lazy tone, giving Wedge a friendly clap on the side.
"Hmm… Maybe that's how it is. I'll definitely need to refuel properly when we get home," Wedge said in a thoughtful tone, nodding wisely and finally deciding on his plans for the evening.
"Yeah, good luck with that. And now we need to shut these babies down so our SOLDIER can make some noise in peace without outside help," Biggs said with a smile, rolling up a chair and sitting down at the main terminal.
Still hiding on the roof of the truck, Alex and Claudia could see everything that had happened in the gun control cabin perfectly. At that moment Alex was holding back laughter with enormous difficulty, watching how Wedge had taken out two grunts at once with his bulk. Claudia, however, watched what was happening absolutely calmly, only waiting for Biggs to finally de-energize the turret system.
Waiting for the signal from Jessie, Alex took the phone from his pocket and quickly connected to the internal cameras of the Shinra warehouse to find Yuffie and Jessie. After a couple of taps on the screen Alex managed to spot them outside the storage — right at the very moment when Yuffie was elaborately choking one of the grunts with her legs while Jessie deftly hid the second guard in an empty barrel.
Watching how Yuffie neutralized the grunt with her thighs, Alex was sincerely sure that this guardsman was experiencing the best day of his life, which he would definitely later brag about to his friends. For a brief moment it even seemed to Alex that an extremely satisfied smile had frozen on the guard's face while he was being diligently choked.
Lying next to him, Claudia moved closer to Alex and looked at the screen of his phone. Assessing the location of Yuffie and Jessie, she immediately understood that the long-awaited signal would come any minute. And she was not mistaken: on the camera it was visible how Jessie took a signal pistol from her belt bag.
Firing a bright rocket into the air, Jessie and Yuffie immediately slipped inside the building, tightly slamming the heavy doors behind them. Hiding on the roof of the truck, Alex and Claudia simultaneously raised their gazes to the sky, noticing the flared bright light. Understanding that it was time to act, Alex quickly put the phone in his pocket, and they synchronously rose to their full height.
"Well, let's go make a little noise. Why's it so quiet around here?" Alex said with a smirk, putting silver knuckle-dusters on his fists.
"Those are my words," Claudia answered with a smirk, slightly squatting with the Buster Sword in her hands.
"Well then you'll say them next time," Alex said with a chuckle, preparing to jump forward.
"No, you've already ruined everything," Claudia answered in a sarcastic tone, turning to Alex and giving him her signature empty look.
Alex was already about to answer Claudia when blinding searchlight beams suddenly crashed down on them, and the air around was filled with the alarmed cries of the grunts. Looking around, they noticed that they were already in a tight ring of encirclement. Not waiting for them to open fire to kill, Claudia powerfully pushed off from the roof of the truck and jumped far forward.
Seeing that the opponent was in the air, the grunts immediately raised their rifles and opened a hail of shots. Rapidly turning in flight and dodging the whistling bullets, Claudia landed exactly in the center of the group of grunts. Turning the Buster Sword with the blunt side of the blade, she delivered a crushing circular blow, sweeping away all the enemies standing nearby and forcefully scattering them in different directions.
Having neutralized the first wave, Claudia immediately took cover behind the wide blade of the Buster Sword, blocking the dense stream of bullets fired by the combat Sweepers robots. Waiting for the moment of the enemy equipment's reload, she raised her gaze upward and saw how a fast shadow flew right over her. Jumping over Claudia, Alex carefully landed right on the roof of the walking automaton.
In that same second the steel machine under his foot crumpled like an empty tin can. Having destroyed the first robot, Alex immediately grabbed the metal manipulator arm of the second Sweeper and with a crack tore it off. Turning the heavy torn-off part, Alex swung and drove it into the third opponent, piercing the metal body through. Having eliminated all the heavy equipment in a matter of seconds, Alex turned to Claudia and briefly nodded.
Understanding everything without extra words, she rushed forward before the remaining grunts had time to figure out that they had lost fire support. Quickly closing the distance, Claudia jumped over the confused squad. Finding herself behind the backs of the grunts, she began scattering the guards with wide swings of the Buster Sword, gutting the ranks of the security.
Delivering a blow to the next grunt, Claudia heard a suspicious click behind her and in that same second reacted: she put the Buster Sword flat behind her back, deflecting the shots and simultaneously blocking the lunge of the opponent who had swung at her from the front with a sparking electric baton.
Not giving the opponent time to recover, Claudia sharply pulled the guard toward herself by the arm, toppled him onto the concrete, and immediately knocked him out with a precise kick to the head. Hearing panic cries from behind, she turned her head and saw how Alex was enthusiastically using one of the grunts as an improvised living weapon, catching up with the remaining guards who were desperately trying to run away from him.
"Interesting way to use a grunt as a weapon," Claudia said with a smirk, sharply rolling to the side and dodging a lightning-fast lunge of a guard dog.
Having dodged another lunge of the guard dog, Claudia narrowed her eyes, carefully watching the movements of the aggressive beast. Rising to her feet, Claudia did not take her eyes off her opponent. But in that same second she felt barely audible, quiet steps behind her — as if someone was cold-bloodedly creeping up on her.
Sensing mortal danger, Claudia sharply jumped to the side at the very last moment when the second guard dog that had crept up from behind nearly sank its fangs right into her neck. In the moment of dodging she deftly grabbed the attacking hound by the hind legs and with a swing threw it into the first one. Having neutralized both animals at once, Claudia thought that she wouldn't mind helping Alex.
Already about to rush to his rescue, she again saw how Alex continued to laugh madly, swinging the screaming grunt and pursuing a whole group of guards. Not wanting to interfere in this outright madness, she switched her attention and rushed to the next squad of Shinra guards who had jumped out of the warehouse building at the rising noise.
At the same time Alex continued to chase the panically fleeing grunts, swinging one of them on the backhand as a hefty club. He understood perfectly well that ordinary sentries had never in their lives encountered anything like this, and that was precisely why a real panic had begun among the grunts.
Slightly shaking his "living weapon" so that the poor guy would finally stop screaming deafeningly, Alex with one powerful surge caught up with the lagging grunt. Realizing that he had been overtaken, the guard turned back with wild horror in his eyes.
"Don't!" the grunt screamed in panic, perfectly understanding what awaited him next.
"Oh yes we do! And now purse your lips and try not to kiss your buddy during the impact!" Alex shouted with a smirk, swinging the grunt for a crushing blow.
Feeling the growing panic, the grunt watched in horror as the face of his own colleague rapidly approached him. At the very last moment before the inevitable collision the frozen sentry still decided to follow Alex's strange advice and quickly pursed his lips.
After all, he understood perfectly well: it wasn't so scary to be beaten in such an absurd way — what was far scarier was accidentally kissing his colleague on the job. At the moment of the crushing impact he with quiet horror felt how the lips of his colleague still touched his pursed lips.
Feeling consciousness rapidly leaving him, the grunt only managed to think that Alex's stupid advice hadn't helped one bit, and the unpleasant incident had still taken place. Alex, however, had no idea that he had accidentally forced two grunts to kiss, and it didn't concern him in the least.
Continuing the chase after the remaining grunts, Alex did not stop laughing uproariously like a madman, which frightened the fugitives even more, forcing them to race with all their strength toward the open warehouse gates. Seeing that the targets had almost managed to run outside, Alex sharply stopped and more comfortably gripped his living weapon, preparing for a long-range throw.
"Furinji Clan Style: Human Shuriken!" Alex cheerfully shouted with a smirk, spinning like a top in place.
The captured grunt being used in Alex's hands as a living weapon for a brief moment came to his senses when he heard these mad words. Beginning to scream from fear even louder, the grunt with his entire yell tried to convey that he under no circumstances wanted to become a shuriken. But Alex absolutely did not hear this frightened squeal because of his own loud laughter. Stopping spinning, Alex sharply halted and launched his burden forward like a huge screaming shuriken.
The fleeing guardsmen heard a rapidly approaching frantic scream behind them and synchronously turned back. And the moment they stopped, they felt how something heavy crashed into them at enormous speed, and their feet in that same second left the ground. Having knocked down a whole row of grunts with one throw, Alex planted his hands on his hips and laughed cheerfully.
He really hadn't fought like this for a long time — when you could simply have fun from the heart instead of arranging a total massacre after which only torn bodies, scattered innards remained, and everything around was flooded with thick blood. Casting his gaze over the defeated, Alex turned his head to the fairy-drone Navi flying above the warehouse, which was broadcasting everything happening live to all of Midgar.
Alex hadn't told anyone about this in advance, but he had launched the airwaves at the very moment the first clash began. After all, how could he miss such a wonderful opportunity to spoil Shinra's life by not arranging another grand spectacle for the whole city! Waving a hand right into the lens of the fairy-drone, Alex slightly stepped aside when another grunt flew past him by inertia.
Slightly blinking, he looked toward Claudia, who continued to fight confidently but at the same time did not forget to give him a cold-blooded look clearly hinting that it was enough to slack off in place. Understanding exactly what that look of Claudia's meant, Alex immediately rushed to her rescue. Gaining rapid speed, Alex jumped high into the air, finding himself right above Claudia, who was surrounded on all sides by dense ranks of grunts.
"Furinji Clan Killing Technique: Vacuum Palm!" Alex shouted with excitement, hanging in the air and raising his palm for a crushing blow.
Hearing Alex's shout, Claudia in that same second felt how the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Perfectly realizing the mortal danger of the coming blow, she immediately jumped out of the encirclement, making several rapid jumps backward to get as far away as possible. And as soon as Claudia retreated, Alex sharply swung his palm from top to bottom.
The grunts only managed to raise their heads when they felt that something with such monstrous force had pressed down on their bodies that they were immediately pinned to the floor. The Sweeper robots that fell under Alex's blow in that same second flattened into one continuous metal plate. From the place of the impact a colossal shockwave spread in all directions, which easily swept away heavy crates and standing trucks in its path. Biggs and Wedge with shocked faces pressed against the glass of the gun control cabin.
They could not believe their own eyes: just one blow from Alex had left an enormous, deep palm print on the concrete floor of the warehouse. And this concerned not only the two of them — all of Midgar in silent shock stared at the screens of their televisions, refusing to believe what they had seen. Finding herself at a safe distance, Claudia was still forced to drive the Buster Sword into the concrete with force so that she wouldn't be carried away by the dense gust of the shockwave.
When the hurricane wind finally subsided, she raised her gaze and saw a clear, enormous palm print in which dozens of grunts lay unconscious. Slightly raising an eyebrow, Claudia realized that once again she would have to revise her idea of the level of Alex's strength.
And she was absolutely sure that he had not used materia to enhance this blow. Landing right in the center of the punched-out crater, Alex looked around and noticed that they had somehow dealt with the entire warehouse security too quickly. Slightly shrugging, he unhurriedly walked toward Claudia.
"There's no more security in the warehouse. Shinra has probably already sent reinforcements. We need to either leave or continue making noise," Claudia said, putting the Buster Sword behind her back as soon as Alex came closer.
"Jessie and Yuffie haven't finished yet. And that means the show must go on. And I have an excellent way to arrange it," Alex said with a smile, slightly raising the brim of his black cap.
"What? Are you going to start a fire in the warehouse?" Claudia inquired, considering this option the most rational in the current situation.
"No, of course not. I'll continue my performance… And now: Lights! Music!" Alex said with a smirk, theatrically raising his index finger to the sky.
Hearing Alex's words, Claudia immediately expressed doubt about his decision to arrange another concert in a place like this. She remembered perfectly well how he had staged a whole show in the Mako reactor in the company of Dean and Aerith. But right now the situation was completely different: at any moment Shinra reinforcements could arrive, and fighting on such open terrain as the spacious territory in front of the warehouse could become quite problematic.
And before Claudia had time to voice her logical arguments, bright searchlight beams fell on them from all sides, and light, rhythmic music came from the speakers. Covering her eyes with her hand from the bright blinding light, Claudia noticed that a golden Navi was hovering right above them, spreading small wings. In that same moment a clear realization flashed in her head: Alex had again arranged a broadcast for all of Midgar.
Not intending to participate in such a circus, she quickly jumped back, hiding in the shadows out of reach of the blinding spotlights. At the same time Alex slightly nodded his head to the beat of the music, snapping his fingers and tapping his foot. Smiling under the mask, Alex raised his gaze to the fairy-drone Navi, preparing to begin his next flashy performance.
"She said: You think the devil has horns? Well, so did I," Alex sang in a tender tone, smoothly running his hands over his head and throwing off the black cap.
The moment Alex threw the cap off his head, long black horns immediately grew right on his forehead, resembling a majestic crown. Biggs and Wedge, who were in the gun control cabin, had initially planned to watch Alex's performance from the front rows. But as soon as the music started and Alex threw off his headwear, they stared at him in complete shock, noticing the grown horns.
And not only the two of them reacted in a similar way: all of Midgar with even greater enthusiasm pressed against the screens of their televisions, despite the fact that it was deep night outside and the time was inexorably approaching midnight. Claudia, who was standing closest of all, tried with all her might to figure out Alex's secret: exactly how he had managed to pull off such a trick.
The only logical answer that came to her mind was the assumption that he was using rare Transmutation materia, the properties of which she had seen in the past. True, she could not recall anyone applying such an artifact to themselves rather than for turning one object into another. Having caused another grand stir throughout Midgar, Alex continued to smoothly spin in place, not stopping singing.
"But I was wrong, his hair is combed, and he wears a suit and tie," Alex continued to sing, easily grabbing the edges of his coat and lowering his eyes to the invisible viewers.
In that same moment Alex with one smooth motion pulled off his coat, and under it appeared a neat, strict black suit with a black shirt and a bright-red tie the color of fresh blood. Seeing once again how Alex immediately changed clothes in a similar way, Claudia finally confirmed her thoughts about the Transmutation materia capable of such miracles.
Having changed his outfit for the performance, Alex for a brief moment froze and looked straight into the lens of the fairy-drone Navi, lightly catching the fabric of the mask on his face with a finger. In that same second it became insanely interesting to all of Midgar: what face was hidden under the mask if Alex had such unique, enchanting eyes? But those who had already crossed paths with Alex more than once immediately recognized his gaze and signature gloves.
Especially Reno, Rude, and Elena, who were again forced to work overtime when all the Shinra office terminals suddenly began broadcasting the same thing. Recognizing Alex's eyes and gloves, Reno slightly snorted and nonchalantly threw his legs onto the table, intending to properly relax and watch the show. Rude calmly adjusted his sunglasses and leaned back more comfortably in the chair.
And when Alex finally smoothly removed the mask, all of Midgar gasped in shock. Under the fabric was the face of a very young Alex — so handsome that it was literally impossible to look away from him! Tenderly smiling straight into the camera, Alex threw the mask aside to continue his performance.
"He's nice, polite, he'll catch you by surprise. A smile so bright, you'd never bat an eye," Alex continued to sing in a tender tone, slightly swaying to the beat of the music and not stopping smiling for a moment.
When Alex sang the first verse, all the searchlights suddenly went out, plunging the warehouse territory into impenetrable darkness. Seeing what had happened, viewers throughout Midgar leaned closer to the screens, wanting to make out at least something, because the music was still enthusiastically playing.
And in that same moment a single searchlight flared up, its bright beam falling right on Alex lying in the middle of a lush flowerbed of yellow flowers. Only Aerith immediately recognized this scene. At that moment she was sitting in the Seventh Heaven bar together with Tifa, Barret, and Marlene, who had accidentally become witnesses to Alex's concert because Barret had wanted to watch the evening news.
In Aerith's head bright memories of the events that had happened several days ago immediately flashed. When she first met Alex, he had been lying in exactly the same way among her favorite yellow petals growing in the abandoned church. And then that chance meeting had radically changed her fate — and exclusively for the better.
"Said she was in a hurry… That's when she met him Sunday walking to the old church," Alex sang in a tender tone, turning his head straight toward the camera lens.
At that same moment an elegant ink image of a stranger with long hair tied with a red ribbon emerged from the darkness. The silhouette was dressed in a long dress, over which a short jacket was worn, and in her hands she held a woven basket filled to the brim with yellow flowers. When this ghost materialized on the screen, absolutely all familiar people immediately recognized Aerith in it.
Barret and Tifa exchanged amazed glances and looked at the friend sitting next to them, on whose cheeks a deep blush immediately appeared. Aerith had not expected at all that Alex would decide to turn their first meeting into a whole romantic performance that the entire Midgar would see. But at the same time it was insanely pleasant for her because of what Alex was doing. Although deep down she terribly wanted that right now in place of this bodiless shadow it would be she herself.
Feeling a light annoyance from the fact that it was not she standing next to him under the light of the searchlights, Aerith slightly pouted her lips and returned to watching the broadcast. Meanwhile the ink image of the stranger with the basket of flowers approached Alex lying among the buds and slightly flinched — as if she had not expected at all to see a stranger in such a secluded place — and from the surprise dropped her burden from her hands.
"She dropped her basket of flowers, and it fell to his feet, he got down on one knee," Alex continued to sing, slightly rising and carefully picking up one of the yellow flowers that had fallen from the basket.
Rising from his knees, Alex stood right in front of the ink image of the stranger and tremblingly extended the yellow flower toward her. The girl's shadow for a brief moment flinched and stepped back a step, as if seriously frightened of Alex, but in that same second still carefully reached for the gift. Aerith, watching this romantic scene, immediately began loudly complaining that back then everything had been completely different!
She began annoyedly clapping her palm on the wooden bar counter, with feeling repeating that in reality she had found Alex in the flowerbed when he was suffering from a wild hangover and generally barely understood what was happening around. Hearing these indignant outcries of Aerith, Tifa immediately guessed exactly what staged play this creative personality had arranged once again.
And seeing how sweetly Aerith was getting angry, Tifa simply could not help laughing at how Alex had twisted and embellished their real meeting. Barret, however, watched all this with an absolutely empty expression on his face, sincerely not understanding what the hell Alex was even doing at one of the guarded Shinra warehouses if he had assured everyone that he was simply going to pick up his transport from the delivery service.
Irritably clenching his fists, Barret, however, noticed in time that his little angel Marlene was thoroughly enjoying the beautiful performance. Seeing his daughter's sincere joy, Barret decided to postpone this conversation until the return of Alex and the others — after all, he was ironclad sure that the latter had definitely not gone to such a place alone.
At the same time Alex enthusiastically continued the performance, still extending the yellow flower toward the ink image. And when the stranger carefully took hold of the thin stem, Alex carefully squeezed her palm in his and looked straight at the shadow silhouette.
"He handed her the flower and gave a warning to her saying: Miss, you know, the devil has horns, he's out tonight," Alex sang in a tender tone, smoothly drawing the girl's silhouette into his warm embrace.
The residents of Midgar watching this performance felt as if they were watching an incredibly beautiful romantic story about how by happy chance a fateful meeting had occurred under rather unusual circumstances. And despite the fact that black horns towered on Alex's head the entire time, no one even paid attention to them — it seemed to the residents of Midgar that this was exactly how it should be by design.
And the female half of the city was outright burning with envy toward Aerith, whose ink image had been lucky enough to touch such a charming Alex capable of making girls' hearts beat wildly with just one of his smiles. No one in Midgar could deny the obvious: Alex was truly devilishly handsome.
At the same time Alex was spinning in a dance with the ink image of Aerith and out of the corner of his eye noticed that the reinforcement of grunts had already arrived: the entire squad froze at the warehouse gates, watching his performance with open mouths. Hearing the familiar rhythm, Alex slightly spun the departing stranger and with a smooth motion sent her back into the darkness.
"Walking 'round downtown carrying a gun and knife…," Alex sang, with a deft motion taking the Jackal pistol from its holster and drawing a combat knife from behind his back.
In that same moment shadow figures in the most varied outfits came out of the darkness toward Alex, gripping various cold weapons in their hands. Without thinking, the shadows rushed at Alex, swinging blades on the backhand. Not changing the tender smile on his face, Alex pointed the barrel of the Jackal at the first shadow and immediately pulled the trigger.
When the bullet pierced the figure's head, a lush sheaf of red petals flew out of the back of its head with a quiet rustle, scattering in all directions. Every time Alex wounded or cut down another shadow, scarlet buds burst from the wounds, which the wind picked up and swirled around Alex.
The red flower hurricane raged around Alex until in that same second it subsided, and the entire avalanche of petals softly settled right at his feet. And at that moment Alex looked at the large squad of grunts sent by Shinra as reinforcement.
"He'll fight, you'll die, but you'll see him clear his light. An evil sight, you should know the warning signs," Alex sang in a cheerful tone, slightly spinning in place and in conclusion gracefully bowing toward the stunned grunts.
The squad of grunts sent as support immediately understood Alex's unambiguous hint about what would happen to them if they still decided to carry out the task for which they had come. And not a single one of the guardsmen even thought of interrupting this performance — no matter how strict the order from above. Continuing to smile tenderly, Alex slightly snapped his fingers, and scarlet flower petals again swirled around him, completely hiding his silhouette.
A moment later the swirling stream of red petals exploded with a sheaf of sparks, scattering in all directions. In the place where Alex had just been standing now sat a cute plush Stitch toy, in whose paws a sign with a short inscription shone: "See you soon."
And right after that the lights went out with a crack throughout the entire complex. Claudia, who had been hiding in the shadow of overturned trucks, immediately felt a foreign presence right behind her back. In that same second turning around, she saw him already in his usual clothes — with a black cap on his head and a black mask on his face.
Cheerfully narrowing his eyes, Alex showed with a gesture that it was time for them to move out, since Jessie, Yuffie, Biggs, and Wedge had already successfully left the complex. Nodding, Claudia ran forward, deftly jumping onto high containers and quickly leaving the territory of the storage.
Following Claudia, Alex was sincerely sure that at that very moment Heidegger was tearing the hair of his beard until it bled because the entire telecommunications network of Midgar had once again fallen under someone's insolent control. Jumping from container to container, Alex slightly chuckled, simultaneously launching a special program on his smartphone to thoroughly erase his bare face from the video recording — so that it wouldn't be played 24/7 on all the city's news channels.
To be continued...
(I still hold true to Lucifer's words, asking Alex to save this world spectacularly. And if it needs to be done spectacularly, then of course Alex will hold concerts in places like this. So, what's the plot like? Well, a return to Seventh Heaven, a passionate kiss from Jesse for helping her father. Then Aerith's angry hamster noises for not twisting their first meeting. Barret's grumbling—well, he's supposed to grumble like always. Hmm, and the rest is a secret. Time for food and rest. So I'll go eat. Peace, love, and Alex really is handsome, but no one pays attention to it. And the answer is simple: it's all about magic. Of course, I haven't mentioned this in a long time, but just remember and you'll remember everything. Or not.)
Early access to chapters on my patreon: p*treon.com/GreedHunter