Sliding down the ladder, Alex and Claudia found themselves in a service corridor and, without lingering long in place, hurried after Barret and Tifa. The latter had frozen at a corner, arguing in low voices about exactly what kind of crap that robot they had wrecked a couple of minutes ago had looked like. Approaching, Alex nodded his head, letting them know that the chatter could be wrapped up and they should move on.
Moving deeper into the service premises, the group very quickly reached a massive cargo platform designed for descent to the lowest levels of the Plate. Approaching the lift, Barret immediately pressed the start button and let everyone ahead. Stepping onto the platform, Alex carelessly leaned on the metal railings and looked down into the darkness of the shaft. When the entire group was assembled, Claudia activated the elevator lever, and the platform with a hum began slowly descending.
Slightly swaying his head in time with the movement, Alex tried to restore the layout in his memory: what exactly awaited them ahead and what other path still had to be overcome to reach the Fifth Sector Mako reactor. Raising his gaze to the ceilings, Alex for a moment flashed his eyes — his gaze passed through the thickness of concrete and steel, allowing him to make out that right now they were located exactly in the gap between the Fourth and Fifth sectors. Slightly scratching his chin, Alex switched off the magical perception and returned his ordinary gaze.
"Just so you know… There won't be an easy life ahead. We've barely covered half the way to the Fifth Sector," Barret began speaking, leaning his broad back against the metal railing of the platform.
"Hmm… And has it ever become easy for us at all?" Claudia responded with a light snort, standing by the railings next to Alex.
"And was it difficult up to this moment?" Alex inquired with sincere curiosity, turning to the others and sitting right on the railings of the descending platform.
"So for you all these clashes were a simple stroll?" Tifa asked with a light smile, looking at Alex with interest.
"Well, kind of yes. Everything that happened up to this minute can quite well be called an ordinary walk through the railway tunnels," Alex answered in a completely imperturbable tone, slightly swaying from side to side.
"And what, in your opinion, is then called real difficulty?" Claudia asked, turning to Alex and in time holding him by the edge of his coat so that he would not accidentally tumble from the railings into the shaft.
"Well, I don't even know… I think the hardest thing is a long sortie and tracking a target. A deadly boring occupation… And then you also have to clean up the corpse. Ah… It's really not cool at all to bury someone's body in the forest at night. You're then up to your ears in dirt and someone else's blood. In general, complete crap," Alex drawled in a thoughtful tone, slightly stroking his chin, completely leaning back and hanging upside down on the railings.
Listening to Alex's explanations about the unpleasant work, Claudia slightly nodded her head, quite sharing his opinion that the most unpleasant and tedious thing in such work is the long tracking of a target. But Tifa and Barret had absolutely no time for such reflections because Alex continued to carelessly hang upside down on the railings while the cargo platform descended into the shaft at a noticeable angle.
Carefully approaching the edge, Tifa with all her might began pulling him back, seriously fearing for his safety. Alex only imperturbably raised his gaze to her, silently raising an eyebrow with a silent question: what exactly did she need from him? Tifa meanwhile continued holding Alex by the jeans in a death grip, afraid that at the next sharp jolt of the lift he would tumble down. Even Claudia from the side gripped his coat in case he did fall after all. Feeling how he was being persistently towed back, Alex only lazily yawned, completely not understanding the reasons for the panic — after all, he still would not fall.
"Listen, kid, cut that out! Climb back onto the platform, the last thing we need is for you to fall into the abyss while you're hanging upside down here," Barret rumbled loudly, fully supporting Tifa's intention to drag this psycho into the safe zone.
"So you're not bothered in the least by the fact that I calmly walk on ceilings and walls? And here I suddenly take and fall?" Alex asked with light, sincere interest, without particular effort returning to a sitting position on the railings.
"That's completely not the same thing! And in general — get off the railings and don't even think of sitting on them again," Tifa cut off with open irritation in her voice, literally pulling Alex off the steel railing and forcibly dragging him into the very center of the platform.
"Well, fine, you stingy ones. I still wouldn't have fallen," Alex muttered, shrugging his shoulders, and, feeling a sudden attack of laziness, nonchalantly rested his chin on Tifa's shoulders.
"And in general, I wanted to ask even then: how do you and Dean even manage to pull off such crap? You fucking literally walk on walls and ceilings! How the hell do you do that?!" Barret inquired, slightly raising his sunglasses and suspiciously examining Alex from head to toe.
"Hmm… It's rather difficult to explain if explaining simply on the fingers," Alex drawled thoughtfully, automatically stroking Tifa on the chin and frantically figuring out with what words to describe this process.
"Okay, stop stroking my chin… And explain already in whatever way is convenient for you yourself," Tifa said with a heavy sigh, carefully removing Alex's hand from her face.
"Fine… If speaking so that it gets through to everyone, then Tifa can quite well be taken as an example," Alex said and shamelessly poked Tifa in the cheek with a finger, still continuing to lean with all his weight on her shoulders.
"And what's wrong with Tifa?" Claudia asked with curiosity, folding her arms across her chest and slightly tapping a finger on her elbow.
"She uses Chi in battle… or Ki… well, or whatever that crap is called with you? So, roughly speaking, Dean and I simply use that same internal energy to literally 'stick' to ceilings and walls. That's the whole secret," Alex answered, shrugging his shoulders, and with a smile lightly patted Tifa on the shoulders.
After Alex's explanation sounded, Tifa thoughtfully looked at her legs and came to the conclusion that such a trick was definitely beyond her strength. In the end, her combat style was designed for lightning combinations and support under her feet, and not for sticking dead to ceilings and walls. Shaking her head, Tifa decided not even to clutter her head with thoughts about learning vertical walking.
Claudia just as well considered that such skills were absolutely unnecessary for her. Alex did not insist on anything, letting them know that walks on walls were only an option for overcoming obstacles when you simply felt too lazy to look for a detour. Barret in his signature style added that real men do not climb walls but smash them through head-on in order to go further.
Hearing this slogan, Alex measured Barret with an absolutely empty gaze and lazily raised a thumb upward. Having chuckled a little, Alex inquired what exact route they still had left to complete. Barret was already preparing to describe their further adventures in all colors when the cargo platform with a creak almost reached the needed level.
Hearing the distinct noise of working reactors and feeling strong gusts of wind, everyone synchronously turned their heads toward the descent. Before them opened a view of a gigantic technical platform with an entire network of bridges and small separate platforms attached right to the very bottom of the Plate. As soon as the platform stopped and the protective railings automatically moved apart, Alex was the first to step forward.
Heading toward the outer fence, he intended according to his custom to climb onto the railings and look down, but immediately felt someone grip the edge of his coat in a death grip and pull him back. Turning his head, Alex met Tifa's gaze, who was looking at him with an infinitely tired expression but at the same time insistently holding his clothing. Rolling his eyes, Alex lowered his foot back onto the flooring and only slightly leaned forward. There, in the deep abyss beneath them, the poor slums of the Fourth Sector spread out.
"We just need to pass through this zone — and we'll find ourselves right at the Fifth Sector Reactor," Barret said, slightly leaning his broad shoulder against the metal railings.
"You speak of this so lightly, as if we have a simple walk in the park ahead," Tifa responded with a sigh, noticing his tone, continuing just in case to hold the edge of Alex's coat.
"But that's really how it is! Over there stands the main support column of the reactor. Consider us practically at the goal," Barret answered with a confident smirk, pointing with his hand at the huge metal support going down right into the Slums of the Fifth Sector.
"And what's our plan? How exactly do we get from here to there?" Claudia inquired, slightly frowning and carefully scanning the hanging platforms in search of a safe path.
"After Plan E come Plans F, G, and then H!" Barret delivered with a satisfied smirk, demonstratively bending his massive fingers on his hand.
"Wasn't your genius Plan E the very last in the alphabet?" Alex asked with light irony, leaning his back against the railings and fishing a thin cigar from his pocket.
"It's not about that at all. We're right now in section F," Tifa explained with a smile, pointing a finger at the large letter marking on the concrete wall.
"Exactly! We need to break through section G in order to reach section H. And already from there on a heavy cargo elevator we'll rise straight to the main valve. We'll switch the main Mako flow, and from there — straight into the reactor itself," Barret summed up, stage by stage poking a finger in the direction of the sections they still had to cross.
Looking at the route Barret was pointing to, Alex understandingly nodded and slightly moved a finger in the air, drawing a mental trajectory and searching for the shortest path to platform H. He understood perfectly well: despite the fact that with his actions he had already caused a noticeable snowball effect, changing small details of the Canon, the general path to the Mako reactor in the Fifth Sector remained the same — even if with discrepancies.
The first such anomaly was the detonation of an entire train car, which was not supposed to happen at all originally. And the number of combat drones that attacked them turned out far higher than the norm, because of which they had to put the EMP into play. Even the Crab robot had been activated ahead of schedule. All these shifts led Alex to the thought that he was moving in the right direction, and in the end this should lead to even more large-scale changes.
Lowering his hand and ceasing to draw the route, Alex could not help thinking about the fact that the key events destined to drag the group to certain points still stubbornly force their way through — changing them in a short time is incredibly difficult. Continuing to calculate options, Alex suddenly hit upon an extremely interesting solution: how with maximum benefit for himself to turn the coming fall of the Plate onto the Seventh Sector.
Barely smirking at this thought, Alex felt a light pat on the shoulder and turned around. Tifa softly reminded that it was time to move on. Nodding in response, Alex approached the edge and, instead of messing with the steps, simply jumped down, easily landing on the metal hanging bridge a level lower. Waiting while the others descended the ladder, Alex again cast a glance over the gaping Slums below, deciding to admire the views a little.
"Oh, damn… There's nothing under us at all!" Barret squeezed out in a frightened, broken tone, carefully stepping along the narrow metal beam in order to cross to the opposite side of the bridge.
"There are the Slums under us. So just shut up and go forward," Claudia cut off, patiently waiting while the giant overcame this section.
"And try not to look down — then everything will be fine," Tifa added in a soft, calming tone, sincerely trying to cheer up her friend.
"And if you do fall after all — don't worry: your heart will stop from the rupture much faster than you manage to hit the ground," Alex added with a wink and with a cheerful smile calmly jumped over the gap right past Barret, nonchalantly keeping his hands in the pockets of his coat.
"Just shut up! Take and shut up! Not everyone here has the ability to stick to surfaces like you, damn it!" Barret roared, trying with all his might not to look into the abyss and with all his might raising his chin to the ceiling.
Listening to another furious tirade from Barret, Alex quietly laughed and unhurriedly walked forward, not waiting while the rest of the group crossed the dangerous gap. Reaching the platform leading into section G, Alex stopped at the blank locked doors and thoughtfully stroked his chin. The needed layout surfaced in his memory, and he immediately recalled that in this zone a large part of the instruments had been de-energized because of the critical energy deficit caused by the recent destruction of the Mako reactor in the First Sector.
Lowering his hand, Alex approached the door-opening panel and slightly pressed the main key. A second later a red inscription about lack of power flashed on the small screen. Heavily sighing, Alex turned his head back and looked at the single working generator in this section F that was responsible for the daylight lamps replacing the sun for the slums.
Experiencing a colossal attack of laziness from the mere thought that now he would have to run along the hanging bridges and switch levers for redirecting the electrical network, Alex slightly shuddered. Quickly shaking his head from the unwillingness to play the stupid puzzle "turn the valve to open the doors," Alex turned to the instrument panel and was already preparing to rip it out to hell together with its guts when steps rang out behind him.
"What's wrong? The doors won't open?" Tifa asked, approaching Alex together with Claudia and Barret.
"I was just waiting for you to catch up with me. But here, it seems, the panel broke and is giving some internal error," Alex answered, turning his head and in advance gripping the body of the electronic panel with his fingers.
"What kind of error?!" Claudia asked, frowning and approaching closer to the locked gates.
"A program failure of the gate opening… kind of. Give me literally a couple of minutes, I'll arrange everything," Alex said quickly, raising a thumb and inventing nonsense on the fly.
"Wouldn't it be simpler to go into the control room? It's located right over there. I think from there we can calmly open these gates," Tifa said, pointing a finger at the technical premises on the opposite side of the hanging platforms of section F.
"Only if you carry me there in your arms like a princess. Because I sincerely do not intend to drag myself back and forth for the sake of one damn door," Alex answered and with a crack tore the instrument panel right out of the concrete.
"Heh, I can carry you, you lazy guy!" Barret inserted with a snort, leaning against the locked metal gates.
"Go… to… hell… I absolutely do not want a guy with huge arms who, in addition, mercilessly reeks of sweat to drag me around. If you're not a cute girl — get away from me," Alex spat with open disgust, juicily extending his middle finger toward Barret.
"Shouldn't everything be exactly the opposite?" Tifa asked, with difficulty restraining laughter from such a categorical comment by Alex addressed to Barret.
"Any guy sometimes secretly wants to be a princess. Personally I'm not against being carried a little in someone's arms at all," Alex responded in a completely carefree tone, already skillfully connecting his smartphone to the bare wires of the door drive.
From such a joke on Alex's part Tifa slightly laughed, vividly imagining him in the image of a capricious princess carefully carried in arms. Such a spectacle elicited only sincere laughter from her. Trying to drive away these silly thoughts, Tifa peeked over Alex's shoulder, wanting to observe what he was doing there and how exactly he intended to open the jammed doors.
Alex at that moment was completely occupied with making his way through a virtual puzzle on the screen where he needed to competently redirect the electricity so as not to accidentally burn anything out. He understood perfectly well that if he mixed up the phases even for a second, because of a banal network overload he would leave an entire residential district of the Fourth Sector of the Plate completely without light.
Slightly tilting his head to the side, Alex quickly hit upon the needed technical solution, powering this entire section so that there was energy to spare even for the heavy cargo elevator that was supposed to raise them to the upper level. Slightly narrowing his eyes, Alex looked toward section H and noticed how in the distance the lift hummed and started working.
Understanding that everything had switched on as needed, Alex right from the smartphone screen began remotely moving the gigantic cargo bridges, building an ideal straight path from section G to section H — just so as not to drag themselves again along endless detour bridges. Finishing with all the settings, Alex only at that moment noticed that right behind his back stood Claudia, Tifa and Barret, carefully observing every step of his.
"Did everything work?" Barret inquired, seeing that Alex was already preparing to disconnect his phone from the panel.
"Yeah. I had to along the way a little remotely move the bridges in order to lay us a straight path straight into section H," Alex answered carelessly, shrugging his shoulders and pressing on the smartphone screen in order to open the locked gates.
"I'm still sincerely surprised at how you manage to pull off something like this only with the help of your PHS," Tifa said with light amazement, shaking her head and looking at Alex.
"The whole essence is in a special program that allows access to the internal networks," Alex answered, shrugging his shoulders, and put the phone into the inner pocket.
"So in theory you can get access to absolutely everything in Midgar?" Claudia clarified, slightly narrowing her eyes and carefully studying Alex.
"Almost. Everything is a little more complicated than you think. You can't just take and hack everything in a row with a snap of the fingers… There are a ton of technical details that definitely shouldn't be discussed in such a setting," Alex answered, slightly waving his hand and being the first to step through the opened gates.
Hearing Alex's explanation, Claudia understandingly nodded, considering that obtaining absolute access to all of Midgar was indeed technically impossible. Tifa and Barret thought exactly the same — after all, otherwise Alex would long ago have controlled the entire metropolis and could pull off great deeds without even leaving the Seventh Heaven bar.
Whistling a cheerful melody, Alex absolutely did not intend to enlighten them about the fact that in reality he had already obtained full access to all the networks of Midgar and could at any moment do everything his heart desired — right up to connecting to the personal systems in President Shinra's office. Alex had more than once been made to rub his hands by thoughts about spoiling the old man's life for a joke: turning on for him on endless repeat some maximally stupid and catchy song, let him listen to it without stopping until in a rage he smashes every speaker and monitor in his office.
However, Alex decided to put off this genius prank for later — for the time when Rufus would take the chair of President Shinra. Continuing to break into a wide smile, Alex approached the spiral staircase leading to the upper levels of the platforms. Beckoning the others after him, he was the first to begin climbing the steps.
"You know, the best way not to get lost is to holy believe that you will never get lost. Just think about this wisdom," Barret delivered with a philosophical smirk, climbing after Alex.
"Is that by any chance a quote from that fairy tale that Marlene reads?" Tifa asked with a light laugh, instantly recognizing the line since she herself had more than once read this book to the little one before sleep.
"Yes, from her most favorite! She simply adores it when I read this fairy tale at night. True, I voice all the characters with one and the same bass," Barret responded with a proud smirk, satisfied like a real father.
"Wouldn't it be simpler to punch your own path while wandering through the labyrinth?" Alex asked, having climbed to the upper platform and turning his head to the group.
"Well, that doesn't always work that way," Tifa answered with a cheerful smile, slightly shaking her head.
"But my friend would say something completely different to that!" Alex declared with a smirk, walking along the wide cargo bridge.
"And what did your friend say?" Claudia inquired with curiosity, walking step in step next to Alex.
"I follow the path of the Emperor, and the road unfolds where I walk!" Alex proclaimed with a huge pretentious smirk, instantly stretching into an epic pose and on the backhand pointing with two fingers forward, strictly toward section H.
After Alex threw the pretentious phrase and froze in a theatrical and hypertrophied pose, Claudia slightly rubbed her forehead, thinking that she simply should not have asked such a question. She still could not get used to the fact that in some moments he behaved too childishly. In her own justification Claudia could say only that she had been acquainted with him for only about four days.
Barret dissolved into loud, rolling laughter, considering Alex's phrase cool enough to take it into service and use in the future. Tifa also quietly laughed, casting a glance over the straight road to section H. She could not deny the fact that Alex had literally laid them an ideal path to the needed place, saving a ton of strength.
Continuing to smile, she slightly pushed Alex in the back so that he would stop standing in that ridiculous pose. Smiling, Alex walked forward in order to reach the cargo lift as quickly as possible. Passing straight through the entire technical section, Alex once again cursed those designers who invent such labyrinthine passages where an inexperienced worker can simply get lost for good. Reaching section H, Alex peeked through the railings and looked at the lower platform.
"Here's that very cargo elevator that Biggs spoke about. Let's go down, let's not make our friend wait," Barret said with a smirk, being the first to approach the ladder leading to the lower platform with the elevator.
"Yes… I hope everything will also be okay with the others. In the end, they have to infiltrate the Mako reactor in the Seventh Sector," Tifa said, not hiding her worry for the second group.
"They have Dean and the pot-bellied Steve with them, so everything will be completely okay there. I don't worry about Aerith, Jessie and Yuffie at all. Well, maybe just a little about Yuffie — after all, she's a walking source of problems. But about Wedge — that's already another question," Alex responded with a smile, descending the steps side by side with Tifa.
"Indeed… Wedge is so clumsy. What if something happens to him?" Tifa said with a sigh, beginning to worry about her friend even more strongly.
"Don't worry so much. Wedge will manage, he's already far from little. If he got involved in such a matter, then he should have been ready to face the consequences," Claudia said in an absolutely calm tone, turning her head and looking at Tifa.
"So you already trust Wedge that much?" Tifa asked with a smile, looking at her friend with warmth, who had clearly become softer after communicating with the others.
"It's not about trust at all, but about understanding what he can and what he cannot. And he has already clearly proven that he is capable of standing up for himself," Claudia answered in the same even tone, calmly averting her gaze from Tifa.
"You're such a tsundere at moments like this, Chika," Alex inserted with a chuckle and slightly shook his head.
"I'll strangle you one day," Claudia responded with a heavy sigh, completely tired of showing any stormy reaction to Alex's teasing.
"Only if gently. In any other case I'll simply run away," Alex laughed and cheerfully raised a thumb toward Claudia.
Hearing Alex's laughter behind her, Claudia heavily sighed and immediately sharply turned around, swinging her fist and aiming right at his stomach. However, before her blow reached the target, Alex deftly intercepted her fist in the air and looked at her with a cheerful, teasing gaze. Claudia slightly narrowed her eyes, with her entire appearance letting him know that next time she would put all her strength into the blow and hit for real.
Shaking his head, Alex released her hand and nodded with his chin forward, proposing that she continue the descent instead of attacking him because of banal embarrassment. Snorting, Claudia turned away and stepped further down the steps. Tifa quietly chuckled, rejoicing at the fact that her friend was gradually ceasing to behave so coldly toward those around her. But she was still not left in peace by what had happened with Claudia during those five years that they had not seen each other.
Tifa was panickingly afraid to dump on her the entire truth about the events of the past, fearing that this would finally break the already fragile mind of Claudia. The only hope that remained with her was that Claudia over time would herself manage to sort out her memories, and everything would not become even worse than now. Heavily sighing from these gloomy thoughts, Tifa suddenly felt a warm palm on her shoulder.
Turning her head, she met Alex's gaze, who slightly tilted his head to the side, without words inquiring whether everything was okay with her. Tifa with a smile shook her head, deciding to lie and saying that she was simply worrying about the other guys. Alex instantly understood that she was lying, but did not pressure — only silently nodded. He had long been thinking about talking with Tifa alone about that wild mess of memories that was going on in Claudia's head, but they never managed to get a free minute.
Tenderly patting Tifa on the shoulder as a sign of support, Alex approached the control terminal of the cargo elevator. Starting the system, Alex waited for a short sound signal, after which the protective railings automatically moved apart to the sides, opening access to the platform.
"Awesome! Farewell, plate insides. I sincerely hope that we will never see you again," Barret rumbled with a satisfied smirk, being the first to step onto the cargo platform.
"Fortunately, we managed to pass this section quite quickly. And we saved simply a ton of time," Tifa added with a smile, climbing onto the elevator after Barret.
"No need for thanks. Just prepare me another cocktail when we return. And maybe hugs as a pleasant bonus," Alex said with a smile, passing by Tifa to the internal control panel of the cargo elevator.
"As you say… That's a rather modest payment for such work done," Tifa answered with a laugh, looking at Alex's back.
"Possibly. Although we still lost too much time on these stupid wanderings through the railway tunnels. It's already practically two hours after noon," Alex noted, fishing his elegant pocket watches from the pocket of his coat.
"And that's true, time went by immeasurably. But it's still many times better than flying into the air in that damn train. Fucking Shinra, damn it. Fucking, bitch, Garrett! To hell with all of them," Barret spat with dull anger, still experiencing dull irritation from what a heavy path they had had to overcome.
Shaking his head at another attack of Barret's anger, Alex started the cargo elevator, and the huge platform immediately softly moved sideways, rushing toward the gigantic support pillar of the Fifth Mako reactor. Leaning on the railings while the elevator picked up speed, Alex with a habitual motion lit a thin cigar and simply looked down at the Slums spreading beneath them, continuing to sincerely enjoy the opened view.
Exhaling a stream of gray smoke and shaking the ash into the abyss, Alex turned to the others, with the corner of his ear listening to the conversation of Barret and Tifa about their further route. Honestly speaking, the remaining path worried him little — with the exception of the fact that Shinra had turned this entire event into one big and precise trap. But even if this was a setup with the goal of blackening and framing absolutely all cells of Avalanche, Alex could only laugh from the heart at such a stupid plan.
After all, how the hell can you blow up a plant and hang it on terrorists if the reactor itself in the end simply compresses into one neat, pressed metal sphere? More than anything in the world Alex now longed to see the elongated faces of President Shinra and Heidegger when these two old fools realized that not one reactor had disappeared from the face of the earth, but a whole two. Bringing the thin cigar to his lips, Alex slightly narrowed his eyes. In his head clicked the inevitable thought: all his current actions in the end would still loop and lead to the tragic fall of the Plate in the Seventh Sector.
From this realization Alex heavily sighed — after all, a huge number of completely innocent people would be left without a roof over their heads, and not only in the poor Slums, but also in the prosperous Upper City. Exhaling an even smoke ring, Alex mentally promised himself that at the first face-to-face meeting he would definitely deliver a juicy kick in the balls to the entire top of Shinra's board of directors — with the sole exception in the person of Reeve.
"Come on, piece of iron, move already faster! I can hear right from here… The Mako reactor is literally calling us and shouting out loud: 'Destroy me, Avalanche!'" Barret's impatient bass rang out, who from an excess of energy was lightly drumming his massive hands on the railings.
"You know, if you're seriously hearing the voices of inanimate objects — you should urgently sign up for a doctor. I can even sign you up right now, I'll find the money for the appointment," Alex said with a sigh, looking at Barret as at a severely mentally ill person.
"Don't you dare look at me with that gaze, kid! That was a metaphor! And you'd better sign up for a doctor yourself — the problems with the head are clearly only with you here!" Barret spat in an irritated tone, unceremoniously pushing Alex aside with his shoulder.
"When I was last at an appointment with a psychologist, poor Miss Linda lost consciousness right in the middle of the session," Alex answered, slightly yawning, and again shook the ash through the railings.
"Are you joking now?" Tifa asked again with undisguised interest, clearly taking an interest in the story about Alex's visits to psychotherapists.
"Nope. When I went to the appointment for the very first time, I accidentally smashed Miss Kingbot's oak table to pieces. And Linda was already recommended to me later by my older brother… But there too, honestly speaking, everything went, to put it mildly, not quite smoothly," Alex answered with a slight laugh and again brought the thin cigar to his lips.
Looking at Alex, Tifa simply did not know what to say to her in such a situation. Well, how in general could one adequately comment on the fact that the guy first smashed an oak table in a psychologist's office, and drove the second specialist into a deep faint altogether? And at the same time she was insanely interested in learning what life Alex actually had and through what exactly he had had to go.
Barret cast an openly sarcastic smirk at Alex, with his entire appearance letting him know: now it was definitely extremely clear which of the two of them here required urgent psychiatric help. Claudia gave Alex an absolutely calm, penetrating gaze and quickly came to an internal conclusion that his real work was far dirtier and more dangerous than he presented. Even though she too was sincerely curious to learn more about the nature of his occupations, she did not intend to climb with interrogations, because she herself kept silence about her own past.
Seeing such a bright reaction to his words, Alex only thoughtfully scratched his cheek, perfectly understanding: the companions had already managed to fantasize a ton of gloomy reasons for his visits to doctors. In reality his first visit to Miss Kingbot had taken place from banal boredom, and to the second he had been forcibly dragged by Wednesday, who categorically did not wish to remain alone with her too passionate parents.
As for Linda, Lucifer had dragged him and Dean there simply to laugh from the heart. Deciding for now not to destroy the formed intrigue and to keep the truth to himself, Alex with a snap threw the extinguished cigar downward and stepped away from the railings a second before the cargo elevator with a screech butted into the target platform.
To be continued...
(So we're almost there, and I think the concert will still happen, but I'll make it pretty short so as not to waste any more time on it. As for the rest of the things, they'll happen later. And yes, I'm planning a trip around Gaia, and the rest of the gang will be joined by Sam, GIR, MIMI, and Stitch. Yep. The adventure should be fun, and plus Sam got a pretty nasty power-up. And now it's time to eat. Peace, love, and feed me.)
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