When the cargo elevator reached the opposite side of the technical section, Alex waited until the protective railings moved apart and was the first to step forward confidently. Finding himself on the platform, he tilted his head back and once again activated his magical vision in order to precisely determine their current location. With a glance he instantly confirmed that they were located literally right under the Shinra plant itself.
However, Alex was interested not in the complex itself at all, but in the presence of at least one Gray Whisper — after all, these Gray Fart-faces could take and spoil absolutely everything for them. Narrowing his eyes and discovering not a single hint of the ghosts, Alex suddenly felt a heavy palm on his shoulder, and right after that Barret's bass voice rang out. Shaking his head, Alex turned and briefly nodded, letting him know that he had simply been lost in thought for a second.
Smirking, Barret waved his hand and reported that they had practically reached the meeting point with Biggs. Following with his gaze the direction Barret was pointing, Alex saw a metal ladder leading to a high balcony with a ventilation shaft. Approaching closer, Alex with a light push pushed off from the metal floor and without problems simply jumped up onto the upper level, after which he began waiting for the rest of the group.
Wearily sighing at the sight of the ventilation pipe, Alex squatted down and with relief caught his breath, realizing that this crawlspace at least was not as long as it had seemed from below. With a smile turning to the ladder, he extended a hand to Tifa, helping her climb onto the platform.
"Doesn't it seem strange to you that after everything that happened they still haven't sent reinforcements after us?" Tifa inquired, standing next to Alex and extending a hand to Barret, who was climbing after her.
"They simply don't need it. This entire city belongs to Shinra. They have cameras stuck literally on every corner here," Claudia responded in an absolutely calm tone, deftly jumping onto the balcony right after Barret.
"And why didn't you say about this earlier?" Tifa asked with a sigh, wearily looking at her friend.
"And wasn't it obvious from the very beginning? Here's one camera, for example, there's a second one over there, and right above us — yet another one," Alex calmly intervened, beginning to point with a finger at the surveillance lenses located closest to their balcony.
"And why the hell have you been silent about all this the whole time?! We've literally been watched every second!" the irritated Barret flared up and, grabbing Alex by the shoulders, began furiously shaking him, trying to vent the rolling anger.
"Because I already took care of all this in advance… And stop shaking me, for the love of everything holy," Alex said in a tired tone, taking his smartphone from his pocket and turning the screen toward the enraged Barret.
Ceasing to shake Alex, Barret looked at the screen of his phone and saw a live broadcast from the surveillance camera on which instead of their clear figures only blurred, distorted silhouettes were displayed. Completely not understanding what exactly they were trying to show him, Barret again transferred his gaze to Alex in search of clear explanations.
Rolling his eyes at such impermeability, Alex with an expressive gesture pointed first at the camera itself above the balcony, and then again at the screen of his smartphone — so clearly that even a person not shining with particular cleverness would immediately understand everything. Turning his head toward the lens, Barret again compared the picture. Quickly figuring out that the distorted silhouettes on the screen were themselves, Barret cheerfully waved his hand toward the camera and immediately saw how the digital phantom on the smartphone exactly repeated his gesture.
Tifa approached a little closer and, instantly realizing what trick program Alex had activated, smiled slightly. Claudia approached the question from a purely practical side: she immediately considered that with such a setup Shinra simply would not be able to put them on the official wanted list by photo identikits, which would greatly ease their life in the future. In that same moment Barret loudly, with a rolling laugh, dissolved into laughter and began heartily clapping Alex on the shoulder.
"Damn it, SOLDIER kid! Why didn't you tell us earlier that now no one will find us through these fucking cameras — even if I decide to run around here in front of them completely naked?!" Barret shouted, laughing loudly, continuing to clap Alex hard on the shoulder.
"You should be ashamed, for the love of all that is holy! You have a daughter growing up! What filth… What a nightmare! Get away from me altogether. Fuck, goddamn it… Now this nightmare will haunt me for a very long time!" Alex spat with the deepest disgust and instantly darted into the ventilation shaft, rapidly crawling farther away from Barret.
Seeing how Alex fled into the ventilation crawlspace, continuously muttering in horror, Tifa covered her face with her palm, trying with all her might not to burst out laughing out loud. Claudia measured this entire performance with a completely empty gaze and simply closed her eyes, trying not even to think about what she had just heard.
But the most stunned of all turned out to be Barret himself, who had become an involuntary victim of Alex's sincere disgust. Slightly jerking his neck from the fact that after a harmless joke an entire bucket of undisguised contempt had been poured on him, Barret felt how something painfully clicked inside him.
Not knowing why himself, he suddenly clearly pictured before his eyes the sweet little face of his little Marlene, who was looking at him with undisguised disgust. From this thought alone Barret's heart was painfully poked by a stinging needle, and right after it anger flared up — after all, it was Alex who had stirred up this whole mess, and now he himself could not throw this terrible image out of his head.
"Hey! It was just a joke! I wasn't going to do it literally!" Barret shouted at the top of his lungs after him, gripping the metal edge of the ventilation shaft with his fingers and trying to make out the rapidly crawling Alex.
"Nightmare… A running pumped-up naked guy… With this you can torture people in interrogations…" only the quiet echo of Alex's muffled muttering carried from the depths of the ventilation pipe.
Flared up with anger from another portion of mad accusations, Barret immediately dissolved into loud swearing and with a crack climbed into the ventilation shaft. He instantly crawled after Alex, burning with the single desire — to catch up and firmly shut up this talkative guy. Watching how Barret with choice curses made his way through the narrow ventilation pipe, Tifa could no longer restrain herself and quietly laughed, covering her mouth with her palm.
She, of course, wanted to remind the team that they had actually come here for far more important and dangerous matters and they absolutely should not get distracted by silliness. But she understood perfectly well: whatever she said now, absolutely everything would pass by the ears of the enraged Barret. Shaking her head, Tifa turned to Claudia and patted her friend on the shoulder, proposing to quickly catch up with the guys before they staged a full-fledged brawl.
Opening her eyes after Tifa's words, Claudia slightly nodded and climbed into the shaft first. Finding themselves inside the technical crawlspace, Tifa and Claudia immediately heard Barret's choice swearing carrying ahead, into which Alex's voice filled with sincere disgust mixed with sarcastic laughter kept inserting itself from time to time. Finally climbing out into the service premises between the plates, Claudia and Tifa witnessed a rather strange and absurd picture.
Barret, not ceasing to desperately swear, had gripped Alex's legs in a death grip and with all his might was dragging him toward himself. At the same time Alex himself was holding on with both hands to the technical ladder with his last strength, not ceasing to insult Barret for all he was worth. Watching this ridiculous circus, Tifa sincerely tried to understand what in general had managed to happen in those couple of moments while she and Claudia were making their way through the ventilation.
"I told you, kid! It was just a damn joke! Why the hell do you keep yelling through the whole city as if I'm running naked in front of the cameras?!" Barret roared and, bracing his feet against the lower step of the ladder, pulled Alex by the legs even harder.
"What the hell joke?! If you said it — then you've already done it, you damn gorilla!" Alex shouted, continuing with all his might to hold onto the steel handrails of the ladder.
"I'll fucking strangle you right now, you damn kid!" Barret hissed through his teeth and began desperately shaking Alex, trying to yank him off the structure.
"Just try it! I'll twist you into a damn doughnut, you thug!" Alex snapped and with one deft, flexible motion slipped out of Barret's grip.
Twisting out of Barret's arms, Alex deftly pulled his legs to himself and with one powerful surge jumped onto the technical platform on the upper level. Barret from the unexpectedness immediately staggered back and with a crash collapsed onto his back the moment Alex's ankles slipped from his fingers. Painfully hitting the back of his head against the metal wall, Barret with open irritation on his face rubbed the bruised place and raised a heavy gaze upward.
Looking at Alex, who was standing at the very top, leaning on the steel railings with a satisfied and cheerful smile, Barret heavily sighed, already preparing to rise and properly talk with the guy heart to heart. But before he managed to stand up, Tifa's extended palm appeared before him, on whose face universal fatigue had frozen.
In such moments she felt like the only adult among her entire company, whom she had to look after time after time as if they were little children. Helping Barret rise to his feet, Tifa strictly reminded him exactly for what they had come here at all, and emphasized that it was long past time for them to focus on truly important things.
Barret tried to object and shift all the blame onto Alex, but Tifa with just one glance made it clear: this topic is closed and no longer discussed. With exactly the same strict, expressive glance Tifa measured Alex as well, who was at the very top of the structure. Meeting her eyes, Alex conciliatorily raised his hands upward with a smile, clearly demonstrating that further he would behave extremely seriously, since they had already practically reached their goal.
Briefly nodding, Tifa was the first to begin climbing the ladder. Climbing after Tifa, Claudia was sincerely glad that this ridiculous farce had finally come to an end and they could again focus on their main task. Continuing to scramble upward along the steel steps, Claudia suddenly heard Tifa's quiet, barely distinguishable sigh.
"What happened, Tifa?" Claudia inquired, immediately noticing the change in her friend's mood.
"I'm fine… Just thinking over our further steps," Tifa answered, shaking her head, and for a second looked down at Claudia.
"You'll manage," Claudia said in an absolutely calm tone, trying in her own way to support her friend.
"He-he, thanks. I just didn't even think that I would be so nervous," Tifa answered with a light chuckle and, shaking her head, climbed onto the upper platform, after which she grabbed Alex's extended hand in order to finally climb onto the platform.
"You get used to such shit really quickly. And then you'll yourself be running and yelling at the top of your lungs: 'Hey, guys, let's go blow up another Shinra object or simply beat someone's face in! It's so cool!'" Alex said with a chuckle and extended a hand to Claudia, helping her climb up as well.
"I'll never say anything like that. Jessie is more likely to say something like that than I am," Tifa answered with a slight laugh and without malice punched Alex on the shoulder with her little fist.
"And still some things are simply impossible to get used to. Therefore always think about what we came here for at all and what goal we're trying to achieve," Barret responded in his habitual stern tone, finally climbing to the very top to the others.
Tifa with a serious expression on her face nodded in response to Barret's words and took a deep breath, finally focusing on the main goal of their sortie. Nodding toward the service passage, Barret muttered that Biggs should be waiting for them somewhere in this technical zone. Unhurriedly walking along the narrow metal bridge hanging over the huge service premises, Alex kept at the very tail of the group.
He slightly swayed his head in time with a light melody he was humming to himself, perfectly remembering: Biggs was waiting for them in a room at the opposite end of the level and had already most likely managed to complete the greater part of the necessary preparations. Practically approaching the needed compartment, Alex slightly tilted his head to the side, with anticipation waiting for the development of events. Claudia, walking ahead of everyone, approached the doorway and instantly narrowed her eyes, sharply sensing someone's presence inside the premises.
Without long thought, she with a lightning motion drew the Buster Sword from behind her back and made a wide, slicing swing. Only at the very last moment did she manage to stop the massive blade literally one centimeter from the neck of Biggs, who from the unexpectedness instantly turned pale and broke out in a cold sweat.
Seeing that it was only Claudia in front of her, Biggs with relief caught his breath and carefully with the tips of his fingers moved the deadly steel away from his throat. Casting a short glance at him, Claudia put the Buster Sword back behind her back and was the first to step inside. Entering the premises last, Alex with an open smile nodded to Biggs, after which nonchalantly leaned against the wall and lit a thin cigar.
"Report, Biggs. What's the situation like there?" Barret asked in a frowning, demanding tone, sitting down on a massive metal container.
"I don't know exactly what happened with you up there, but in the city everyone has literally gone crazy. The news is only trumpeting about some train bombing," Biggs responded with a relieved smile, leaning his back against the wall.
"We were riding in that train. Garrett, from whom you bought the tunnel map, completely sold us out to Shinra," Tifa explained with a sigh, revealing the essence of what had happened.
"What a fucking bastard! I felt that I shouldn't have trusted this guy… Damn! Fortunately, you all at least stayed alive," Biggs responded with anger and from annoyance forcefully punched the wall with his fist.
"We'll deal with Garrett a little later. What situation is shaping up right here?" Alex asked with a light smile, not giving Biggs extra time for emotions and distracting topics.
"And here it's quiet as in a morgue at night. Not a single living soul around. I even managed to lay a straight path for you right to the reactor, and for myself prepared a crawlspace to the valve," Biggs reported with a satisfied smirk, pointing with his hand at the carefully unscrewed ventilation grate.
"You son of a bitch! You're simply a damn wizard! Come here, I'll hug you tightly!" Barret laughed loudly, seeing that their further path promised to be just as simple as the beginning of the operation.
Seeing Barret's widely spread arms, Biggs instantly stepped back a couple of steps, categorically not wishing to become a victim of these bear hugs. He remembered too well that Barret's grip resembled steel vises clamping dead — and that was still in those times when instead of a right arm a heavy machine gun was displayed on him. And Biggs certainly did not burn with the desire to test on his own skin the new "hugs" after Barret had acquired a modern cyber-arm.
Successfully avoiding the deadly manifestations of friendship, Biggs switched to business and began a detailed account of what he had managed to find out and make out during the route reconnaissance. The moment he spoke about the strangenesses at the plant, absolutely all members of the group immediately turned the most intent attention to him, preparing to absorb every detail.
Continuing to unhurriedly smoke a thin cigar, Alex thought to himself whether he should right now voice the obvious: Shinra had prepared such a clumsy and wretched trap that only a blind person would not notice it. The moment Biggs mentioned that the plant stood practically empty, the puzzle in Alex's head finally came together. After all, even passing through the service sector right under the Plate, they had not met a single worker at all — although in such places the service personnel and technicians should be continuously circulating, monitoring the state of the equipment.
Shaking his head, Alex decided to save this conclusion for later and voice everything when they found themselves directly on the territory of the Shinra complex. Finishing the explanations, Biggs took from behind a massive container a bag with gear hidden for an emergency case and handed it to Tifa. Tifa immediately untied the bag and extracted compact grappling guns from there, after which she extended one toward Alex.
Alex himself only negatively shook his head, with his entire appearance showing that he personally did not require any grappling guns for overcoming high obstacles. However, Tifa still insistently placed the device right into his palm, letting him know: in unforeseen situations absolutely everything can come in handy. Wearily sighing, Alex secured the grappling gun behind his back and briefly nodded.
"Okay. Since we've sorted everything out — through this shaft you'll slip right to where you need to. It's rather cramped there, of course, but you don't particularly have a choice," Biggs said with a light smirk, squatting down and shining a bright beam of a flashlight into the dark ventilation pipe.
"As for me, it's too dark there…" Barret responded in a frowning tone, slightly pursing his lips at the sight of the pitch darkness in the crawlspace.
"Don't worry so much, the monster from the darkness won't grab you by the leg," Alex said with a sarcastic smirk, extinguishing the spent thin cigar against the concrete wall.
"If some creature tries to grab me by the leg, I'll instantly mince it into mincemeat with my baby!" Barret snapped with a chuckle and proudly patted his steel cyber-arm with his palm.
"Since you have such a combat mood — then everything will definitely go excellently," Biggs summed up with a laugh, slightly nodding his head.
"You bet! We're already fully ready to conquer this world — and another couple as a pleasant bonus," Barret declared with a chuckle and with a wide swing of his fist nearly brushed the standing nearby Biggs.
"Choom, as soon as you switch the valve — immediately get the hell out of there. Who knows what can happen," Alex said, looking at Biggs with an extremely serious and collected gaze.
Looking at Alex, Biggs understandingly nodded his head, letting him know that even without extra reminders he perfectly realized: he would have to instantly get out of here right after he redirected the main Mako flow. Once again making sure that all the gear was in order, Biggs approached the metal hatch and with a quick motion flipped open the heavy lid.
Taking the grappling gun from behind his back, he briefly nodded to the group in farewell, fired a gripping hook into the ceiling and immediately began a rapid descent downward. As soon as Biggs disappeared from view, Alex transferred his gaze to Claudia — on her face a deep, thoughtful expression had frozen. Meeting Alex's eyes, Claudia in a quiet voice said that this entire formed situation seemed incredibly suspicious to her.
Not at all surprised that Claudia had also managed to recognize the falseness and notice how unclean everything was shaping up around, Alex only agreed with a nod. Receiving silent confirmation from him, Claudia frowned even more strongly, finally becoming convinced that the alarming premonition had not arisen out of nowhere.
While she was thinking over what she had heard, Alex quietly added: they would still have to look with their own eyes at what was happening inside, after all it remained unclear what Shinra was actually aiming for by pulling such a scenario. Nodding in response, Claudia turned to Tifa, who at that moment was thoroughly discussing the details of further advancement together with Barret.
"Everyone ready for the final push? We're already practically right at the goal. As they say — all or nothing," Barret said in an absolutely calm, collected tone, approaching closer to the ventilation shaft.
"You only forgot to add that we should be ready for absolutely any shit that will meet us further," Alex said, noticing the movement, and squatted down next to the dark crawlspace.
"That's extremely clear even without extra words. So go ahead, kid. You're going first, and we're right after you," Barret responded and patted Alex on the shoulder.
"Yeah, just don't lag behind there… Damn it, how I hate these ventilations," Alex spat with a sigh and was the first to deftly crawl along the narrow ventilation shaft.
Crawling along the narrow ventilation shaft, Alex experienced only dull irritation from the fact that he again had to engage in such nonsense. In these minutes he sincerely thought that they should have simply entered through the main entrance of the Shinra plant — since these idiots had decided anyway to pull the trick of hanging the terrorist label on them.
And the situation for Alex was not becoming better when right behind his back Barret's heavy grunting rang out, which with a hollow echo carried through the entire metal pipe while he with all his might tried to squeeze into the next narrow opening. Feeling how from this continuous noise his head was beginning to split, Alex even seriously thought about temporarily restoring the mental connection with the Lifestream — he sincerely preferred to listen to the multi-voiced hum of an entire planet rather than Barret's curses that rang out literally every couple of meters.
In order to somehow drown out the continuous muttering behind his back, Alex tuned his perception to the echoes of Gaia. And the moment he did this, among the endless energy flow he caught something truly interesting. From the depths of the Lifestream something was carrying that very much resembled the prolonged, vibrating singing of whales. Listening to this mysterious echo, Alex frantically tried to recall exactly which ancient being could produce such a melody-call.
"Hey! Why did you freeze?! Keep moving forward! It's already unbearably cramped here as it is!" Barret's irritated voice rang out when he nearly poked his nose into the unexpectedly frozen Alex.
"Hmm… Sorry. I just got lost in thought," Alex responded in an extremely thoughtful tone, still continuing to listen to the strange sounds of the spiritual entities that inhabit the Lifestream.
"You'll think later! And now move your hands and feet faster, or it seems to me that a little more — and real claustrophobia will start for me here!" Barret growled and for persuasion noticeably pushed Alex with his palm right in the backside.
Feeling the noticeable pushes in the backside, Alex on complete seriousness thought about kicking Barret with his heel right in the eye with all his might for such insolence. However, quickly suppressing the attack of irritation, Alex still crawled forward, continuing to keenly listen to the mysterious sounds carrying from the deepest depths of the Lifestream. He still could not recall what these beings were.
Personally embarking on a mental immersion and examining them Alex categorically did not want — he knew too well that if he decided on this, he would spend a ton of time on simple contemplation. The only correct decision to which he ultimately came was to ask Aerith about everything, who would most likely help him recall the nature of these creations.
After all, from what he had heard he had been able to clearly understand one thing: these ancient entities were still in a deep slumber and stubbornly waiting for something. Deciding for now not to clutter his head with complex reflections, Alex preferred simply to enjoy this calming singing of the spiritual whales.
Finally reaching the very end of the ventilation shaft, Alex with sincere relief sighed and finally stopped listening to the echo of the Lifestream. Climbing out of the narrow crawlspace, Alex slightly stretched, working the stiff body, and extended a hand to Barret, helping the big guy climb out. In turn helping Tifa and Claudia climb out after the giant, Alex first of all fleetingly looked toward the lens of the nearest surveillance camera, perfectly understanding: right now every step of theirs was being carefully watched.
"That very smell… Absolutely everything here is reeking of acrid Mako," Barret said in a dry, gloomy tone, looking around and approaching the metal fence.
"That means we've found ourselves exactly in the needed place," Tifa answered with an affirmative nod, helping Claudia carefully close the grate of the ventilation shaft behind herself.
Approaching the railings, Alex looked down and briefly nodded his head, noting only small discrepancies with the structure of the Mako reactor in the First Sector. But all this architecture now interested Alex little — his intent gaze was fixed on the single huge combat robot standing on a special platform for recharging.
And the sight of this lone steel giant among a dozen completely empty charging stations looked even more suspicious than the fact that not a single soul was observed on the lower levels. Taking elegant pocket watches from his pocket, Alex fleetingly noted that the time was already inexorably approaching three in the afternoon. Tifa and Claudia also approached the metal fence and looked down, carefully examining the surroundings.
Tifa was showing sincere interest — she was for the first time finding herself in such a place and was trying on the fly to understand how everything was arranged here. Claudia, on the contrary, only finally became convinced of the preparing ambush when she saw with her own eyes the completely deserted flights. Turning to Alex, she with a light touch brushed his arm, forcing him to pay attention to her. Turning his head, Alex understandingly nodded.
He had already finally ascertained that throughout the entire plant there was not a single living worker, and all the remaining personnel completely consisted of grunts responsible for the security of the object. Stroking his chin, Alex looked straight into the lens of the nearest surveillance camera and slightly smirked, lighting a new thin cigar.
He was insanely curious to look at the expression on the face of President Shinra when he, sitting in his luxurious office, would be staring at the broadcast from the cameras and seeing only foggy silhouettes covered with continuous distortions.
After all, no matter how much the technical department of Shinra worked on deciphering the picture, the maximum they would be able to achieve was to earn chronic insomnia and a nervous tic from liters of drunk coffee. Barely audibly laughing, Alex exhaled a thick cloud of smoke right toward the camera and lowered his gaze downward, propping his cheek with his fist.
"The layout is the same as in Reactor 1?" Barret inquired, slightly narrowing his eyes and peering into the depths of the complex.
"Almost. This place, true, more resembles a full-fledged weapons plant," Alex answered, nonchalantly leaning on the railings and slightly waving the thin cigar clenched in his fingers.
"Nevertheless the essence remains the same. We're right next to the Mako storage. We just need to go down to the very bottom," Claudia said, with a clear gesture indicating the direction where they still had to move further.
Nodding his head, Barret and Tifa began carefully looking around in order to understand how they could more quickly descend to the lower level. Beginning to examine the platform, they quickly realized: descending in the ordinary way here would definitely not work. Understanding that there was no safe descent nearby, Tifa approached the railings and slightly leaned over them, trying to spot at least a fire escape that could be lowered.
But after a quick inspection she saw nothing of the kind, and her gaze immediately fell on the thick metal pipes going down at a steep angle. Pointing at them with her hand, Tifa proposed simply sliding down them — after all, they had no other path down anyway. Looking at the descent proposed by Tifa, Barret could only frown and nod his head.
Tifa decided to descend first, since she was absolutely confident in her own agility and coordination. Jumping onto the smooth metal, she began rapidly sliding down the pipe. And right before the constructive flight went into a sharp drop into emptiness, Tifa deftly jumped onto the neighboring pipe, safely reaching the very bottom. Seeing this acrobatic trick, Barret heavily sighed and reluctantly jumped after her.
Already preparing to jump onto the pipe after Barret, Claudia suddenly felt Alex's palm on her shoulder. The moment she turned, Alex unhurriedly took the grappling gun from behind his back, silently hinting: descending in such an extreme way was absolutely not necessary, after all everything could be done far simpler and more comfortably. Looking at the device, Claudia understandingly nodded and climbed back over the railings.
Walking a little further along the balcony, Alex and Claudia simultaneously climbed onto the fencing and synchronously jumped downward. Right at the moment of the fall they hooked with strong cables onto the metal railings of the upper level and absolutely calmly, smoothly landed on the lower platform. Tifa and Barret, standing below, with silent amazement observed how Alex and Claudia calmly descended on the cables instead of sliding down the pipes as they themselves had.
"Couldn't you have proposed this earlier?! Did you necessarily have to wait until I slid down?!" Barret barked in an irritated voice, staring at Alex from below upward.
"I simply thought that you liked such a method of descent much more," Alex answered in an absolutely carefree tone, calmly putting the grappling gun back behind his belt.
Irritably snorting, Barret turned away and stepped forward, not intending to continue this senseless conversation. Alex only quietly laughed and shook his head — after all, he was completely not to blame for the fact that someone simply had not figured out to use the grappling gun that hung on everyone's belt. Tifa only understandingly smiled and followed Barret, who had not managed to go far and had frozen dead, staring at the huge robot standing on a special platform for recharging. Raising her gaze to the gigantic steel machine, Tifa could not help thinking that this bulk looked far more dangerous and deadly than that Crab robot with which they had had to deal in the technical depot.
Approaching together with Claudia to the others, Alex slightly stroked his chin, once again becoming convinced that Shinra did not know how to design normal technology at all and continued releasing robots that even looked wretched. He even became truly interested in why Heidegger and President Shinra had placed their main bet precisely on this mechanical idol, sincerely calculating that it would be able to deal with all their problems.
"Damn, if they release this big guy on us, he'll tear us to pieces in the blink of an eye," Barret said with a smirk, slightly raising his sunglasses in order to better examine the details of the robot.
"Such mechanized units are developed specially for fighting especially large monsters. Possibly this is a new experimental prototype, since it's standing here alone. If they start it — we'll have a hard time. And the most reasonable decision will be simply to run," Claudia said, folding her arms across her chest and cold-bloodedly examining the robot's body.
"Ugh, I hope this big guy doesn't wake up until the moment when this whole damn plant turns into one big metal sphere," Barret responded with a smirk, finally averting his gaze from the machine.
"Even if it does wake up — we'll simply need to leave the limits of the plant," Alex said calmly and with an accurate snap threw the extinguished thin cigar exactly into the armored side of the robot.
Smirking, Barret was the first to turn around and with a sweeping step moved forward, not waiting for the others. Tifa and Claudia immediately followed him, intending to finish this operation as quickly as possible. Casting a last short glance at the frozen robot, Alex shook his head and unhurriedly walked after the group.
After all, they only had to pass this last sector with the charging stations — and they would find themselves right in the premises with the Mako reactor. And further it would be absolutely unimportant what other tricks and ambushes Heidegger and President Shinra planned to pull. Even if in the end Alex was declared a dangerous terrorist to the whole world, he did not worry much — in any case his own plans would not change from this in the least.
To be continued...
(My God, what a fun day today, of course. No. It's just terrible, and it's literally drained me of all my energy. Anyway, back to the story, there's only a little bit left. As I said, luckily I skipped that boring nonsense with Coreno right at the start, so the moment with the Plate falling will happen very soon. And once the Plate falls, it will mean it's only a matter of time before I leave Midgar. I won't say anything about my plans for that. And now it's time to eat. Peace, love, and the robot goes beep-boop.)
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