Returning to the living room to the others in order to discuss the plan for penetrating the Shinra headquarters, Alex was just finishing thinking through its details on the go. In his head bright fragments flashed of the events that were still only about to unfold within the walls of the corporation's citadel—from endless wandering through the floors in search of the needed key cards to the meeting with rather specific people.
And, as he clearly remembered, one of such people was the puppet mayor of Midgar named Domino. Setting the hot mug on the table right in front of Dean, Alex sat down on a chair next to Aerith and thoughtfully raised his gaze to the ceiling. Mayor Domino secretly helped the main AVALANCHE cell: he not only supplied them with the most valuable internal information from the headquarters but also covertly financed their operations.
However, Alex perfectly realized that Domino was a purely pragmatic politician who dreamed of returning real power to himself after the inevitable overthrow of Shinra's top brass.
Rhythmically tapping a finger on the tabletop, Alex understood: believing Domino one hundred percent was categorically impossible, but squeezing the maximum help out of him was quite realistic. The second person Alex thought about at that moment was Reeve Tuesti. Now from him one could truly expect tangible assistance, even if he had no private army of his own or personal bodyguards.
And all because Reeve too openly and sincerely spoke out in defense of the Slums during the board of directors' meetings, for which he constantly earned only venomous mockery from Scarlet, Heidegger, and President Shinra himself.
But the main and absolute goal of this entire operation remained penetration to the 65th floor—straight into Hojo's laboratory where the kidnapped children were being held. And, perfectly understanding how the convolutions of this madman's mind were arranged, Alex was sacredly certain: the idiot Hojo was capable of pulling absolutely any filthy trick if only to force Aerith to agree to his conditions.
Taking a small sip of coffee, Alex decided first of all to share the information he had managed to extract from the Deepground member during their "nice conversation" right before the latter had set off for eternal rest underground. As soon as Alex laid out all the information about the exact coordinates of the children's containment, the others immediately with heat joined in the discussion of the plan.
Aerith noticeably helped them in this: in early childhood she had lived in the Shinra building before she managed to escape together with her mother Ifalna, and therefore roughly remembered the location of the key sections. Besides, thanks to Tseng's special pass that Reno and Rude had brought several hours ago, they now had one enormous problem less. All that remained now was to think through the ideal route of penetration.
"Okay, that's enough of the bazaar! I already have a ready idea for how we'll burst right into the very heart of these bastards!" Barret announced with a predatory smirk and with all his might slammed his palm on the table, calling everyone to order.
"And what genius plan do you have? Don't you want to share with the whole class?" Dean asked, loungingly leaning back against the back of the chair with a mug of coffee in his hands.
"We'll attack head-on, with guns at the ready! We'll go down in history and forever become legends!" Barret cried out with excitement and demonstratively transformed his cyber-arm into a multi-barrel machine gun.
"Can you remind me why we're even taking you with us?" Claudia asked in an absolutely calm tone, folding her arms on her chest and casting an empty, expressive gaze over Barret.
"And what's wrong with that?! An excellent, working plan! Step one: we fight our way into the Shinra building, along the way beating the shit out of everyone who gets in our path. Step two: we penetrate inside and repeat the process of beating the shit out of the Shinra bastards until we find ourselves at the very top. Step three: we save the poor little orphans. Step four: we break the legs of the main bastard and shove his own head right up his ass for the fact that he gave the order to kidnap the children and his filthy hands reached for my little angel! And step five: with noise and crash we leave Shinra and become absolute legends of Midgar! That's the whole plan!" Barret began speaking with an inspired smirk, beginning to bend his enormous fingers and laying out his strategy on the shelves.
Having listened from beginning to end to Barret's "genius" plan, all those present for a moment simply lost the gift of speech. However, no one was absolutely surprised that precisely this big guy had put forward such a suicidal idea—to fight their way through the main entrance of the Shinra headquarters and gain renown as legends throughout all of Midgar.
Looking at Barret's radiant, satisfied face as if he had just made the greatest discovery, Alex for some reason thought that this big guy would ideally work together with Johnny Silverhand with his exactly the same irresistible urge to solve absolutely any problems in the most radical way. To his enormous fortune, Alex in his life had not crossed paths with Johnny and had not even met a hint of his Engram in anyone's head.
Slightly sighing, Alex cast a gaze over everyone sitting at the table, wishing to see who at all was ready to sign up under Barret's mad adventure. Shifting his gaze to the sorry duo in the persons of Biggs and Wedge, he noticed that these two were nodding their heads with delight, sincerely considering their leader's idea excellent.
Alex's gaze slid further—to Dean, who merely indifferently shrugged his shoulders, with his entire appearance showing that he absolutely did not give a damn how exactly to penetrate Shinra: through the front facade or through the back alley. Even Yuffie nodded excitedly, sacredly believing that bursting into the headquarters with wild cries and weapons at the ready was incredibly cool.
But before the majority managed to become inspired by this stupidity, Jessie intervened: she instantly delivered juicy slaps on the back of the head to Biggs and Wedge so that they would not even dare think of such a suicide. Aerith with a soft but insistent smile carefully covered Yuffie's mouth with her palm, not letting her finish the proposal to stuff some truck with explosives and at full speed drive right into the central doors.
Tifa and Claudia, for their part, quickly and calmly reined in Barret himself, rigidly reminding him that they were setting out to save innocent children and not to arrange a full-scale war with Shinra. Observing this bustle, Alex quietly laughed—he himself would have been not at all against such a noisy stunt if it had not been a delicate rescue mission.
"Fine, to hell with it! And what do you then propose?! Yes, we now have the key card, but how the hell are we going to penetrate this damned Shinra? I don't think they'll open the doors before us with joyful smiles the moment we just show up on the threshold!" Barret grumbled with unconcealed irritation, leaning back against the back of the chair and discontentedly crossing his arms on his chest.
"We must do everything extremely quietly, attracting absolutely no attention. We still don't know how much security is there and whether there will be these unknown officers in Black inside…" Claudia began speaking, slightly leaning forward and resting her elbows on the tabletop.
"And how exactly are we supposed to do that?.. Penetrating the Shinra citadel unnoticed is not an easy task," Tifa said with a sigh, slightly rubbing her forehead in attempts to produce at least some working variant.
"That's simpler than simple. There's not even any need to think long. We'll literally without a single problem find ourselves inside," Alex began speaking with a confident smile, clamping a thin cigar between his teeth but not yet lighting it.
"And what have you already managed to come up with there, boy who lived?" Dean asked with ironic interest, resting his elbow on the table, propping his cheek with his fist and shifting his gaze to Alex.
"We'll simply steal one of Shinra's trucks. And without extra noise calmly close ourselves into their underground parking…" Alex explained, rhythmically tapping a finger on the table.
"What kind of stupid plan is that?! How can this nonsense even work?! So according to you, we'll just drive up, wave a hand and say: 'Hey, we brought you cargo here, let us in'? Is that how you imagine it?!" Barret grumbled, not even letting Alex properly finish the thought.
"No, this can really work. Right now Shinra is waiting for Aerith and Alex to voluntarily come to them to surrender themselves. And that means they will absolutely not be ready for the fact that we decide to penetrate them by such a path," Claudia began speaking, instantly figuring out exactly what Alex was driving at.
Turning his head to Claudia, Alex briefly nodded, confirming her exact guess. When the others at the table understood that his plan really consisted of stealing several trucks and then silently penetrating the Shinra headquarters through the underground parking, the group instantly fell silent, burning with the desire to learn the details.
Seeing the general readiness to listen, Alex began calmly laying out the route on the shelves, immediately taking into account that both outside and inside the citadel maximally reinforced security awaited them. Detailedly explaining each stage of penetration, Alex separately stopped on who the Deepground operatives really were, and rigidly emphasized: with this scum one should not stand on ceremony or enter into conversations.
From Alex's direct words that this time the Shinra bastards could and should be destroyed without a twinge of conscience, Barret spread into a satisfied, wide smirk. After all, up to this moment they had tried to manage without extra victims and had not killed rank-and-file Shinra grunts—even during the bombings of the Mako reactors and the tragedy with the fall of the Plate.
Claudia also confidently nodded, expressing full agreement with such a setup. She properly knew nothing about Deepground, but from what she had managed to see and hear she perfectly understood: with such monsters any pity was mortally dangerous. Having finished with the first part of the plan, Alex felt how Aerith quietly tugged him by the sleeve, asking him to lean closer. Noticing her sign, Alex took the thin cigar out of his mouth, carefully placed it on the table, and leaned as close as possible to Aerith.
"You must talk Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge out of going with us," Aerith began speaking in a barely audible whisper so that her words were intended only for Alex's ears.
"Did I miss something?" Alex said thoughtfully, looking straight into Aerith's bottomless green eyes that had found themselves literally a centimeter from his face.
"Yes, you dummy. If you had listened more carefully to the Lifestream, you wouldn't have forgotten that the Planet is still calling them to itself. Until we reach the main crossroads, nothing has changed. The Thread of Fate is still tautened to the limit, and a new road has still not appeared," Aerith continued just as quietly and playfully touched her nose to Alex's nose, with a reminder gesture returning him to reality.
"You're right… Sorry. I already relaxed and decided that everything had fixed itself. But we really haven't reached the crossroads yet," Alex said with a sigh, with annoyance realizing that he had overlooked such an obvious thing.
"Everything's fine. You've already done an incredible amount. And we've already gotten quite close. Only the very last steps remain," Aerith said in a soft, infinitely warm tone, slightly wrinkling her little nose with a cheerful, sly sparkle in her eyes.
Looking into Aerith's radiant green eyes, Alex could not help admitting the obvious: he had indeed relaxed too early and completely forgotten that in fact nothing had changed yet. After all, his gaze was directed at the tautened bowstring that was supposed to snap with a crack only at a strictly determined moment. And this moment would come only after their escape from Midgar, when they all would finally find themselves at the main crossroads.
Until that second Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge were still under the dull pressure of the former fate of this world, and that meant the Black Whisperers at any moment would try to eliminate them. Fortunately, the protective spell he had placed was still acting on this trio, tightly closing them off from any lethal threat. Even if Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge foolishly fell from the very roof of the Shinra headquarters, they would get off with only a deep fright but would not receive absolutely any physical damage.
Slightly moving away from Aerith, Alex turned his head to Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge, with warmth thinking that the nightmare for them would soon finally end and a completely new, clean life would begin for them. Feeling his long gaze upon herself, Jessie turned to Alex and coquettishly winked at him with a sly smile. Alex answered her with a soft smile, but at the same moment felt how Dean tangibly pushed him with an elbow in the side.
Turning, Alex questioningly raised an eyebrow, without words asking what had happened. But instead of explanations Dean merely demonstratively twisted his physiognomy, with his entire appearance showing that he had heard their entire quiet conversation and that all this shit with the mythical Fate still sincerely did not please him.
Alex slightly smiled, intending to explain that very soon this fucking matrix would glitch, but Dean's facial expression literally screamed that he was already right now ready to beat these bastard Whisperers half to death who somehow did not want to get off them.
Alex understandingly patted Dean on the shoulder and nodded—he himself with all his soul longed for these ghostly creatures to forever disappear from their lives and stop interfering. By this moment all the main discussions at the table had come to an end.
And even without Alex's direct participation, who had laid out only the first part with the hijacking, thanks to Claudia and Biggs the group had ideally worked out the final stage—penetration into Hojo's laboratory, the rescue of the kidnapped orphan children, and their subsequent evacuation.
"Excellent, we've fully discussed the plan. Everyone knows perfectly well what and when needs to be done. It's already six in the evening on the clock. So grab fresh underpants, we're setting out very soon!" Alex began speaking with a smirk, taking elegant pocket watches out of the inner pocket of his coat and briefly glancing at the dial.
"Well finally!.. And only fresh underpants will be needed not by us at all, but by these Shinra bastards! I'll beat the crap out of them until they completely shit themselves!" Barret barked with a predatory smirk, with all his might slamming the table and rising to his full enormous height.
"And mine, by the way, can still calmly be worn for a couple more days! You just need to turn them inside out," Wedge announced with a proud, carefree smile, rising from the chair and importantishly sticking out his chest like a wheel.
"Pfff… Ha-ha-ha! Now that's what I understand, a real man! That's what I understand—a proper, stern approach to wearing underpants!" Dean laughed at the top of his voice, staring at Wedge with sincere respect.
"Wedge, ewwww! You're simply… ugh! Come on, get away from me right now! How can one even voice such filth aloud at the table?! Eww!" Jessie squealed with the deepest disgust, beginning to push Wedge away from herself with all her might and with her entire appearance demonstrating how disgusting it was for her to be next to him.
"What disgusting nastiness…" Yuffie whispered with a twisted little face and quickly hid behind Alex's broad back.
Listening to all these caustic insults, Wedge with annoyance felt how all his former pride for the allegedly genius and thought-out way of wearing underwear instantly evaporated. Seeing with what squeamish gazes the girls measured him, Wedge in search of support turned his head to Biggs, hoping to see in his friend's eyes at least a drop of sympathy.
However, Biggs, meeting this almost pleading gaze, merely slyly smirked and demonstratively raised the edge of his T-shirt, showing everyone around that he was wearing impeccably clean underwear. Wedge did not even manage to properly get upset because of such open betrayal on the part of his best friend: Jessie immediately delivered Biggs a ringing slap on the back of the head for the fact that he was exposing his underpants for general viewing. And right then with the next motion she delivered Wedge a tangible kick under the rear, making both clearly understand that right now the talk was not about underwear at all, but about the fact that everyone needed to get ready.
Observing how Jessie once again masterfully reined in Biggs and Wedge, Alex quietly laughed and headed toward the exit onto the street in order to calmly smoke. He perfectly understood that the others would still need a little more time for packing and adjusting equipment.
But before stepping over the threshold, Alex approached the heavy bag with Materia and with a crash threw it right into the center of the table, reminding the group that they needed to prepare thoroughly for the sortie. Alex himself had never used even one of these spheres since the time he had completely cleaned out Don Corneo's personal safe—he simply did not need it. He had from the very beginning taken this Materia with the sole pragmatic goal: later to profitably sell it if they suddenly began running out of cash.
While the others actively distributed the contents of the bag and with all their might held Yuffie, trying not to let this thieving kunoichi scoop up all the Materia exclusively under herself, Alex scooped up one of the bags with gil where roughly five million still remained.
He was sacredly certain that this money would more than suffice them for a long journey and payment of all necessary resources. Looking at the second bag with the remaining gil, Alex took out his notebook and quickly scribbled a short note. He decided to leave the remaining ten million gil to Elmyra so that she could carefreely take care of Marlene.
Besides, this money would guaranteed come in handy for Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge for the full restoration of their destroyed houses and the purchase of all needed things. Leaving the note in the most visible place, Alex went out into the fresh air and immediately lit a thin cigar.
"Playing the mysterious benefactor again?" Dean asked with a smirk, going out of the house after him with his hands in his pockets and habitually standing next to him.
"We don't need that much… We spent practically nothing anyway. I even thought in my spare time: why the hell did we even drag so much with us?" Alex answered with a smirk, with a light motion patting the bag with gil hanging over his shoulder.
"Hell if I know… And what's next in our plan?" Dean asked, shrugging his shoulders and turning his head to Alex.
"A journey to the Temple. We'll change only one of the tragedies. But we're still at the beginning of the path… the main tragedy is still ahead," Alex cut off, turning his head back and through the window looking at Aerith who with a thoughtful air was sorting the bright Materia spheres on the table.
"As for the journey—I tell you right away yes. This damned city is already completely driving me crazy. It's only a pity that my baby isn't nearby… I miss her so much… How I want to find myself on a real road again: cool music, an endless highway, and a good hunt for the bastards who spoil people's lives," Dean began speaking with a nostalgic smirk, raising his gaze upward and slightly grimacing from the oppressive view of the metal Plate covering the entire sky.
"Don't you whimper! We'll buy you the boldest Black Chocobo here, you'll stick a branded Impala sticker on its side and hang a powerful boombox right on its neck. You'll have an excellent replacement for your baby!" Alex answered, laughing, and made a wide gesture with his hand, making it clear that money for them was no longer a problem.
"I catch you on your word, dude! Just try not to buy me this Chocobo afterward! I'll force Steve to personally steal all your food and snacks! And you yourself perfectly know how this chubby loves to eat tasty!" Dean answered with a smirk, with pride pointing a finger at Tonberry Steve loungingly perched on his shoulder.
Looking at Dean, Alex did not even think of taking such a threat seriously: he himself had a holy trinity in the persons of GIR, MIMI, and Stitch. And this mad trinity forever stole something not only from him himself but also from everyone around, regularly arranging raids on grocery stalls and shops under the invariable slogan: stolen snacks are exactly a hundred times tastier than honestly bought ones.
Despite all this chaos, Alex still sincerely missed his restless little ones who could first sit for hours doing nothing and get stuck in video games, and the next second sharply tear from their place in order to cruelly joke over someone or rob someone.
Continuing to quietly chuckle, Alex once more glanced through the window into the living room in order to check how the final packing before the exit was going. Seeing that the group was practically ready, Alex took a pack of snacks out of his pocket and extended it to Steve, who continued to maintain a maximally imperturbable appearance—the little Tonberry absolutely did not care what was happening around as long as he was regularly and tastily fed.
Half an hour later everyone one by one began going out of the house, gathering on the spacious porch. Despite their habitual carelessness, Biggs and Wedge at that moment looked unusually serious—they perfectly realized that the current venture represented one continuous suicide. But even understanding all the risks, they were not going to retreat when all their friends were ready without hesitation to burst into the Shinra headquarters.
Jessie, even though she was noticeably nervous, still quietly whispered to herself the details of the plan so as not to miss anything, and frantically double-checked the contents of the bag with explosives, making sure that she had not forgotten a single detonator. Claudia stood not far away, habitually leaning against a wooden beam with her arms folded on her chest—with such an appearance as if the most ordinary, routine rescue mission awaited her.
Tifa, for her part, with all her heart worried about the kidnapped children, hoping only that everything was in complete order with them and that they would manage to pull them out in time. Yuffie looked almost the most carefree among all, sacredly believing in her ninja skills and combat equipment.
A few minutes later Aerith came out of the doors of the house with slightly reddened eyes. Taking a couple of steps along the porch, she immediately buried her face in Alex's shoulder, affectionately rubbing her nose against the dense fabric of his coat. Tenderly stroking Aerith on the back, Alex cast a glance through the window into the living room and saw Elmyra—she also had eyes reddened from tears while she vainly tried to wipe their remnants with a lace handkerchief.
Distinctly feeling Aerith's emotions, Alex continued carefully stroking her on the back, perfectly understanding exactly what she was experiencing at that second. The girl realized that she would see the woman who had become a second mother for her and the most important part of life still very, very not soon.
"Everything will be in complete order. Don't be sad. We're simply setting out on yet another adventure in order to pull some villain's underpants right over his head," Alex said in a quiet, calming whisper, burying his nose in Aerith's soft crown.
"Heh-heh-heh… Well why does everything with you always come down to underpants? Are there really no other words in your head?" Aerith quietly laughed, burying her nose right into Alex's chest.
"Then how about rolling this bastard into one big, juicy chimichanga?" Alex asked with a soft smile, not ceasing to stroke her on the back.
"That's better… But keep in mind: if this adventure turns out to be bad, I'll personally roll you yourself into a chimichanga," Aerith answered with a light laugh and raised her gaze to Alex, slightly narrowing her eyes with a feigned but insanely cute threat in her eyes.
Alex quietly laughed from such a joking threat and understandingly nodded. After all, he had already given Aerith a firm promise that he would save her from the gloomy fate, and intended to keep it at any cost. If he wished, he could without difficulty simply lead Aerith out of this universe, and then the tragedy could have been avoided completely.
But Aerith was a key pillar holding the entire temporal tree of this world: if she were gone, the entire reality would simply crumble and go to ruin. The same concerned all the remaining members of the group—each of them remained incredibly important for the timeline until the history approached its logical end and the Planet finally acquired a new life.
Deciding no longer to clutter his head with all these complex reflections about Fate, Alex shifted his gaze to the living room. There Barret was just saying goodbye to Marlene and quietly talking about something with Elmyra, who warmly promised to take care of the little one to the fullest during their absence.
Lowering his gaze to his daughter, Barret managed only to gratefully nod, with all his soul not wishing to part with her even for a second. Not knowing how this mad sortie would end in the end, he sank onto one knee before Marlene and sacredly promised that he would definitely return. Looking at her father, Marlene with tears in her eyes nodded and impulsively, with all her strength embraced him around the neck.
From these sincere childish embraces tears welled up in the eyes of the stern Barret, which he frantically tried to hide behind the impenetrable sunglasses. Not understanding why, but, squeezing his daughter in his arms, Barret distinctly felt: they would see each other not soon at all.
But together with this aching anxiety inside him a bright flame of unshakable confidence flared up that this entire lethal risk was for the sake of protecting that very place which Marlene sincerely considered her only home. For the last time tightly pressing his daughter to himself, Barret tenderly kissed her on the rosy cheek.
"I have to go, my little angel. Dad needs to be a hero again for a little while in order to defeat all the bad guys," Barret said with a wide, encouraging smile, hiding the sad gaze behind the dark lenses of the glasses.
"Uh-huh. You'll always be the main hero who defeats all the villains. You yourself told me that real Heroes never lose to evil! So go and defeat them all!" Marlene answered with a playful smile on her cute little face, trustingly squeezing Barret's enormous fingers with her little fingers.
"You're, as always, absolutely right, little one! Real Heroes never lose to Evil—they always kick the villains' filthy asses!" Barret loudly, heartily laughed, tenderly squeezing Marlene's little hand in his palm.
From these words Marlene brightly, sincerely smiled, making it clear to her father: he would forever remain for her the best and invincible hero. From this bright childish smile on Barret's usually stern, rough face a light, incredibly tender smile appeared.
For the last time affectionately stroking Marlene on the head, Barret rose from his knee and shifted his gaze to Elmyra, who calmly and understandingly nodded to him. Preparing to go out, Barret became embarrassed—he properly did not know exactly how one should thank Elmyra for the fact that she without hesitation had agreed to look after his daughter. All that he managed to squeeze out of himself at that second was an awkward thank you and a sworn promise to personally look after Aerith.
Elmyra merely quietly laughed in response and softly added that her Aerith already had more than enough protectors without that, so Barret simply needed to fulfill his duty and definitely return to his daughter. Hearing her words, Barret with a maximally serious air nodded and pushed the entrance door away from himself.
Going out onto the porch to the group awaiting him, Barret for a second slightly raised the sunglasses and quickly wiped away the remnants of involuntary tears. He was sacredly intending to keep the promise given to Marlene: since his daughter saw a real protector in him, he would become for her the brightest Hero who saves absolutely everyone.
Having wiped the tears dry, Barret pulled on his habitual, bold smirk and snorted, casting a quick gaze over all those present. Meeting Alex's gaze, the big guy briefly nodded and with a dull thud slammed a massive fist against his own chest, clearly demonstrating that he was fully ready for battle. Alex, unhurriedly nodding with a light smile on his lips, understandingly patted Barret on the shoulder, giving the signal that they could set out.
"Well then, AVALANCHE?! Time to kick Shinra's ass the way we do it for the very last time! We'll save the kids and beat up that bastard who dared to kidnap our friends!" Barret cried out with a predatory smirk, victoriously raising an enormous fist above his head.
"And at the same time we'll beat up those bitches who decided to drop an entire Plate on our home! We'll never forgive them for that!" Biggs picked up with an excited smile, just the same raising a fist to the sky.
"And we'll stuff their damn ventilation to the brim with pepper bombs!" Yuffie cheerfully cried out at the top of her voice, energetically waving a fist above her head.
"They collapsed my parents' house… So they also owe me huge interest! They broke two of my houses, the bastards!" Jessie added with a smile, also raising a fist upward.
Observing this outburst of emotions, Alex could only quietly chuckle to himself: the entire team instantly pulled themselves together and was ready to go on the assault of the Shinra headquarters, alternately shouting slogans about how much the corporation owed them. Standing at his side, Dean also slightly smirked, finding this entire picture damnably funny, although he perfectly understood: competent fighting spirit before a suicidal mission was more important than ever.
When the main slogans died down, even Tifa did not remain on the sidelines and with a smile raised a fist. The last one who joined the general ardor was Aerith, who with a laugh promised that she was personally ready with all her soul to deliver a blow to the balls of every villain.
Still holding their hands above their heads, the group jointly turned and stared at Claudia, who silently stood a bit aside with her arms folded on her chest and clearly was not burning with the desire to participate in such a farce. Feeling a dozen expectant gazes upon herself, Claudia wearily rolled her eyes and with a heavy, doomed sigh still raised her fist above her head, without uttering a single word at that.
Seeing that even the cold Claudia in the end had joined the general cry, Tifa quietly laughed and stepped closer to her friend. She was insanely pleased to see how Claudia was more and more opening up to the others, even if she continued desperately to cling to her habitual detached mask.
"Come on, kid! Deliver your signature phrase already! Or without it we won't even be able to properly start!" Barret began speaking with a wide smirk, playfully pushing Alex with an elbow in the side.
"Time to roll some chimichangas," Alex said with a predatory smirk, with a juicy click racking the slide of the "Jackal."
To be continued...
(Phew, I finally managed to pull everything together so we could head to Shinra. I just couldn't write the update sooner—they had to discuss the plan, gear up, and set off. After all, this was essentially a farewell to Midgar, and there was also the fact that Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge still hadn't been rescued. I'm a total jerk, I know—I kept promising we'd get moving, but we never actually did. But it all came down to the events that had to play out before this moment. You can't just say, "Alright, everyone, sack up and let's go smash some villain faces." Anyway, there are a million other excuses I could give. But you love me anyway, just like I love you. So, sending you all some love. I'm off to grab a bite to eat. Peace, love, and—someone at Shinra is about to have a really bad day.)
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