Cloud, Vex, Tifa and Barret finally make it to Wall Market. The sleazy burg was all the same, but there were people whispering about the Turks taking Don Corneo away for leaking information. Those people had doubts of him ever returning there alive. They walked to the don's mansion and they overheard two guys talking about the two kooky weapon's dealers. One was an older guy and the other was a guy going bald.

Older Guy: "So did you see the Sector 7 plate fall? What a mess!"

Balding Guy: "Yeah but the weapon's guy took all the junk that fell down here away. More junk piled up here..." (Sighs)

Vex: (Turns to Cloud and the others.) "...He likes to collect junk huh?"

Cloud: (Shrugs)

    They continue their walk until they see some kids gathering around the Don's mansion. One shouts to the others to come and see something and they all hang a left to a dark alley. The alley was full of vandalism of various slogans forgotten over the years. Cloud walks up to a single boy who is looking up the wire to the top of the lower plate.

Boy: (Turns to Cloud and the others.) "My friends went up this wire, it looks scary! I get chills just from looking up it!"

Cloud: "That does go up really high huh?"

Boy: "Yeah, it leads to the upper world."

Barret: (Looks up the wire.) "You know...it DOES lead to the upper plate."

Cloud: "Forget it, you know how high that goes?"

Barret: (Looks up again and sighs and then he turns to Cloud) "You know what I see when I look at this wire?"

Cloud: "Just a normal wire."

Barret: "Well...when I look at it, it looks like the Golden Shiny Wire of Hope."

Vex: (Looks at it funny and looks at Barret oddly) "It doesn't shine!"

Barret: (Turns to him, Angry.) "Dammit, I know!! It's a metaphor!"

Vex: "Oh okay. So it's a golden shiny wire of hope even though it's not shiny or even made of gold! I don't get it!"

Barret: (Runs to a corner and curses to himself) "ANYWAY...We'll have to climb it."

Cloud: "Okay, what was a bad analogy but I understand how you feel so let's climb it."

    Cloud, Barret, Tifa and Vex begins to climb the wire to the top of the wall. During their climb, they find more vandalism slogans. They find the two other kids at the top commenting on how horrible the damage is and how it's the Shinra's doing. They climb higher and notice a jungle of cables and climbable junk. They look at the propeller ahead.

Cloud: "Looks like it needs a battery."

Vex: "Don't worry about it, just give me 500 Gil and I'll buy some. I don't exactly know but that junk collecting guy probably has some that'll fit these things." (Jumps all the way down to the ground and lands semi gracefully.) "Ow Ow OW! Well..." (Runs to the Machine and GUM store and goes in.) "Hi! I'd like some batteries!"

Mechanic: "You want some batteries I repaired that fell from the plate?"

Vex: "You're gonna sell me something you just found? Well...if it'll help us get up to the top plate then...how much?"

Mechanic: (Turns to him) "100 Gil per battery."

Vex: "I think I'll buy four." (Gets four batteries from the Mechanic.) "Can I also have 100 gil's worth of candy?"

Mechanic: "We don't sell CANDY!"

Vex: "Are you sure?"

Mechanic: "Yeah, I'm sure. After all, I do OWN the place."

Vex: "RATS! You know, you'll have more customers if you sold candy here." (Runs out of the store.)

Mechanic: "...I suppose I could!"

    Vex runs to the Don's mansion and hangs a right to the Vandalized alley. He crouches and jumps up as high as he can and grabs the rope. He climbs up to the jungle of cables and junk and runs to Cloud, taking out the batteries and smiled.

Vex: "I got the batteries!"

Cloud: "Thanks! Now if I put a battery in...the propeller might work." (Puts the battery into the outlet.)

    At first the battery didn't do anything. The propeller was still not moving and it made Cloud and the others a little depressed. Just when they thought it was no good, the propeller started to move. The propeller almost started but then died again after about 10 seconds. The propeller was useless again but the blades did open up a path to the next area. They all smiled to one another and continued through the path, carefully making their way across the blade and climbing upward. They found another machine that controlled the guard for the tracks and found another battery plug. Cloud puts the second battery into the outlet and the guard sent the beam up. Everyone ran up the beam and climbed the twisted cables to a swinging beam that led to the way to the top.

Cloud: "This swinging metal thing, if we could jump onto it, we could swing to the other side."

Tifa: "Right, we should be able to jump down to it when it gets to us."

Barret: "We jus' have to time it right."

Vex: (Turns to them and nods.) "Sounds like a plan." (Turns to the wire and crouches, he jumps up and leaps clear over the moving beam and lands gracefully on the other side. He turns and yells to them) "Is this how you do it?!"

Cloud: "... ..." (All look at Vex and blink in disbelief.) "Well, that's one way! But those of us who don't jump 30 feet a shot'll have to do it this way. Watch!" (Cloud eased down and jumped down to the bar when it came close enough. He swung across it and landed where Vex was.) "So let's go!"

Tifa: "Okay, here goes." (Tifa waited until the bar came close and jumped down to it. She swung across and landed next to Cloud.) "Okay..."

Barret: "Well if you guys can do it, then so can I." (Barret jumps too soon and falls down to the wires below and lands on his face.) "Damn!" (Runs back up to the jump point and waited until the bar came close enough and tried to jump. The only problem this time was that the beam came too close so when he jumped he not only missed it, hit the back of his head on it when he came back and fell back down on his face.) "SH&*!! Dammit!"

Tifa: "You have to be patient!"

Barret: "I AM patient!!" (Runs back up the wires eagerly and manages to snag the moving bar and jumped to the other side, landing not so gracefully.) "Damn, damn, DAMN!!"

Vex: ( Cloud and Tifa ran ahead while Vex stayed and helped Barret up.) "Please! We're trying to 'sneak in' so don't blow it!" (Runs off to join Tifa and Cloud)

Barret: "Damn...?" (Runs up after him.)

    They finally made it to the upper plate and they looked up and saw it. The Shinra tower looked as huge and ominous as any old Castle in a monster movie. The tower was 70 floors high and literally looked down on Midgar like a king looks down on its servants. Cloud had his Buster Sword drawn and Tifa, Barret and Vex were close by. They saw a Shinra soldier looking around and all looked to Vex. Vex nodded and leapt up behind the soldier and jumped on his shoulders. The soldier cried out as he crashed to the ground, unconscious.

Vex: (Takes the soldier's hat, nightstick and smiled to them.) "I have the outfit...now I need the accessories! So what do we do now?"

Barret: "I heard this place was heavily guarded, apparently the floors above 60 are hard to get into even for employees. But what are we going to do?"

Cloud: "Well we could..."

Barret: "I'm going in!!" (Barret attempts to go in the front when Tifa stops him.)

Tifa: "What do you think you're doing?"

Barret: "I'm gonna kick some Shinra butt and..."

Tifa: "That's not going to work! We need another way! What do you think we should do, Cloud?"

Cloud: "Let's bust on in!" (Cloud, Tifa and Barret all go to the door when Vex alerts them back.)

Vex: "WAIT!" (They all look at him. Vex looks at his shinra helmet, his nightstick and then grins at them mischievously.) "...I think I've got an idea!" (Uses magic to alter the Nightstick and Helmet to fit him.) "I'll go in first!" (Starts to do a little march and marches toward the entrance)

 The First floor was an office that cut visitors off from the office building. There was a well groomed secretary working there with two Shinra guards looking things over. Suddenly all the attention was turned to the little man marching a little march through the door.

Vex: (Marches in, doing fancy twirls and shoulders with his nightstick like a Shinra soldier does with a gun.) "Hup! 2! 3! 4! Hup! 2! 3! 4! Companyyy... HALT!! Lieutenant VEX! Reporting for duty!!"

Soldiers: (Break out in laughter)

Secretary: (smiles broadly.) "Ohhh! That is SOO cute!! If you're a Shinra Cadet, the meeting is on floor 17."

Vex: (Takes off his helmet.) "Hee hee hee! You'll think THIS is cute too!" (Jumps up and comes down on the first Soldier, landing on his head, a loud skin crawling 'snap' could be heard. He then leaps from the Soldier's head to the other soldier, coming down on his chest. He cries out and lands hard on the floor. Vex gets off of him and then grinds his foot into the shinra soldier's helmet. The soldier screamed. Vex jumps onto the Secretary's desk and turned to the door and shouts) "Door's open, Fellas!!!"

Secretary: (Nervously sees Barret, Tifa and Cloud burst in.) "I'm sorry, if you don't have an..."

Barret: "This is more important then an appointment! This is a 'mergency! Anyone who don't want their face bashed in better stay out of our way!"

Soldiers: (Rush onto the scene.) "Hey you don't suppose these guys are AVALANCHE? Quick! GET THEM!!"

    The five Soldiers advance on the group and Vex leaps high into the air. One throws a grenade at the group and they duck out of the way of the explosion. Cloud takes a leaping chop with his sword and slices the soldier. Vex comes down on another soldier and wastes him with his the soles of his boots. Tifa does a flip in the air and punches and kicks a Soldier that attacked her. Barret shrugged and shot the guy running at him. In the end, there was a whole pile of hurting soldiers. They ran up the marble stairs to the upper level where more soldiers were waiting for them.

Vex: (Jumps up and with a nod, decides to show his power.) "Majikkuhando ...okibi...SEISHOU!!!" (Several red rings of energy appear around him and fly up to his hands which were raised. The ball of energy formed and got bigger until it flashed with red and yellow. Then Vex shot the energy at the soldiers engulfing them in a fiery explosion. They screamed in pain as they were incinerated.) "Let's GO!" (Runs into the opened elevator with Barret, Tifa and Cloud giving him looks of surprise. Vex pokes his head out of the elevator door.) "Come on! We can't take all day!"

    Cloud, Tifa and Barret ran into the elevator which also looked futuristic. The buttons were on the wall and there was a camera in the ceiling. Cloud went over to the buttons and pressed the button for up and turned to everyone.

Cloud: "... ... I didn't want to start a ruckus until we saved Aeris. I should have known that was impossible though..."

Barret: "Heh, heh, heh..."

Cloud: "What is it?! You're giving me the willies!"

Barret: "Maybe you really do care about the planet..."

Cloud: "Who cares what you think?"

Vex: "That's mean!"

Cloud: "Who cares what YOU think either?"

Vex: (Sticks his tongue out at him) "You're now very mean!"

Barret: "Look Cloud...I'm sorry about some stuff." (Suddenly the elevator shaft started to buzz and beep with alarms and the floor monitor flashed with random floors.) "What the hell?"

Tifa: "Oh Stop it Cloud! I don't care where!" (Cloud stops it and it was at floor 17.)

    Meanwhile, on that floor at the time, the Shinra youth cadets were getting let out of the meeting. They wave to their Cadet commander as they saw the elevator door open. They scream with terror and shout "Please don't hurt us!!" when they saw they were confronted with people with weapons and could hear the sound of a gun loading at them. "Whoops! Wrong floor!" Vex commented as they closed the door in front of them. The elevator was still going all buggy. They stopped it again at the 31th floor and saw a couple of horrible robots with spiked wheels approach them, known as Moth Slashers. Everyone cried out as they tried desperately to close the doors. Finally Vex and Barret forced the doors shut and the Moth Slashers crashed into the door, making a slight imprint on it. The bugged elevator ride continued and they had to stop it at floor 39. The door opened to a pretty, short haired girl wearing an office suit with the tag 'Elena' on her chest.

Elena: (calmly walked in) "Hmmm...well, could you please stop the elevator at floor 50?"

Cloud: (Shrugs) "Okay, but I don't know where floor 50 would be!"

Elena: "Well, the security system is on, let me override it." (Goes to the controls and enters a sequence that stops the alarm.) "There you go." (Everyone gives her a weird look.) "What?"

Cloud: (Cloud as well as everyone else averts their gaze away from her.) "Um, thanks!" (Cloud stops the elevator at level 50.)

Elena: "Thanks." (Gets off of the elevator.)

    Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Vex get off of the elevator when they got to floor 59. They got off and found two very armored and tall red shinra soldiers. When they saw the group, the Soldiers rushed at them saying. "Destroy the intruders!" Vex jumped as Tifa did a flying kicking attack which she slammed the first grunt's body, the was only knocked back a little bit and laughed. He then swung his arm and knocked Tifa back. He shot at her with his gun and she rolled away from the bullet spray. Vex landed on the attacking Grunt but his armor prevented him from getting hurt from it. He knocked Vex off of him and prepared to shoot when Barret shot at both of the grunts. They shrugged off the bullets and returned fire. Barret ducked out of the way. The grunts had an excellent defense but they were very slow which gave the group a speed advantage.
 Cloud put his sword away and chanted a spell. He glowed as he summoned a bolt of lightning that slammed down on the grunt. He cried out as all of the armor burst off of his body. Tifa nodded and took out her Ice materia. She chanted the spell and glowed a green yellow and summoned a winter blast of ice onto the other armored Grunt. The ice crystallized on his armor and burst it off. Everyone nodded to one another and attacked with their normal attacks. Vex stomped, Cloud slashed, Barret Shot and Tifa punched and kicked. The grunts collapsed, bleeding and dead and a card slipped out of one of their pockets. Key card 60! They went into the elevator with the key card and with a ding, were on their way to the protected floors.
    A guard was asleep as all of the monitors beeped and flashed around him. He was too busy being in dreamland to notice Cloud and his friends getting off at floor 60. They got off looking into a high security area and ducked into a room to avoid getting seen.

Cloud: "From here on, I think we'll have to be quiet."

Vex: "Look! There's the stairs to the next floor!" (Points across a hall to the door with a sign marked 'stairs.') "How are we gonna get across though?"

Cloud: "I'll go ahead, you see the gaps? They're no doubt ways for us to avoid getting spotted."

    Cloud steps out of the room and hides himself behind a pillar. When the Soldiers changed position, Cloud ran to the next pillar. He found his way to the middle area and Vex opened the door. While the soldiers moved, Vex jumped across both gaps and landed at Cloud's feet. Cloud shrugged and Motioned for Barret to come, he made it to the first pillar and the next and also made it to the middle. Tifa took the advantage to cross as well and the tension built. Cloud made it across and motioned for Barret, Barret crossed silently and ran through the door to the stairs. Tifa was next and she made it across too and ran through the door. Vex jumped to his feet and when Cloud motioned for Vex to come, Vex jumped to him, but fell on his butt.

Vex: (Put his hands to his mouth and scooted to the pillar.)

Soldier: "You hear somethin'?"

Soldier2: "No..."

Soldier: "Well, I did! Want to check the hall?"

Soldier2: "No...Break is in 2 minutes and if we check, I'll be late and have to wait 10 minutes in line for my coffee!" (Frowns at him.) "And you KNOW how I'm like without my coffee, Edward!"

Soldier: "Right..."

Vex: (Vex went through the door and sighed.) "Whew! Saved by Shinra brand of laziness!"

Barret: "OK! We gonna rock!"

Tifa: "Remember, we're here to save Aeris."

Barret: "Hell! I know that!" (They all go up the stairs into a coffee area, floor 61. There were some people around but not soldiers. They were a young man and a secretary as well as a inspector)

Young Man: (Pacing about) "What's keeping her? Did she forget the key card?"

Vex: (To Cloud and the others) "Key Card...?"

Cloud: (Cloud walks up to the secretary) "Excuse me..."

Secretary: "Hey! Are you new? I've never seen you around here!" (Smiles) "Say! You're kind of cute, want to learn some...things?"

Cloud: (Smiles) "Things...?"

Secretary: (Frowns and almost glares at him.) "Wipe that stupid smile off of your face! I was just talking about the Key card system. Listen up, there are seven key cards. Key card 60, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67 and Key card 68. Each key card leads you to the floor printed on it, no more, no less. It's a security system worthy of Shinra and they rule this city, the world too pretty much."

Tifa: (Walks up to Cloud.) "You need to pose as Vex' Dad. All you have to do is wave when he calls to you!"

Vex: (Talking to inspector) "So you see, my Dad is a Shinra repair man. He needs Key card 63 to fix the door problem. It was just pushed over."

Inspector: "Okay, I know. This place is literally falling apart. Who's your dad?" (Vex points to Cloud and he waves.) "Whoa...he's young."

Vex: "Naw, he's actually 29! He takes care of himself! He does 150 Sit-ups and weight lifting too!"

Inspector: (Nods and walks up to Cloud) "Here's the key card. Be sure to oil the elevator doors too. They've been squeaking. My hat's off to your looks, you must be in awesome shape!"

Cloud: "...Oh! Okay, thanks son!" (Takes Key card 62.)

Vex: (Nods)

    Cloud, Barret, Tifa and Vex run up the stairs to the next floor. The next floor looked like a library, with each room having access to various files and books as well as CDs and disks. The area was clean and very well kept. Cloud walked up to a well dressed, balding man next to the door to someone's office.

Man: "Welcome to the Mayor's office. I'm the deputy mayor, Wallace."

Cloud: "Really? The mayor is on this floor? But it's only floor 62!"

Wallace: (Slumps his shoulders and loses his welcoming tone.) "That's because the Mayor doesn't really run anything. Everything is run by Shinra Inc. Go inside if you want him to tell you more."

    Cloud turns to Tifa, Barret and Vex and nods to them. He walks into the office of Mayor Domino. The office was also neat and tidy but not that large. The desk had a computer to the side and there were pictures on the walls of Domino's family. Cloud startled the mayor when he walked into the cramped office.

Domino: "Whoa! You startled me! I don't have a secretary so just anyone can walk in here. You're a new face, so you must not be with the Shinra...what a delightful surprise!"

Cloud: (Leans on the wall.) "You don't like the Shinra?"

Domino: "Oh, no. They're bastards, trust me. I may be the mayor of Midgar but they call all the shots. All of those Shinra executives on the 66th floor are a higher rank than me. (Slams his fist onto the desk.) All I REALLY am is a stupid Librarian, god it pisses me off..."

Cloud: "So..."

Domino: (His face lights up mischievously.) "Wait...I get it! You guys must be the terrorists that broke into the building! I have no life, being a stinkin' librarian so I've made a little game up for you. If you can guess the password, I'll give you my Key card. I have key card 65 and I'm sure it'll help you."

Vex: (Runs into the room.) "Hiya, Sir Mayor."

Domino: (Smiles, a tear almost rolls down his face.) "Thanks Kid...you're the first one to call me sir in a LONG time."

Vex: "You're welcome! I've already played the game, it's pretty fun but it's a little too easy. What you did was that you put a sign on each file shelf and one was out of place, right?"

Domino: "Right."

Vex: "The number beside it indicated the letter that was part of your password. The password is a four letter word Correct?"

Domino: "Right. If you guess what the password is on the first try, you get a prize along with the Key card. So here's the list of the possible passwords: BEST, KING, ORBS, MAKO, DOOM, EVIL, CATS, HUGE. So, sonny, take your pick."

Vex: (Stands up straight and salutes.) "The Password is...KING, Sir!!"

Domino: (Clicks on his computer and plays a TAA DAA wave sound on his computer. It plays loud and clear for all outside to hear)

Wallace: (To Barret and Tifa) "Hmmm...they must have got the password right."

Domino: "YES!! KING!! I hate those tyrannical, over lording Bastards! I'm the one who should be king! KING of Midgar, yes!" (Gets up from his desk and hands Cloud the Key card 65 and turns to the Vex.) "I never thought you'd get it on the first try though...so here you go, sonny." (Hands an 'Elemental' materia to him.) "Why am I doing this? REVENGE, of course. Those guys up there have been ruling me like a slave forever! This's what'll happen to them."

Vex: "Thanks! Let's go!"

    Everyone went up the stairs and the Floor 63 was some sort of giant vending complex. Cloud went to the vending area and looked inside. There was a computer holding items and there was an air duct to the side of it. Cloud booted up the prize computer.

Computer: (Beeps twice and then makes a clicking sound.) "Level B employee verified. Please open three doors to gain your prizes. Warning, don't crawl into the air ducts, they are very dangerous."

Vex: (Nods to Cloud) "I'll do it." (Looks inside the vent next to the computer and smiles.) "I'll fit in there. Wait a second." (Jumps into the air duct and reaches the upper level. He crawls through the ductwork and lands in a storage room with a bag on the floor. Vex picks it up and it reads: Coupon B.) "Okey dokey, let's get the others." (Jumps back into the air duct and crawls to another duct and lands next to a Coupon A bag and picks it up.) "Okay, now for the next one." (Runs to the door that protected the last bag.) "Computer, open the door. ID code: 65533" (The computer opened the door and Vex ran in and grabbed the final Coupon C bag. He crawled back through the air ducts and landed back where cloud is.) "Yup, got them all."

Cloud: "Thanks!" (Boots up the computer and feeds it the coupons and three items pop out. The items were a star pendant, a Four Slots and an All Materia.) "You want any of these?"

Vex: "Yeah!" (Takes the 'Four Slots and equips it.) "Thanks, this'll be good since I have like, NO armor whatsoever."

Cloud: "Do you also want some materia? I think we still have some unused." (Turns to Tifa and Barret) "You guys want this stuff?"

Tifa: "Thank you Cloud! And thanks for getting the coupons, Vex!" (Tifa takes the all materia and the star pendant.)

Barret: (Searches his pockets and takes out a green Fire materia) "Here, I ain't usin' this so you take it!"

Vex: "Thanks but...I already know how to cast Fire spells. I learned that I don't need those shiny stones when I was roamin' the city. I found that magic stuff comes naturally to me!"

Barret: "Really? Well, more materia for me!" (Puts it back in his pocket.)

    They continued their journey up the stairs and went to floor 64. They were prepared for whatever would happen. Cloud opened the door and they all jumped out, ready for a fight. They instead found a cool health club with state of the art equipment.

Vex: "Wow!"

Tifa: "...So this is what the Shinra spend our tax gil for?"

Barret: "I knew it! Those F#$%@# bastards pissed away our money!"

Vex: "Imagine if OTHER governments did this?"

Cloud: "We don't have any time for this! Let's go!" (They go back to the stairwell and reach the 65th floor.)

    The 65th floor was a giant puzzle area with various locked chests scattered about. There were plants around, giving a splash of green to the floor. They found a chest right beside them. Cloud tried to open it but it was locked.

Cloud: "Damn! Locked!"

Vex: (Smirks) "Let ME try!" (Vex pulled on the lid and pulled and pulled. The chest was bolted to the floor so he couldn't lift it. Vex pulled on the lid harder and harder and suddenly he ripped the lid clear off of the chest. The Key card 66 shone from within the chest.) "Don't send a man to do a BOY'S job!" (Vex took the Key card 66 and gave it to Cloud, everyone stared at him.)
"What? Do I have something stuck in my teeth?"

    Everyone shrugged and went up the stairs to floor 66. They walked to the door and Cloud opened it with his card. They opened it and turned around the corner and they saw a creepy looking scientist walking down the stairs after them. They ran around another corner to avoid getting seen. When they did, they overheard two Employees talking.

Employee1: "I just took a pee and guess what?"

Employee2: "God! Why did you have to tell me that?"

Employee1: "You should hear it, there are voices coming from somewhere...maybe it's the conference room. I heard it stinks a bit so...maybe the air ducts connect the bathrooms to the conference room!"

Employee2: "Who cares?"

    Cloud walked to the bathroom and everyone went in with him. Thank goodness no one was in there so they went to a toilet and as the man said, there was an air duct that was over the toilet. Cloud and everyone else jumped into the surprisingly roomy air duct and went to the vent over the conference room in the middle of a conference!
 

That's the end of Chapter 6, Unfortunately it's going to take a little longer to explain the Shinra Tower bit than I thought. Keep your eyes open for chapter 7 soon.