Chapter Six
On the 70th floor of the Shinra building, President Shinra sat confidently at his desk overlooking the city. The information Corneo was able to gather for him on AVALANCHE had been invaluable, now allowing him to do a decisive blow to an upstart enemy which had shown itself quite capable of causing trouble for his company. To his left stood a younger man, with long brown hair and a Gotee. The suit he wore was a navy blue, similar to the Turks but of a lighter color. He was trying to discuss something with the President but the older man had more or less shut him out. (There was something strange about that Ex-SOLDIER...I wonder what it could be?) The sounds of footsteps made President Shinra turn around.
An overweight man, far heavier than Shinra himself waddled up the stairs and strode confidently into the office suite. His hair was perfectly greased back and along with his nicely trimmed beard and mustache he was impecably dressed in a military uniform. Heidegger, as the man was called, was the head of public safety for the city of Midgar and all of Shinra's interests. The look on his face gave the President a good feeling. "How are the preparations going?" President Shinra said calmly.
Heidegger began to laugh, one that is very distinctive as being almost horsish. Most men found it irratating but President Shinra allowed such a display so long as he was kept happy. Almost immediatly he was given good reason to be. "Ha, ha, ha! Smoothly, very smoothly! I assigned the Turks to this."
Reeve, the head of urban development, looked over at the President almost pleading. "President!! Are we really going to do this? Simply destroy a group with only a few members..."
President Shinra looked grimly at his young subordinate. "What's the problem, Reeve? You want out?"
Reeve quickly shook his head, "...No. But, as head of the Urban Development Department, I have been involved in the building and running of Midgar. That's why..." (What would you guys do if I wasn't around to question you?)
Almost sarcastically Heidegger maliciously said, "Reeve, you should flush those personal problems in the morning!"
Reeve quickly retorted, "The Mayor's against this anyway..."
Heidegger put a large effort into not laughing outloud. "Mayor? He just sits in this building all day feeding his face! You still call that a Mayor?" Getting the grim look from Reeve he wanted; Heidegger smiled and saluted the President, "Now if you'll excuse me sir!"
With a quick nod from the President, Heidegger turned quickly and began to stride out of the office. In desperation Reeve tried to follow Heidegger but stopped when he realized the large man was not going to stop and listen to him. President Shinra smiled at Reeve. "You're tired. Why don't you take a couple of days off and go somewhere." Reeve looked back at the President, holding back the hate in his eyes and without another word walked quickly out of the office. When Reeve had disappeared to the floor below Shinra looked back out the window and smiled. "We'll destroy Sector 7 and report that AVALANCHE did it. Then we'll send in the rescue operation care of Shinra, Inc. ...Heh, heh, heh... This is perfect."
After falling for what seemed like a minute or two Cloud, Aeris and Tifa crash landed into a dark and dank area of Midgar, which very few people had ever seen or wished to see. Both Tifa and Aeris landed on their hands and knees in a liquid substance which smelled far more foul than the whole city had anywhere else. Cloud on the other hand had braced himself for landing and managed to land on one knee, skidding a bit upon contact with the ground.
After the assault on his sense of smell began to subside Cloud stood up slowly and looked around. Right away he knew they were in the citie's sewer system. The walls were damp and covered with a greenish moss that didn't look too healthy. Pipes and walls had water dripping through cracks that poor maintainence had allowed. He could see garbage lining the sides of walls, somewhat covering the paths they would have to walk in order to get out. In front of him he could see Tifa begin to stand up trying to wipe off the sludge that had covered over her clothes. He walked over to her and helper her up, "You alright?", he said quickly looking her over.
Tifa frowned looking at the tear in her favorite skirt, "Man! This is terrible." She smiled weakly at him and gave a quick nod saying she was fine. Quickly turning around he say Aeris standing up and brushing herself off. He sloshed his way over to her and helped her up as well, "You alright?"
Aeris smiled, "Yeah. Well, the worst is over..." A strange growling noise from above made them all look in that direction. Aeris was quick to add, "Maybe not..."
Almost immediatly a large beast dropped in from a hole in the ceiling. He was easily three times larger than everyone in front of him and with the bulging muscles and claws Cloud determined he wasn't going to be friendly. There were broken chains attached to its blue skin wrists and its tongue was hanging loosly out of its mouth. With a large splash, which sent a wave almost over Clouds midsection the beast landed and roared defiantly at the group which had already readied themselves for the incoming attack.
Cloud immediatly charged the beast and slashed at it with his sword. Though the beast was large he was also quite nimble, avoiding the large blade and quickly countering with a punch of its own. Cloud jumped to the side narrowly avoiding the fist, but fell into the sludge as the beast's attack shook the ground beneath him. The beast stepped towards Cloud and began a claw swipe, which was inturupted by a searing flame that engulfed the beast. Roaring in pain the best stepped back and Cloud quickly got to his feet. Looking over he noticed Tifa smiling at him. A wide smile appeared on his lips and moved back towards the group.
Aeris began to concentrate on one of the orbs Cloud had bought her in the materia shop in Sector 6. It was an 'Ice' materia and feeling the luke warm temporature here made her think the beast wouldn't like too much if it got colder. The beast had recovered from the fire spell, though there were burns all over its body, and began to charge when a block of ice formed around it. As it tried to move the ice shattered and the broken pieces along with the searing cold ran through him. Cloud took the initiative and lunged for the beast again this time connecting with his sword; but to his dismay it only gave a small gash in the beast's chest.
The beast had taken more than its fill of these intruders. He began to pound his chest in almost a ragefull manor. A small aura began to form around him. Cloud motioned the others to brace themselves for whatever was coming. They both nodded and slid back into a more defensive stance. There was a small rumble, which began to grow louder and stronger; and suddenly from behind the beast flowed a tidal wave of sewage water. It hit the beast first, washing over him easily and then the party. Tifa held her breath and closed her eyes as the wave hit her. Immediatly she and the others were swept away slamming hard into the walls directly behind them. Everyone coughed loudly as the sludge washed away and Cloud's eyes burned from the remnants that were all over his clothes.
Looking back towards the beast he could see it wasn't in much better shape. (The attack hurts him as much as it does us. It must be a last resort...) He quickly rushed at the beast, while it was recovering from the attack. Tifa and Aeris began to concentrate on their materia again. Letting lose a "fire" and "Cure" with all attached spells in succession Cloud felt a surge of extra energy as he jumped towards the monster while it once again was burned. This time the sewer water acted a bit like fuel and the "fire" spell had a much better effect.
Pressing upon his new found advantage Cloud released a quick "bolt" spell and jumped into the air. Tifa realized he was doing his "braver" technique and motioned for Aeris to hold off on spells til it was over. Cloud's blade easily penetrated into the beast, and black blood spewed from a deep wound within its chest and stomach. The beast roared in pain once again and staggered back a few steps. Having no more strength in it the beast fell to the ground and moved no more.
Aeris and Tifa walked over to the fallen beast and looked over the carcass. Around the beast's neck was a collar which Aeris put into her hand. On the name plate there was a single word, "Aps". For a brief moment Aeris felt sorry for this creature which had fought them. She was sure there was a soul there. Not wanting to think about it anymore she looked over at Cloud and Tifa.
Tifa looked almost hearbroken, "It's too late...... Marlene... Barret... the people of the Slums."
Aeris quickly shook her head and smiled, "Don't give up, never give up hope. It's not easy to destroy the pillar, right?"
Tifa stood and thought for a moment, "......... Yeah...... you're right! We still have time." With her confidence restored they all began to walk towards an exit.
Cloud realized that the fight with Aps would cause a commotion which would attract more of the monsters that lived in the sewer towards their location. He wasn't wrong either. As they made their way through the sewers, mutated crabs and reptilian monsters tried to attack them from all directions. Though the crabs had tough shells the ones which looked like large turtles proved to be inpenatrable if one type of attack was used too often. Occassionally on their trip they would have to stop and use a "Cure" spell or potion to heal some of the wounds they had recieved. Jumping down to a lower level they were greeted by a ladder and some light, most likely an exit to the foul smelling hole they had been forced into. (Next time I see Corneo...) Cloud thought, (I'm gonna make him wish he was down here.)
When the group reached the ladder Cloud told Aeris and Tifa to climb up towards the surface. He stayed below and kept an eye out for any monsters which would decide to attack at the last minute. When they were safely topside Cloud climbed up and joined them. He looked over at Aeris, who was carefully looking over her dirty clothes. He frowned, "Aeris. I got you mixed up in all of this..."
Aeris looked at him almost crossly. She shook her head quickly, "Don't tell me to go home."
Tifa took a look at her surroundings. There were broken and rusting trains all around them. Some of them were lit up while others had no power left to them. (This must be the other side of the Train Graveyard.) "Let's see... If we can get past the trains that are lit up, we should be able to get out of here."
Tifa's confidence at their location gave Cloud some reassurance. He was still new to this part of the city, having someone who had some idea of where to go was a good thing for them all. He smiled and motioned for her to lead the way. She started up the ladder in front of them hoping to get a better view of their surroundings. Up ahead there was a way to ground level and towards another set of trains which could bring them up further ahead. It looked like there was no other way so she started forward, everyone else took up rear possitions.
The main reason for this area of the city being called the Train Graveyard was the retired trains which were dumped here after years of faithful service to the city. These trains probably had quite a story to tell, though no one here would ever be willing to listen to them. The other reason was lots of monsters and ghosts had taken up residence here, most people stayed away from this area not wanting to become a permanant resident themselves. The party quickly made their way hopping from one train to the next taking out any monster that attacked them. The ghosts were the bigger problem. Though weapons could hurt them they would usually disappear after being hit and reappear later on. If Cloud or the others would let their guard down they were greeted with a claw attack or something else unpleasant. It took patience and coordinated efforts to get rid of those menaces. In one the regular monster battles Cloud had decided to try using the new "steal" materia he had found in the sewers, and he was rewarded with a new staff for Aeris. It looked much stronger than her other one, in fact it seemed to be made from a better material than even his sword.
After climbing up and down for what seemed like an eternity the group had managed to make their way out of the graveyard and back into the Sector 7 train station. There was no one there, only the train, which seemed like it was ready to go at any instant. Cloud ran over to the worker who had spoken to him the day before. The man smiled at Cloud, "I heard a rumor that the plate was going to come down...crushing this station. I've worked here so many years...I can't bear to leave here now." Cloud was about to protest but he knew it wasn't the time for it. (Hopefully that won't happen), he thought. Cloud just nodded at the old man and made his way back towards his companions. With one final look they moved away from the station and towards the pillar.
Tifa looked overjoyed when they stood in front of the pillar to Sector Seven. In front of them a group of people just stood there, looking up. Tifa said happily, "We made it! The pillar's standing!"
A subtle ability of anyone in SOLDIER was enhanced senses like sight and hearing. Cloud could hear something faintly coming from the top of the pillar. He looked at the two women next to him, "Wait! You hear something...... above us?"
Aeris and Tifa both strained for a moment to hear what Cloud was talking about. Aeris' eyes widened, "......gun fire?"
Cloud nodded and Tifa's color paled. Looking up Cloud could see various areas where a heated gun fight was going on. He could make out Biggs and Jessie on different parts of the metal stairs which spiraled up towards the top of the pillar, but he couldn't see Barret anywhere. Towards the top of the pillar he could see someone moving quickly towards the edge, being chased by sustained gunfire. A small explosion in that area sent someone falling from above. Before Cloud could turn around there was a loud thud. Everyone there looked at the one who had fallen and Tifa cried out as she saw Wedge laying critically on the dusty ground. Blood was slowly oozing from his body and Cloud could see he was in shock. All three ran over to the dying man and he smiled as he saw Tifa and Cloud standing next to him. Cloud's face was full of concern, "Wedge!! You all right!?" It was a dumb question he knew but it was something that would make Wedge feel better.
Wedge smiled weakly. His eyes were becoming distant, "......Cloud...... You remembered...... my name. Barret's up top. ...help him...... An' Cloud... Sorry, I wasn't any help." Cloud shook his head as if saying you did fine. Wedge's smile faded and he looked towards the ground, he breathing was getting strained.
Cloud was filled with an indignant rage, "I'm going up! Aeris! You look after Wedge." She could see the look in his eyes, they reminded her of someone she knew long before, and she just nodded.
Tifa's expression wasn't too different from Cloud's. She wasn't about to let Cloud have all the fun, besides Sector 7 was her home. "Aeris, do me a favor. I have a bar called '7th Heaven' in this neighborhood. There's a little girl named Marlene there......"
Aeris nodded, "Don't worry. I'll put her somewhere safe."
Tifa looked at everyone still standing around the pillar. Yelling to the croud she said, "It's dangerous here! Everyone get away from the pillar, quickly! Everyone get out of Sector 7!"
Cloud and Tifa quickly purchased some items from one of the local shopkeepers, who was waiting by the gate to the stairs. The others began to get themselves away from the pillar. As Cloud and Tifa began to sprint up the stairs they were attacked by a group of soldiers wearing gyrocopter packs. With close quarter fighting Cloud's sword was pretty useless, also including the fact that the gyrocopters gave the soldiers added mobility. Hoping to use the mechanical aspect to them as an advantage he let loose with a series of bolt spells which shorted out their systems. When they were on the ground Tifa moved in and took them out quite efficiently. Cloud watched her as she pummeled one opponent after the other. (She does have a lot of potential.) The first team member they ran into on the stair way was Biggs, who was slumped over a railing, bleeding freely from the bullet and blade wounds he had received. He looked gruffly at Cloud, "Cloud... so you don't care... what happens... to the... Planet?"
Cloud shook his head, "You're wounded."
Biggs let out a small smile, "Thanks...Barret's up there...help him." He looked at Tifa and smiled before his head slumped down and his arms went limp. Without another word Cloud and Tifa continued their sprint towards the top.
As they moved further up the attacks against them became more frequent, but because they fought the exact same way the battles became easier. Just a little ways from the top Cloud and Tifa spotted Jessie leaning against the railing. She looked just as bad as Biggs did telling Cloud that she didn't have much time left either. Jessie smiled at Cloud, blood was dripping from the corner of her lips, "...Cloud... I'm glad...... I could talk with you... one last time."
Cloud thought about saying "Don't say last" but something told him she wasn't the type of person who liked sympathy. He smiled confidently, "Is that so..."
Jessie's eyes lit up for a moment, "...Is... that so......? Ha...... cool...... as usual... ex-... SOLDIER. ...always... I liked that... in you..." Her head dipped down, her chin touching her chest and she let out one last breath. Cloud looked at Tifa, who was doing her best not to burst into tears right there. He could see some tears which had managed to break through her blockade moving slowly down her cheeks. (This isn't right....), he thought to himself, (This has got to stop...
He took Tifa's hand and began to lead her away from her fallen comrade. He could see her anger was building up within her and for a moment he almost felt sorry for the next Shinra employee they ran into. The soldiers who had been attacking them seemed to let up considerably as they reached the top. Barret was up ahead shooting at anything that moved, with dead on accuracy. He looked quickly behind him as he heard the footsteps getting closer. He was beaming as he saw Tifa and Cloud running towards him. "Tifa! Cloud! You came! Be careful! They're attacking from the helicopter."
Cloud handed Barret some new materia and the armor he bought for him at the weapon shop in the Wall Market. Tifa looked at her leader, "Better equip ourselves before they attack in full force!"
After Barret had put on his new equipment Tifa looked up and noticed a large helicopter moving towards them at high speeds. "Here they come!"
With a quick passover one loan passenger jumped from the skids and landed on the grating that made the top of the pillar. He landed exactly where he wanted to, just out of range from the people standing nearby and close enough to the computer terminal and his objective. Cloud immediatly recognized him from the incident in the church, it was Reno of the Turks. Reno grinned cruelly at the group. "You're too late. Once I push this button..." He leaned forward and punched a few keys onto a keyboard. A final tone let him know he had done what he had to do. "That's all, folks! Mission accomplished."
Tifa frantically looked over at Barret and Cloud, "We have to disarm it! Cloud! Barret! Please!"
Cloud began to move towards the terminal. Reno stepped in front of him, holding out a weird type of night stick. He shook his head teasingly, "I can't have you do that. No one gets in the way of Reno and the Turks..."
Before he engaged the three of them he looked over what he was going against. The first was that spikey headed SOLDIER he had met yesterday in the church, that meant the Ancient wasn't too far away. Knowing what he did he knew this one wasn't a pushover. The way he held his sword, something most SOLDIER's wouldn't use as a weapon, told him he would have to be careful. Next up was the large black man with the gun-arm on his right hand. He looked strong, but also slow, it would be advantageous for him to get in close to this opponent. The third caught him off guard for a moment. She was absolutly angelic, her hair perfect her body...perfect. She wore gloves which meant she was a hand to hand fighter. He smiled inwardly, (works for me babe). His first order of business was to take out the gun-arm and distance capabilities of the group. "Try to break out of this..." He pointed his night stick at Barret and a ball of light shot out, encasing the big man within an energy pyramid. Inside Barret tried pounding at the barrier but found he could do nothing about it.
Letting his guard down to look at Barret was his first mistake of the fight. He immediatly had to avoid a swipe from Cloud's sword aimed towards his mid-section followed by an attack that went from the ground, up. Reno decided to save Cloud for last and move in towards Tifa. He swung his night stick at the spikey headed warrior forcing him to jump backwards. With the extra distance Reno charged for Tifa who was paying attention more to Barret's pyramid.
Tifa saw Reno coming out of the corner of her eye and blocked his first thrust with the night stick. She dropped down and tried to sweep him but he nimbly flipped backwards avoiding her attack. He pressed in again trying to gain an advantage, but she calmly blocked each of his attacks and sent him backwards with a kick in the stomach. (She is much better than I thought.)
Cloud struck Reno with a "Bolt" attack but the armor Reno was wearing absorbed most of the attack. He turned towards the swordsman and smiled, (You wanna see an electric attack huh?) Hitting a switch on his night stick he fainted an attack to Cloud's head waiting for the sword to come up to block. When it did he jabbed Cloud with the night stick hitting him with 10,000 volts of charged up electric punch. Cloud felt his body tense up from the attack and he flew back towards Barret's pyramid hitting it dead on. The force of the attack broke Barret free and he glared angrily at Reno who had turned his attention back towards Tifa. Barret looked down at Cloud who had gotten slowly back up to his feet and opened fire on Reno who wasn't looking.
Tifa had hit him a few more times before moving out of the way of Barret's shot. Reno felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder and he glared back at the large man, who just smiled at him. (They're all really good.) He could see Cloud moving in again at him, (He should have been stunned for at least a few minutes. No SOLDIER, let alone a normal person could recover that quickly.)
Cloud had enough of Reno. He could see this Turk was quite skilled in a fight, being able to handle himself against all three but it wasn't a fight he was going to win. Cloud brought his sword up and began a series of cuts which crossed instantaneously across Reno. The Turk had managed to block a couple of the attacks but one of them had gotten him on his left leg making him cry out in paine and stagger back from the group, which was moving slowly towards him.
Reno looked at his watch and realized he had distracted them long enough. He smiled at the group, "It's time." Ignoring the pain from his leg he sprinted towards the railings pushing Tifa aside easily. Upon reaching the edge he jumped over and started decending towards the surface. Cloud could still hear the helicopter in the distance so he figured that's where Reno was heading to. Tifa recovered from being shoved and ran towards the terminal. She began pushing buttons irratically. Cloud realized this could set off the bomb just as much as anything so he started towards her. She looked up at him, "Cloud! I don't know how to stop this. Try it!"
Cloud nodded. She stepped aside for him and he began to push some buttons. Very soon he figured out the system and stopped. Tifa looked at him questioningly. He just shook his head, "...It's not a normal time bomb."
The Shinra Helicopter, which dropped off Reno earlier now hovered up to their level. Standing on the skids was a man, older than Cloud and the others but not as old as Shinra. His long black hair went past his shoulders and was not tied like Tifa's was. The blue uniform, identical to Reno's except being tucked in nicely and unstained allowed Cloud to recognized him as Tseng, the leader of the Turks.
Tseng's face remained expressionless. There was a cold efficiency in how this Turk looked. He looked ruthless and uncaring, Cloud admired the professionalism Tseng was embodying; but that was as far as Cloud was going to go with praise. There was a sense of malise in his voice, "That's right. You'll have the hard time disarming that one. It'll blow the second some stupid jerk touches it."
Tifa looked pleadingly at Tseng, "Please, stop it!"
Tseng glanced down at her and laughed coldly. This was the part of the job he enjoyed best, watching as others were at his mercy, "Ha ha ha... ...Only a Shinra Executive can set up or disarm the Emergency Plate Release System."
Barret was livid at how this man could disreguard life. He pointed his gun arm at the helicopter, "Shut yer hole!" He opened fire at the aircraft, hoping to cause damage to the rotor or something so that jackass would come down to their level.
Tseng's smile disappeard, "I wouldn't try that...... You just might make me injure our special guest." He reached into the chopper and pulled out a woman in a pink dress. Barret had no idea of who she was but he could clearly see she wasn't involved with Shinra. He lowered his weapon.
Tifa on the other hand recognized the passenger, "Aeris!!" From what Barret could see Cloud also knew who she was.
Tseng laughed again, "Oh, you know each other? How nice you could see each other one last time. You should thank me."
Cloud gripped the hilt of his sword. His teeth clenched together and his eyes glowed with fire, "What are you gonna do with Aeris!?"
Tseng grinned at Cloud, "I haven't decided. Our orders were to find and catch the last remaining Ancient. It's taken us a long time, but now I can finally report this to the President." Cloud looked over at Aeris (Ancient.....)
Aeris cupped her hands and shouted down to Tifa. "Tifa, don't worry! She's all right!"
Tseng deciding to show his control over the situation slapped Aeris hard on the cheek. She fell backwards a bit and put her right hand over where Tseng had hit her. She looked angrily over at Tseng who just smiled coldly. Tifa called over to her friend, "Aeris!"
Aeris looked at the three of them. From what she heard from Reno inside the bomb was going to go off any minute. (They don't have time to worry about me!) "Hurry and get out!"
Tseng shook his head and laughed, (It's too late.) "Ha, ha, ha... well, it should be starting right about now. Think you can escape in time?" He looked at the pilot who began to move the helicopter up and away from the pillar. As they were leaving a small explosion rocked the pillar. Chunks of concrete and heated steel began to crumble from the top and rain down upon the sector below. Cloud knew it would take too long for them to get back down the stairs. Tifa and Barret began to look for another means of escape. Barret found an old cable wire, which attached to a section in sector six. "Yo, we can use this wire to get out!"
Barret unhooked the wire from the railing and stepped up on the railing, placing one foot on the hook which held it to the pillar. Tifa and Cloud ran over to him and climb onto the wire. Barret had Tifa get in front of him and Cloud climbed a bit higher on the wire and held on. The shaking was getting worse on the pillar, it was going to come down soon and there was nothing they could do about it. Uttering a string of curses Barret pushed off of the railing and began swinging towards the surface. The force of wind pushing against them almost made Barret let go. This was one of the times he wished he had two hands again. He looked up at Cloud who held onto the wire for dear life. Tifa tried looking back at the pillar but Barret's mass wouldn't permit her to do so.
The pillar began to shake and rock violently and the cable carrying Cloud and the others moved away at high speed. From further below large sections of the pillar began to swell and break apart as a series of explosions moved up and down the once unbreakable structure. In one final gesture of human technology the whole pillar became engulfed in a bright light and shattered into tiny pieces.
On the plate a family was sitting down to a quiet dinner. The dinning room was full of fancy foods from all over the world. Two children were fighting over a drumstick from a Turkey and the parents were trying to scold them when the shaking began. At first no one noticed it seeing as they were busy with other things; but as it grew stronger the children grew quiet and the parents began to look around. Suddenly a strong jolt knocked everyone to the floor. Pieces of furniture began to topple over and the sounds of screams filled the air around them. The two parents grabbed their children just as the power went out.
People were just coming out of Seventh heaven when the shaking began. They had noticed a beautiful young woman come in earlier and take Barret's daughter with her; but were unconcerned because that meant no one was watching the liquour. Now they looked around because there was no one walking through the town at all, as if it were deserted.
Sector Seven was no longer being help up by any direct force whatsoever. It began its terminal decent towards the surface snapping all the power wires, and connections it had with other sectors of the city. Some of the people on the edge were torn in half by the separation while others fell to their deaths from being knocked off.
In sector seven slums the people in the bar finally realized what was going on and the fact that it was too late for them to do anything about it. One of the men had gone back inside the bar with a bottle of whiskey while the others tried to run towards sector six. Chunks of debris either fell on top of them, or in front of them cutting them off from any means of salvation. All any of them could do was scream.
The plate section slammed onto the surface with an incredible force. Cloud, Tifa and Barret were safely into sector six; but not safely away from the explosions which knocked them off of the wire and into the walls at the edge of the playground. Cloud felt waves of nausea coming over him and he looked back towards the gate to Sector Seven. He reached out towards the burning hulks and slumped to the ground, unconscious.
President Shinra had watched as the plate fell towards the ground. His eyes lit up as new explosion ripped more of the plate apart on the ground. He calmly sipped his glass of red wine and raised it to his ultimate power.