Final Fantasy VII: Reflections - Book 2: Ascent

NINE

I was sitting at the conference table in the basement with Biggs and Wedge while Cloud leaned against the wall when Tifa and Barret rode the elevator downstairs and joined us. Tifa sat down next to me across from the guys while Barret took his usual place at one end of the table and gave us all a moment to settle in.

"I like what you did with your hair," Tifa whispered to me.

I tossed it playfully around my shoulders. "Thanks! Got all cleaned up before coming here, so I thought I'd keep it down for a while. Cloud did too, you know. After me, I mean."

She nodded. "I thought his hair looked a little damp."

"Yeah," I said. Then I giggled and leaned in a little closer to her as a great idea sprang instantly to mind. "Hey, Tifa. Next time you walk up to him, sniff the air around him and say, 'Is that lilacs?'"

Tifa grinned. "Definitely! Your shampoo?"

I chuckled. "Yep! He didn't really have much of a choice. For such a tough mercenary, he sure smells all nice and flowery!"

We laughed together at that, a little louder than we'd intended, and seeing how confused Biggs and Wedge were across from us only made it worse. They hadn't heard our conversation since we'd kept our voices low the whole time. Not low enough, though. Barret scowled at us for a moment until we'd finally composed ourselves.

"You ladies finished?" he growled.

"Sorry," Tifa and I said at the same time.

Barret began, his gaze sweeping over us. "Awright, people. Let's get to work. We got a mako reactor to hit."

Biggs scratched his chin. "When, boss?"

"Soon enough," Barret answered. "I'm thinkin' 'bout a month or so. Maybe six weeks. Still got some preppin' to do first."

"What do we need to do?" Biggs asked.

I looked at him. "I've got the passcodes for the doors on the upper level, but I still need to decrypt them before they'll be of any use to us. Shouldn't be too hard, though. But it'll take time."

Barret nodded. "You get on that. What about the bomb?"

"I know a guy over in Sector 3 I can buy the C4 from," I replied. "It won't be cheap, but he doesn't ask questions, either."

He grunted. "Good. Take Cloud with ya when you go."

I'd already been planning on that. Marcus seemed a decent enough guy from what contact I'd had with him, but some of his suppliers and associates were another story. Kind of hard to avoid dealing with those sorts when selling goods like what I was after, so I didn't blame him. It could just make the transaction a little tricky.

"My contact isn't likely to cause any trouble," I assured Barret. "But I can't really say the same for his associates. I doubt they'll do anything if Cloud's there, though. He can be pretty imposing."

"Me? Imposing?" Cloud blinked.

I grinned. "Yeah, when you wanna be. It is so hot."

"Enough of that," Barret grumbled. "Biggs, Wedge—while Jessie an' Cloud are off gettin' what we need, you two are gonna slip on up to the plate to take a look outside the reactor. Do some recon an' see what the patrol routes are like an' what else they got outside."

"Will do, boss!" Biggs agreed.

Wedge added a thumbs up. "We'll get the intel, don't worry."

Barret went on. "We need the reactor layouts, too."

"I can get them," I promised, not a doubt in my mind. "Shinra's got them stored on their network, probably locked down tight somewhere on the central mainframe, but I know that system inside and out. And I'll find those blueprints, Barret. You can count on that."