I was almost to the outskirts when Jessie caught up to me, fallin' in alongside me as we hurried toward the pillar. It loomed ahead of us, an' even from here, I could see the fight had already started. Bright, quick orange flashes lit the night all through the lower floors. It was gunfire, the shots ringin' out across the slums along with shoutin' and screamin' as folks on both sides got hurt an' killed.
"It's started, hasn't it?" Jessie grimaced. "Damn..."
I knew how she felt. "You get done what you needed to?"
She nodded. "Yeah. I just hope it makes a difference somehow. Are Biggs and Wedge in there?"
"Oughta be," I said. "Saw 'em on the way, gatherin' up the watch, so I sent 'em on ahead. Looks like Shinra got there before us, though. This is gonna get ugly, Jessie. Bad as I ever seen."
"I know," she sighed.
The sound of them Shinra choppers flyin' high above us an' circlin' the pillar filled our ears when we got there. They spat bullets at all our people inside, cuttin' 'em down left an' right, an' I felt rage in my gut at what was goin' on. I was jus' 'bout to enter the gate when I realized that Jessie had stopped and was jus' standin' there.
I looked at her. "Jessie?"
She was gazin' up at the pillar. "A few jitters, Barret. That's all. I feel strange... knowing what's coming. I mean... I've put my life on the line before, but... this is different."
"You sayin' you wanna stay behind?" I asked.
"I promised Cloud I wouldn't go in there," she explained.
Before I could think better of it, I pointed my gun-arm at her. "You best not back out on me, girl. Not now. People are fightin' and dyin' for you an' me an' everyone else here."
She stared at me. "Barret, that's not what I—"
"If you sold us out..." I growled. "You gonna regret it."
"Is that what you think?" Jessie snapped. "That I'd do some terrible shit like that to you? To my friends?"
I kept my aim on her. "Dunno what to think, Jessie. You found this plan, then went outta sight to do somethin' you won't tell me 'bout jus' as we head out. An' now, you flakin' out on me right before we 'bout to get into the fight ourselves. Like you don't wanna be in there 'cause you know somethin'. Suspicious as hell to me, girl."
Jessie didn't flinch. "I thought you knew me better than that. And I really am sorry I didn't tell you I used to work for Shinra. But you have to know that I'd never turn on you, never do anything to hurt you. Not ever. I couldn't. I have my reasons, Barret, and someday, I hope I'll find the words to tell you why. Until then, if this is the only way I can prove myself to you, then I'll do it, and gladly."
That said, she turned an' hurried toward the pillar, drawin' her gun on the way. More folks from the watch was crowded 'round the base of the stairs, but they made way for us when we got there. I sent a handful of 'em to start movin' people out and gettin' 'em to safety, then climbed up the steps with Jessie to make that longass climb to the platform. An' we'd have to fight our way there, sure enough.
— — — — — — —
"Mr. Mayor," I said, stepping into his office. "I assume you've heard by now what's happening in Sector 7."
He nodded. "I have, Director. Terrible, just terrible..."
Domino sighed, leaning back in his chair as I sat on the other side of his desk. Behind him, an array of monitors showed activity all across the Shinra Building. The upper floors, mostly. He'd always kept a close eye on things, using his role as Shinra's puppet to throw off suspicion. I admired his cunning even while I found his odder aspects amusing. He was a good friend and my last hope right now.
"There must be some way we can stop this," I said.
Domino shook his head. "I'm afraid it's too late for that, Reeve. I've been monitoring the situation from here. The battle's already begun. It won't be long now. The Turks are on their way, and once they get their orders confirmed by Heidegger, they'll move in."
I looked away. "The local watch won't stand a chance."
"They're putting up a brave fight," he agreed, "but it's one they can't win. They can't keep them from the platform forever. And all the trains have been diverted away from Sector 7."
"They're being cut off..." I understood. "But there's got to be a way to reach them, help as many escape as possible."
Domino stroked his pointed gray beard. "Possibly, but I don't think there's much we can do for the people of the slums. Those on the plate, however, are another matter."
I allowed myself a small smirk. "The president said there would be no announcement, but he never actually prohibited me from ordering an evacuation. I think we can work with that."
"Splitting the hair mighty fine, my friend," he chuckled. "But I like it. There's a certain devious ring to it, you know."
"Indeed. Now then, we need to send as many troops as we can into Sector 7 to move people out. We don't have much time, Domino. Have the men tell them it isn't safe there. It's the truth, but vague enough that it shouldn't cause them to panic. And with any luck, Heidegger will be paying more attention to the slums and won't notice our activities here on the plate. I just wish I could do more."
He leaned forward. "You'll be saving a lot of lives tonight, Director. Don't go selling yourself short."
"I've sent my little agent on ahead to see about finding a way down to the slums. If he can get into the pillar in time and reach the console, he may be able to input the emergency override code and deactivate it. As I'm sure you know, every Shinra executive director has such a code. It grants full command access to any system on our network. I've made sure Cait knows mine, just in case."
"He'd better get down there fast," Domino said. "We're running out of time, my friend. Was that all?"
I thought of Jessica, in so much danger now. "No, there's one more thing. A personal matter. I need you to send a certain SOLDIER to my office immediately. I have a mission for him. I don't have the authority to make it an order, but he'll want to do this."
Domino raised an eyebrow. "Who is he? And what's the job?"
"Kunsel, SOLDIER Second Class," I answered at once. "I need him to save my goddaughter."
— — — — — — —
I swallowed heavily as I stood with Cloud and Aerith and looked at the Train Graveyard. It was an eerie place, unnaturally cold and lit by a strange, pale blue glow. Empty tracks crisscrossed all through the place amidst long rows of rotting train cars. I thought then of what Biggs and Lena had told us earlier in the week, how they'd gotten lost here as kids and had only barely escaped. And how something strange lurked in the deep gloom and murky shadows.
"Talk about spooky..." Aerith murmured.
Cloud gazed at the ruined trains. "We could easily get lost here, so be careful. Better hurry, though. The others need us."
I nodded. "Yeah. There's still time."
"Aerith..." he turned to her.
She shook her head. "I'm not going home."
He smiled faintly. "Thought you'd say that. Stay close. That goes for you too, Tifa. Keep your eyes open."
"Will do," I said. "I think Sector 7's just past that old warehouse up ahead—see it off in the distance there? Once we get through, we won't have much further to go. I saw a map of this place once, years ago back when I first came to Midgar and started working at Seventh Heaven. It fascinated me even though it gave me the creeps."
"What do you know about this place?" Aerith asked.
I thought about it as we got moving. "Well, it's been abandoned for years, as long as anyone in the slums can remember. And all the stories and rumors say it's haunted. But I never used to believe that myself. At least, until recently. Now I'm not so sure..."
She glanced curiously at me. "What do you mean?"
"Biggs and Lena used to play here all the time as kids. I don't know if she ever mentioned it to you. She would always drag him along with her to go searching for ghosts. But I don't think they ever went past the warehouse. They stayed close to Sector 7."
"That definitely sounds like Lena," Aerith chuckled.
I went on. "Yeah. Anyway, the last time they were in here, they got separated. Biggs followed something he thought was Lena, but it really wasn't. I don't know what it was, but she managed to find him before it would've led him deeper into the graveyard. Fog covered everything as they ran for the fence, and they saw dark shapes chasing them. Ghosts, maybe. Biggs and Lena barely got outta there."
Aerith shivered. "Wow... and now we're in here..."
"And we'll get out," Cloud reminded her.
"Right," she agreed. "We will. Just think, though! When this is over and we've saved Sector 7, it'll be quite a story!"
I smiled. "Yeah. I think you should tell it, though."
Aerith laughed. "Definitely! I—"
She didn't get to finish because just then, we heard a loud chopping noise overhead and the roaring of an engine. We looked up just in time to see a Shinra helicopter flying toward Sector 7 and the pillar, its lights bright in the darkness. We sobered at once.
"Come on," Cloud told us. "Gotta keep moving."
I followed him. "We should stay near the light so we can see where we're going. That's my vote."
"Seconded," Aerith added. "I hate the dark..."
We went on, making our way through the maze of train cars as fast as we could. Sometimes we had to go inside them or even climb on top of them to move forward. The air was so still in here, mist swirling off to the sides, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Try as I might, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched, that in the dark and the shadows, something was waiting.
Here and there, we ran into a cerulean drake or two. They're more commonly called deenglows. Flying things like little dragons, about ten to twelve feet tall with red, leathery wings, pale blue reptilian bodies, a long, pointed snout, and a spiked tail. They were agile and fast but still no match for us. Between our weapons and magic, we took them down easily enough and got only a few cuts and scratches in return. Nothing Cloud and Aerith couldn't mend.
We were almost to the old warehouse when I heard it. Giggling, off to the right somewhere. I blinked, whipping my head in that direction, but I didn't see anything. Just the ruined bulk of the empty train cars. I was just shaking it off and deciding I was just being a bit jittery because of where we were when I heard it again.
I looked to the left this time. "Did you hear that? A little kid... she was laughing. Playing, I think."
"At this hour?" Cloud said. "Doesn't make sense."
"What else do those stories say, Tifa?" Aerith wondered.
I took a breath to calm my nerves. "That those who get lost in here late at night never get out again."
A few minutes later, we found a door leading into the warehouse. I glanced around us again, but there was nothing. Just the trains and the eerie stillness everywhere. The quiet was almost palpable now, and the icy chill in the air froze my blood. The mist and shadows grew thicker as we stood close together. And then Aerith shrieked as a flurry of dark shapes suddenly flew overhead with an unearthly wail and disappeared again into the gloom past the tracks.
I jumped and let out a little gasp of my own, my heart pounding in my chest. "Okay, I'm officially freaked out now..."
"W-What were those... those things?" Aerith shuddered.
"Dunno," Cloud said. "Steady, girls."
I took his shoulder as he reached for the door. "Yeah. Gotta keep it together. I'm glad you're with us, Cloud."
He nodded. "Got a promise to keep, you know."
"That's right, you do," I agreed.
"It'll be fine," Aerith smiled and took his other arm. "We've got the best bodyguard in Midgar protecting us. Mine! Jessie's too, of course. I bet he's gotten her out of some tight spots."
He shrugged. "A few. But ghosts aren't my thing."
I managed a shaky laugh. "More than a few, I bet. You're just being modest. So come on! After you!"
"Mind letting me go, then?" he said.
We did, and after Cloud opened the door, we went inside. The cold and quiet were worse here, and a thick coat of dust lay on everything. I stepped a little closer to him and noticed that Aerith did the same. Old crates of supplies stood stacked in rows along the walls, and ladders led up to a second level. A huge chunk of collapsed debris and overturned train cars blocked the way ahead.
Aerith glanced nervously about. "Looks like a tomb."
"That's not helping," I breathed.
"Let's just take the ladder," Cloud grimaced. "Should be a way past this dead end upstairs somewhere."
Aerith looked at him. "Dead end? Nice choice of words..."
"We are in a graveyard," I added.
Cloud just sighed and moved to the ladder. We climbed quickly up to the second floor. It overlooked the first, with railings running along the walkways. Offices lined both sides, but the walkways were missing sections, having fallen apart over the years.
We made our way through the offices on the left side, pushing past dust and cobwebs to a doorway in the back. The high glass walls along that side looked out over the warehouse. After heading out through the door, we found ourselves on another part of the walkway. Two narrow catwalks connected it to another walkway on the right side of the place along with those offices. One was broken, but the other was intact, and we used it to cross over to the other side.
"Hey," Cloud pointed. "Looks like a control room in the back. If we can get in there, we should be able to find a way outta this place. Then we'll be almost to Sector 7."
I saw it. "Yeah. How do we get there, though?"
He thought for a minute. "That walkway in front of it's broken, too. We'll probably have to go back downstairs."
"Up and down we go," Aerith chimed. "And up again."
"Something like that," Cloud shrugged.
Suddenly the lights flickered, and everything went dark for several agonizingly long seconds. I thought I heard someone whispering, but I couldn't make out the words. I wasn't sure I wanted to. Then I let out a little yelp when I felt a hand clutching mine, but it was only Aerith. She didn't let go even after the lights came back on.
"Don't scare me like that!" she said to the air. Or the ghosts. "That's really not funny, you know. At all."
"How is it there's still power here?" I wondered.
Cloud shrugged. "Who knows? Might be some old generators still around somewhere. Anyway, we've gotta move."
We went on, heading through more offices on this side, then went through another door and back out to the main part of the warehouse's second floor. This time, were close to the control room, and we hurried down the nearby ladder back to the first floor. We ran into another one of those deenglows down there but dispatched it without any trouble. I glanced at the barrier of debris and wreckage.
"Made it to the other side," I said. "Now we've just gotta find a way back up and into the control room."
"Over there!" Aerith pointed to another ladder.
Cloud nodded. "I see it."
It was in the corner on the left side of the warehouse, and we went up quickly after passing by a large set of double doors that stood closed on our right. With luck, we'd find a way to open them from the control room and escape from this spooky place.
When we got back to the second floor, we saw the walkway on this side was mostly intact. We followed it around to a small door at the top of a short flight of steps. The control room was right on the other side. I could see into it through the wide glass windows that looked out over the rest of the abandoned warehouse.
The cold was deeper inside the control room, and so was the dark. A few of the consoles still had power, though. So far, so good. Charts of train schedules, track layouts, and maintenance reports lined the walls, and several metal storage lockers stood in a row along the other side of the room. The tile floor was covered in dust.
"Spread out," Cloud told us. "There's gotta be a lever or something in here to open those doors downstairs."
"We're on it!" Aerith said.
We split up, each searching a different part of the room. I took the front, moving over to a row of consoles sitting just below the windows. I didn't see anything at first, but then a moment later, I spotted a large, handle-shaped lever. Above it, four words had been imprinted in thick black letters right onto the panel:
MAIN DOOR ACCESS CONTROL
"Guys!" I called to the others. "I found it! Over here!"
Cloud nodded as he and Aerith joined me. "Good job, Tif. It's still got power. Lucky for us."
Aerith pulled it. "Time to get outta here!"
As soon as she did, there was a deep rumbling from below us, and the doors swung open. But at the same time, the lights flickered again, and several other consoles suddenly sparked and sputtered. A pale blue mist swirled around the floor as an unearthly howling filled the air like the shrill wailing of a banshee and a chill, piercing breeze swept past us as we stood there together by the console.
The mist grew thicker, rising slowly into the air until it broke apart into a host of dark shapes, things with arms but no legs. Round bodies and ragged, hooded cloaks that hung on them like shreds of cloth. As I felt my blood freeze in my veins, the ghosts or spirits or whatever they were spun around and around in a hellish vortex as their keening grew louder until finally, they merged together to form a single larger ghoul with six clawed arms and five dark eyes.
"Uh-oh..." Aerith gulped.
— — — — — — —
"Director!" Kunsel said, hurrying into my office. "I got here as fast as could. I was already on my way to see you when Deputy Mayor Hart found me. It's about Jessie, isn't it?"
I nodded, standing up. "Yes. We don't have much time."
Determination shone in his eyes, deep blue with the telltale glow of mako, and his short, light brown hair was neatly parted. His sleeveless, dark purple uniform with its twin metal shoulder guards, black leather harness, boots, and wide belt with its engraved insignia clearly marked him as a SOLDIER Second Class. He often went without his helm, but he always had his sword when on duty.
Kunsel's gloved hands clenched. "She's in Sector 7."
"That's right," I explained. "As you know, she's been living there for some time now. Fortunately, you did very well in keeping that a secret. It's highly unlikely that Jessica could have remained hidden down there for so long if it wasn't for you. Your hard work over these last two years has kept her father's eyes fixed here on the plate."
It had been a difficult choice for him to stay, though. He had loved Jessica, and she had loved him. They'd have been married by now if not for her father. Their engagement had been only a few months old when he had discovered where she was. Kunsel had protected her and helped her escape the attempt on her life.
But it hadn't been without a high price. She'd been driven from the plate, away from her life, her love, and everything she had known. And that had included Kunsel. He had stayed behind to act as a shield and a decoy for her, to misdirect and mislead her father into thinking Jessica was still on the plate and to keep a close watch on him.
It hadn't been easy for Kunsel to lose her, and it had taken time for him to heal. I had helped as much as I could, talking with him and also listening. Although he had eventually let her go, he still cared for her a great deal and would do anything for her.
"He's found her again, though, hasn't he?" Kunsel said.
I nodded. "Yes, but that's not our main concern right now. You see, Jessica's in the pillar right at this very moment."
He blinked. "She's in Avalanche?"
"She is," I explained. "And she's fighting to save her home. Shinra's behind this atrocity, not Avalanche. The Turks are already en route. So we have to move quickly, Kunsel. Heidegger and the president mean to bring down the plate and destroy Sector 7."
His eyes widened. "No! I'm getting Jessie outta there, sir! We've got to stop this thing before it's too late!"
I knew we did. "We can, but we have only one chance. You're aware that Jessica once worked here and what she did, who she was. Her rank entitled her to certain privileges, and they were never revoked after she left. I saw to that. She knows what to do."
"So that means Jessie still has—" Kunsel said.
"Correct," I said. "And that's what I'm counting on. You need to get down there, find her in the pillar, and keep the Shinra forces occupied long enough for her to shut down the control console and lock it out. If the Turks can't access the console, they can't detonate the bomb. It's our only chance, Kunsel. Do you understand?"
His eyes shone fiercely. "Yes, sir. I'll get it done."
I knew he would. "One other thing. You won't be going alone. Cait will meet you at the entrance to the Corkscrew Tunnel. I already have a motorcycle fueled and ready to go for you downstairs. It's likely the exit to Sector 7 will be sealed before long, so you need to get in there before that happens. And you may run into Heidegger's troops on the way. So it'll probably come down to a fight."
"I don't care if I have to cut my way through a hundred of 'em," he swore. "I'll get to Jessie. I'll save her."
I went on. "Good. Cait is our insurance policy. He can do what has to be done, just the same as Jessica. If necessary, he'll stay behind in the pillar and disable the console himself. He's expendable. Jessica is not. If things don't go well, get her out of there as fast as you can. Her safety is your top priority, Kunsel. Is that clear?"
He nodded. "As crystal, sir. You can count on me."
"Then go," I urged him. "Go now!"
Kunsel saluted, then left at once, his slim broadsword emblazoned with the SOLDIER emblem on the hilt shining on his back as he raced out of my office. I had done all I could. Now it was up to him and Cait. With a sigh, I gazed out the window at Sector 7.