Chapter 45
Midgar. It had been more than a month since they'd left it. Jessie had never been away before, so all the feelings at the sight of it now were new. Its skyline was... not really familiar. Of course she'd seen photos and diagrams, but she'd spent the whole of her life inside of it. And Sector 7... wasn't there anymore. She wasn't coming home, not really.
"It's... impressive," said Vincent.
"It's ugly," said Yuffie.
"It's Midgar. Come on."
They met Wedge at the city limits, where the wall began that divided Sector 8 from Sector 7--a wall that now served to contain the rubble, but not to conceal it completely. Just over its top, jagged metal shapes and twisted beams were silhouetted against the hazy sky.
Her voice stuck in her throat. Somewhere in that mess was Biggs, left behind, his bones crushed and his body rotting. And how many more people she'd known? They hadn't stayed at the church long enough to tally the missing faces, to know their losses with certainty.
They weren't going to leave anyone behind like that again. They couldn't. They just couldn't lose anyone this time.
Wedge's arms surrounded her. "I know," he said. "I know."
Jessie hugged him back tightly. "Sorry," she said, sniffing back tears. "We've got so much to do..."
"A few minutes won't hurt," Wedge reasoned.
How had Tifa held it together so well when they'd gone back to Nibelheim? Jessie had no idea.
At last she pulled back from Wedge and scrubbed her sleeve across her face. Vincent stood with his back to them as though to give her some privacy, and Yuffie had walked ahead down the street a ways.
"Okay," said Jessie. "Let's pull it together."
The others regrouped. "So I guess you're Wedge, huh?" said Yuffie.
"That's right," said Wedge, scratching his head. "You must be Yuffie. And you're Vincent?"
He nodded.
"Nice to meet you."
"How are... Marlene and Elmyra holding up?" Jessie had to ask.
"About as well as you'd expect," Wedge said ruefully. "Elmyra's putting on a good front. She says, you all got Aeris out before, so she's not worried, but... I think that'd be impossible. And Marlene... we didn't tell her how bad it was, but I think she picked up on the mood."
Jessie nodded. She'd been doing her best to focus on planning, on each challenge as it presented itself, but it was hard to shake the image of Barret with that sword through his gut. Lucrecia had said he was alive, that the Shinra doctors were looking after him, and that was something... but she didn't exactly trust Shinra doctors. She wanted him out of there. She wanted him home.
Well... with family. That was home, right?
"Well, let's get to work," said Yuffie, throwing her a glance. "We'll get Barret back along with everybody else, and then no one's gotta worry."
"Right," said Jessie. "We should get moving."
It was good to get away from the wall, anyway. Not that being in Sector 8, rather than some more familiar stomping ground, wasn't a reminder in itself, but it was better. Not like the imagined weight of the ruins, pressing against the wall, at the edge of her sight.
They knew some people in Sector 8, enough that Jessie spotted a handful of familiar faces as they went along. On one passing face, she caught recognition in turn, and a noticeable relief. Had they catalogued their losses? Had they taken anyone in?
"So," Wedge began uncertainly, "what did you do with...?"
The Black Materia. It was like he didn't even want to say the words, and after a stint carrying that thing around herself, Jessie felt the same. "We buried it," she said, "on the way south. Not exactly a permanent solution, but I don't think it's in danger of anybody finding it for a few days."
Wedge nodded. "It's a little scary to think about, having something that could destroy the Planet. But, maybe it makes Shinra a little less scary. It's taking them a really long time to do the same thing."
"Yeah," Jessie agreed, but she didn't want to dwell on it. "Did you manage to track down any of our old contacts?" she asked instead.
"A few," he said. "I checked in at that old church when I got here. Some people are still there, but most everybody's scattered around. Nick and his son are here in Sector 8, they were able to get me a few guns for you. I talked to Lonnie, too. Martial law's been lifted for a couple weeks, but Shinra hasn't reverted the security measures on the trains. She said she'd heard of somebody finding a way to trick the new ID scanner, but she's not sure it's credible."
"We don't have the time to chase down that lead anyway," said Jessie. If only she still had her old equipment... "With any luck, our Shinra contact'll be able to help us out."
"Did Lucrecia tell you anything about him?" Wedge asked.
"Not really. Just the rendezvous."
"I wonder if he works for the media..."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, there's been this story on the news since yesterday, about a big storm headed our way? I've been wondering if that's somebody in Shinra trying to warn people about Holy."
"Huh. Could be." After all this time, Jessie had a hard time imagining anyone at Shinra wanting to do the right thing, but whenever she thought that way, she had only to glance at Vincent to remind herself how faulty that line of thinking really was. He'd been a Turk, and he'd implied well enough that the organization hadn't been much different in his time. And yet, he'd made the decision to join them.
So, how many at Shinra now would make that choice if it were available to them? If the sides could be presented to them clearly?
"Tifa and the others getting caught," Wedge went on, "that's been on the news, too. Shinra's real proud of themselves for finally besting AVALANCHE."
Jessie smiled wryly. "A little premature, isn't it?"
"I thought so, too," he agreed.
Shinra had surely thought they'd won before, and instead AVALANCHE had grown. In spite of Shinra, in spite of everything they'd pit themselves against. They could come out of this, and keep on growing, or so she wanted to think.
Jessie glanced back at Yuffie and Vincent, following along behind, taking in their surroundings. She'd seen enough new arrivals to Midgar in her time to know the look on Yuffie's face, but Vincent's was a little more inscrutable.
"Recognize anything?" she wondered.
"...I'm unsure," he said. "Even the light has changed."
She nodded, knowing how much even that could change your perception of a place. And now, after thirty years of rust and reinvention... he'd probably need a real landmark to get his bearings. There might not be any. A lot of old buildings hadn't survived the construction of the plate overhead, for one reason or another. The rest had had to adapt, renovated to use Mako energy, tacked onto, rebuilt when their original purpose was rendered useless.
"Well, if we run across any old people who look like they've just seen a ghost, we'll have that," said Yuffie. "I mean, as long as you don't give 'em heart attacks."
"I doubt anyone would recognize me," said Vincent.
"I don't know..." said Jessie, giving him a once over. He was definitely a sight; they'd found him some boots at that seaside village, but nothing he wore matched, especially with that cape thrown over it all. "People are doing double-takes whether they recognize you the first time around or not."
"I wasn't sure I should ask, but..." Wedge faltered. "What is with the cape, anyway?"
"I've been wondering that myself," Jessie admitted. "You can't tell me that's how Turks used to dress."
There was a long pause, all three of them staring at him, before Vincent said, "I found it on a corpse, in the basement."
"Gross!" said Yuffie. "You took that off a dead guy?"
"He didn't need it."
"What, and you did?"
Vincent didn't answer that, but he didn't need to. "You know how he tends to go through clothes," Jessie reminded her. If he'd known about his transformations, then it had probably happened at least once while he was locked up in that basement.
"Well, uh, it does look pretty cool," Wedge offered. "Wherever it came from."
Vincent shrugged.
They were to meet their contact at a restaurant a block from the Sector 8 train station. Jessie had never eaten there, but she remembered walking past it a few times. Vincent and Yuffie waited in the alley out back, so as not to draw undue attention to their rendezvous.
Their contact was doing that well enough by himself. Maybe he wasn't wearing some fine suit, but his clothes were still too nice for the slums, and he stood out. A gym bag rested at his feet, and Jessie caught a few customers eyeing it, wondering how much its contents were worth. No doubt someone would have relieved him of it, if they hadn't met up with him.
He was handsome, though. Conspicuous, but handsome.
"You Lucrecia's friend?" Jessie asked him.
He looked startled at her approach, and glanced between her and Wedge uncertainly. "Yes, that's me," he said. "Are you... Jessie?"
She nodded. "Let's clear out of here."
He got to his feet with reluctance, and she couldn't blame him. A moneyed Shinra employee, going off alone with known 'terrorists'? It was a risky move on his part. She hoped that spoke more to how much he cared about Midgar than to his intelligence.
They joined Vincent and Yuffie in the alleyway, which no doubt did nothing to allay his fears that they were about to murder him, but it was a good place to talk.
"So, Lucrecia never actually gave me your name," said Jessie. "You trying to maintain some kind of cover?"
The man glanced over the four of them, and his expression remained wary, but he shook his head. "I guess there's not much point. Your friends already know me. My name is Reeve Tuesti. I'm--"
"Head of Urban Development," Jessie finished, her eyebrows raising. "You're really up there, aren't you? No wonder you stick out like a sore thumb."
"What's Urban Development?" Yuffie wondered.
"He oversees major construction projects and infrastructure maintenance," Wedge explained. "Stuff like that."
"Doesn't sound like much," Yuffie said doubtfully.
"It... isn't, really," Reeve admitted reluctantly. "Not without the support of the President and the military. That's why I agreed to this meeting."
"So you care about the people of Midgar so much that you'd team up with the likes of us to help them," Jessie said. "Why now?"
"Because I believe your friends about the threat. If Holy is powerful enough to stop Meteor, then it's powerful enough to destroy everything we've built here. A lot of lives are at risk."
"That's not what I mean."
Reeve held her gaze until comprehension crossed his face, and then he dropped it. "I... tried to dissuade the President, but I wasn't able to stop Sector 7. I should have done more. So this time, I am."
It was hard to imagine that someone who worked that closely with the President and his cronies wouldn't have known their character, and what they were capable of. Had it been denial, or complacency? Shinra had never visited an atrocity like that on their own city before.
Whatever it was, he was making the different choice now.
"Well," she said, "I guess that's right. Wedge said something about a storm on the news, was that you?"
Reeve nodded. "I fed that story to the news stations in hopes at least some people would evacuate, but even on the plate, the numbers are low. Relief crews are standing by in expectation of widespread power outages, and I managed to get a few generators down to the slums. The reactors are down to skeleton crews, and I gave my employees at Headquarters the week off."
"Your colleagues aren't suspicious of your actions?" Vincent wondered.
"Heidegger and Scarlet are too self-absorbed to have noticed the personnel changes yet. Scarlet is more involved with the press, though... I think she does suspect me. But it's not exactly damning, to invent a storm."
"Yeah, that's kinda lame as rebellions go," said Yuffie. "We need something bigger to get people moving."
"Based on the timeline Aeris gave us, it's too late for a full-scale evacuation," Jessie said, shaking her head. "But we can at least get people the hell away from the reactors."
"I'm not certain how to do that," said Reeve. "Most of the remaining personnel are military, and any orders I gave them would be checked and countermanded."
"Well, if we can't give them orders... we give them a reason to do what we want anyway."
Wedge looked at her sharply. "You don't mean..."
"AVALANCHE's reputation is... already shot," she said, returning his look with a rueful smile. "People think we killed the President, destroyed Sector 7... and we really did bomb a reactor before. They'll believe we'd do it again."
"There's just one problem with that," said Reeve. "Rufus and the others know you don't have the manpower left to pull it off. They won't believe a bomb threat."
"We don't need to convince Rufus," Jessie insisted. "The average citizen isn't going to take their chances, if they realize Shinra hasn't caught all of us."
"No, Jessie," said Vincent.
She looked at him in confusion. "No?"
"I don't think you should play into the narrative that Shinra has created for you. It's time they accepted blame for something."
"But Holy's one thing they actually didn't have anything to do with."
Vincent arched an eyebrow. "Would it be coming here if not for them?"
"I like what you're saying," said Wedge, "but how do we turn it around on them? People aren't going to believe they sabotaged their own reactors; that's why it was so easy for them to pin Sector 7 on us."
"It will require... a whistleblower," said Vincent, turning his head.
"Me?" said Reeve.
Vincent nodded.
"You realize you're asking me to throw away... everything. My position... I won't be able to do anything to curb Shinra's actions. I'd never be able to go back."
"You must've known that was a possibility from just meeting with us," Jessie pointed out. "And what you're able to do in your position? It's not enough. You've already admitted that."
Reeve fell silent. His brow furrowed, and he wasn't really looking at any of them. It probably was a big decision, for him. For someone who must've spent most of his life topside, and only recently allowed himself to comprehend the extent of Shinra's corruption. No matter how wrong it was, it was all he knew.
At last he gave his head a slight shake. "Your friend is still right," he said. "People will never believe Shinra is planning to destroy their own reactors."
"We don't have to attribute the intention to them," said Vincent. "Negligence will do. There have been problems with reactors before, haven't there?"
"I thought people didn't know about Corel or Gongaga?" said Yuffie.
Jessie shook her head. "Not exactly. Corel was publicized--Shinra's version of the story, anyway. Nothing about the town, just that a 'rebel faction' tried to sabotage the reactor's construction."
"How many times have they used that story?" asked Vincent.
"I see where you're going with this," said Reeve. "Once people start to see the pattern, they might just believe they were all cover-ups. The Midgar reactors are all the same design. I can say... I've uncovered a fatal flaw. Maybe we don't know exactly how much damage Holy will cause, but the northernmost reactors are also the oldest. They'd be the most likely to... fail."
It was something, but... "I wonder if it'll really be enough," said Jessie.
"It probably won't be," Vincent said dispassionately. "If Holy acts as we anticipate, casualties are unavoidable, no matter what methods of coercion or persuasion we use. But, I believe this is our best chance for a long term impact."
Yuffie was nodding. "Yeah. Yeah, I see it. Shinra's bragging about how they caught AVALANCHE, so they don't have their favorite scapegoat. Even if people don't believe this guy before Holy hits, they're gonna feel different after. They're gonna see Shinra for what it is."
"I like that a lot better than letting Shinra keep scaring people with bogeymen," said Wedge. "It might even clear our names."
Jessie chewed on her lip. It sure sounded nice, the thought of turning public opinion against Shinra, at long last. But was it selfish, to try that route instead? She glanced at Vincent. Or... maybe her idea would just be a way of punishing herself. For the lives they had taken, and for those they hadn't been able to save.
There was no reason to believe that a bomb scare would be any more effective, when they'd still have to go against everything Shinra was telling the people about AVALANCHE's defeat.
"I guess... it really is the best we can do, right?" she said. "We can warn people, but we can't make them listen. We can't force people out of their homes."
Vincent looked to Reeve. "Do you agree?"
"What does happen, afterwards?" Reeve asked.
"To you, you mean?" Jessie wondered.
"...yeah."
"Well..." Jessie glanced at the others. "I guess it makes you one of us," she decided. "Whatever goes down with Shinra, we look after our own."
"...all right," Reeve decided. "I suppose we're headed for the TV station, then."
"Speaking of our own, though..." said Yuffie.
"Right," said Jessie. "After we do this, we still need to get our people out of the Shinra building. Can you help with that?"
"That's what this is for," Reeve said, patting the gym bag. "I brought you all key cards, and some clothes to help you pass for employees, since..."
He trailed off, probably not wanting to insult them, but he was right. As much as he stood out in the slums, they'd stand out even more on the plate.
"Lucrecia has the codes for the cell block," he went on, "and I can tell you where they're keeping Wallace."
"Barret... How is he?" she asked. "Do you know?"
"I hear he's awake now, and stable. But I haven't seen him myself."
Jessie nodded to herself. Stable. Stable was good. Stable meant recovering.
Reeve glanced at his watch. "We should get going, if you want to catch the next train back up to the plate."
"Shit," said Jessie. "The train..."
"The key cards will get you past the scanners," Reeve assured her. "Don't worry about that."
"Man. Things seem pretty easy for a Shinra employee," she couldn't help observing. The freedom of movement alone...
Once they were on board the train, they made their way to an empty car at the rear. There, they took turns changing into their new disguises, and Reeve back into his suit. Jessie guessed that Tifa and Lucrecia had detailed the sizes, but whose idea had it been to buy anything so... swanky? The only suit Jessie had ever worn before was the cheap one she'd borrowed from Biggs, and this was nothing like it.
"Vincent, you probably ought to tie your hair back," she reasoned, "to look professional and all." He nodded, but hesitated, and after a beat she pulled the tie out of her own hair and handed it to him. "I should be okay like this."
Reeve was looking at them both skeptically. Wordlessly he produced a comb and handed it to her.
"That bad, huh?" Well, there'd been a lot going on. She'd try not to take it as an insult.
Damn if Vincent didn't look good in a suit, though. Was it still okay to enjoy looking, or was that too dangerous a pastime right now?
"How much did you have to shell out for these?" she asked Reeve, in search of a distraction.
"It was... a bit of a splurge," Reeve admitted. "But who knows? Now that I've taken up with terrorists, maybe Shinra will freeze my accounts. They won't be much use then."
"How much've you got?" asked Yuffie. "Can you like, get it out first?"
"Yuffie, we're not making a trip to the bank so you can relieve Reeve of his fortune."
"What? Oh, come on! He's gonna lose it anyway. Besides, we're down to like... nothing."
It was true, they'd even had to cut into Yuffie's stash to bribe the ferryman into taking them across on his day off. But AVALANCHE's dwindling funds weren't a priority right now. They couldn't be.
At the first station on the plate, they changed lines, and headed out to Sector 2. It was unfamiliar territory, though Jessie could see the signal tower a few blocks away as they got off the train. The sky behind it was a warm haze, approaching sunset.
Though controlled by Shinra, of course, the TV studio was far from a military bastion. A handful of infantrymen served as security guards for the building, Reeve had told them. They met one of them as they entered, and despite Jessie's nerves, he let them through without even asking for ID. He recognized Reeve, and since Yuffie had reluctantly agreed to hide her shuriken in Reeve's bag, the rest of them must have looked the part of a Shinra executive's retinue.
Jessie nodded to Vincent, who fell back to deal with the guard as quietly as he could. And... not in a permanent way. Jessie didn't want that, and she knew Tifa wouldn't either. He was just some guy guarding a TV station. Not exactly evil incarnate.
There was activity on the studio floor, preparation for the scheduled news program on the hour. Reeve didn't interrupt them, but ducked into the production room to talk to the staff about an emergency broadcast. Wedge and Yuffie went with him, but Jessie headed for the transmission control room. The staff might happily allow Reeve to start talking, but they needed to ensure he was allowed to finish.
The transmission suite wasn't a large room, though it was crowded with computers and specialized keyboards. Monitors showed the feed from the studio floor and whatever prerecorded program was currently being broadcast, the audio playing low over the speakers, plus some data Jessie couldn't interpret at a glance. It was only staffed by two people, who turned as she entered.
Jessie flashed her borrowed Shinra ID. "I'm just here to observe," she said. "Mr. Tuesti's preparing for an emergency broadcast."
They paused, but they seemed to catch something over their headsets. The woman nodded and they both proceeded to ignore her.
Good. Jessie kept an eye on the monitors and a hand on the gun holstered beneath her suit jacket, and she waited for them to put Reeve on the air. He appeared on one of the monitors, the woman gave a count over her headset, and then a switch was flipped.
"Hello, citizens of Midgar. I hope that some of you recognize my voice if not my face. My name is Reeve Tuesti; I've worked as Head of Urban Development for Shinra for nearly eight years now. During that time, I've borne witness to more disasters than you probably know, though I'm sure some will ring familiar. Nibelheim, Corel, Gongaga... Sector 7. Over the years, each of them has been attributed to terrorist action. Wutai-allied rebels.
"None of that is true."
The two operators exchanged glances, and one of them reached for a switch.
"Don't touch anything!" Jessie said, drawing her gun on them.
They turned to her, startled, and slowly put their hands up. "Just what is going on?" asked the man. "I thought this was supposed to be an emergency broadcast."
"It is. Just not the kind you think."
"You're not from Shinra, are you?" said the woman. "Who are you?"
Jessie gave her a tight smile. "I'm with AVALANCHE." When their faces paled, she went on, "We're not here to hurt anyone. We just want the truth to out."
"You kidnapped Mr. Tuesti," said the woman. "You're forcing him to say these things."
"Does he sound like he's being forced?"
They paused, and Reeve's speech continued in their silence. He might have been more charismatic had he had more time to prepare, but the unrehearsed quality of his words made him sound honest. That was important.
Someone's shoulder briefly appeared in the frame, and then vanished again with a faint clatter. The others, handling things on the studio floor.
"All of this... can't really be true," said the man uneasily. "It's just been rebels. People upset that Wutai lost the war."
"I've never even been to Wutai," said Jessie. "I lived my whole life in Midgar. In Sector 7. It was our home, and Shinra destroyed it just to get to us. If you don't believe that after tonight, maybe you should get your people to do some real journalism. Talk to the survivors. Ask them who told them to evacuate, who was fighting to protect the pillar. Because it sure as hell wasn't Shinra."
They exchanged glances again. She wasn't surprised they still doubted what they were hearing, but she could tell a little doubt had crept in about Shinra, too. They'd listen with all the skepticism in the world--but they'd listen. Hopefully that's how it was all across Midgar. And hopefully, there'd be just enough doubt that the people who lived near the reactors would leave, and Shinra's employees would decide this was a good night to go home early.
Reeve was reiterating his warning a second time when Jessie began to hear distant shouting from elsewhere in the building. Wedge's voice came indistinctly over the audio, beckoning Reeve, and he hurried off screen. The broadcast continued, picking up gunfire and shouting, but not much video. Someone knocked the camera over, and booted feet hurried past.
They'd expected this. Shinra may not have had many men on site, but they'd sure as hell send more to stop Reeve from spilling their secrets. They were too late, though.
"Get down," Jessie advised the operators. "You don't want anybody shooting you by mistake."
They complied without question, and Jessie cautiously opened the door a crack to look down the hallway. It was clear for only a second before Reeve appeared, Wedge hurrying him along and keeping an eye on their rear. Jessie stepped out to join them.
"Vincent and Yuffie?"
"They're coming," he said, and sure enough they appeared a moment later, Vincent firing back at enemies still out of sight. Yuffie cast an ice spell, blocking off enough of the hallway to slow the pursuit before it dissipated. Together, the five of them hurried for the emergency exit.
It wasn't unguarded. Wedge shouted and pulled Jessie back as a bullet struck the doorframe where her head had been. Vincent switched places with her and sniped the soldiers, using the door as cover. When the way was clear, they hurried out into the parking lot.
Jessie looked around. "Vehicle theft?" she proposed.
"Way ahead of you," said Yuffie, producing several sets of keys that she must have taken off the crew. "Which one you wanna try?"
They opted for someone's personal vehicle, more nondescript than the TV vans even if it was a little cramped. Vincent took the wheel, and as they cleared the parking lot, a couple motorcycles sped out after them, but Yuffie flung bolt spells back at them. After a few blocks, no new pursuers appeared, and Jessie began to relax. They joined the regular stream of traffic, just another car.
Beside her, squeezed between her and Wedge, Reeve sat with his head bowed and his eyes shut. She could feel him trembling a bit. First time in a shootout, or was he beginning to regret his TV spot?
"Hey," she said. "You did good."
"I hope so," he said. "I felt sort of strange up there. Like being in a dream, where you aren't in complete control of yourself. I never imagined saying all those things... It was the truth, but gods, think of all the chaos it could cause. I almost find myself hoping people don't believe it. This could fracture the company. I know what Shinra is, but as it stands, Midgar won't run without it. It won't... survive."
"One thing at a time," said Jessie. "Anyway, you might be surprised. In a disaster... a lot of people pull together. So we'll just see. How bad it is, and... how good we are."
As they drew closer to the city center, Reeve gave directions, and Vincent pulled them at last into the employee parking lot outside the Shinra building. It loomed overhead, just as it always had, its lights glowing in the twilight that had fallen.
Some employees hurried out of the building as they emerged from the car. Jessie couldn't quite tell--was it a normal day for them, just anxious to get home, or had they seen the broadcast? She looked to Reeve.
"I think you'd better not come in," she said. "Your face is a little too recognizable right now, and even if it weren't, things could get real messy here."
Reeve looked uneasily up at the building. "But, I..."
"I'll keep you company," Wedge volunteered, and it was probably a good idea for one of them to keep an eye on him, lest Shinra soldiers try to take him into custody. They hadn't promised him that. "And maybe we can see about upgrading our getaway vehicle. If everything goes all right, we'll need it."
Jessie nodded. "Good thinking. I'll leave that to you two."
They took a moment to rearrange their gear, leaving most of their old clothes with Wedge and moving the weapons into Reeve's nicer-looking bag. Just headed for that fancy private gym with a bag full of guns, she thought.
"Good luck," said Wedge. "And if you need me, just call."
"Got it."
The rest of them turned towards the entrance.
"So this is Shinra Headquarters, huh," said Yuffie. "What're they trying to prove by making it so tall?"
"Yeah, you figure somebody's trying to compensate for something here," Jessie agreed.
"We should go," said Vincent.
Jessie swallowed and nodded. Even with their ID and their 'disguises,' could they really just walk in through the front door? Logically, she understood context was important in recognizing a person. The security in the lobby wasn't likely to have encountered any of them personally, and they'd be on the lookout for a different class of person. Renegades from the slums.
Vincent took the lead as they walked through the entrance, his clawed left hand shoved in a pocket and his ID ready, but security didn't even glance at them. Rather than manning their stations, they were all clustered together around one desk, talking in agitation.
"It's a fake-out! It's gotta be."
"Well, if it is, then what's the point? You're saying Mr. Tuesti's working with AVALANCHE? Those guys are all upstairs. They couldn't do a thing to the reactors even if we did leave 'em unguarded."
"You sure we really have 'em? I haven't seen 'em."
"If we don't, then... doesn't that mean they're lying about something either way?"
"I don't know, man, it's making my head hurt."
Jessie exchanged glances with Yuffie. They walked past and headed for the elevators.
"It's working," Yuffie said as they started up. "It's really working."
"Seems like it," Jessie agreed. "At least it's a start..." If Shinra's own soldiers were beginning to doubt them... what was Midgar going to look like, after tonight? It was hard to imagine.
The numbers on the elevator ticked higher. Through the glass, they could see the ruins of Sector 7 below. Jessie turned her back on them and drew a breath, refocusing herself.
"I wanna check on Barret first," she said. "Are you two all right to head on up to the lab without me? Lucrecia should be there to meet you."
"You sure about splitting up?" Yuffie wondered. "There's supposed to be guards posted on Barret."
"I'll be careful," Jessie assured her. "If I don't think I can handle them, I'll wait for you."
"Okay. Either way, we'll join you down there."
Jessie got off at the 48th floor. With the layout in mind that Reeve had provided her, she carefully walked down the hall until she saw guards outside a room. She ducked back. Only two. Not SOLDIER. She could handle that. She just needed them off-balance.
She hadn't found much use for that other materia she'd taken from the Turks, but it might work here. She focused, and cast Confusion on the nearer of the guards.
As the spell took hold, he gave a shout of alarm and struck the other with the butt of his rifle, knocking him against the wall and stunning him. The affected guard then bolted down the hall, towards her. He noticed her, but she darted forward and tripped him. Grabbing his rifle, she ran for the second guard before he could get back up.
Relieved of their weapons but clear-headed again, they went reluctantly where she indicated, and she had them cuff themselves to a handrail in a different room. Satisfied, she left them and hurried back to the room they'd been guarding. She keyed open the door.
Barret lay in bed, but he was up on his elbows, looking towards the door and the sounds of commotion. He had bandages around his abdomen, but he was alert, and alive.
Jessie dumped the rifles on the floor, threw her arms around him, and kissed him.
And then she realized what she was doing.
"Uh, Jess?" said Barret as she pulled back.
"Sorry. I guess I was just... glad to see you."
He returned her sheepish grin with one of his own. "Feeling's mutual," he said. "But what's with the monkey suit?"
"It's my disguise. We walked right through the front door this time. What do you think?"
"...ain't sure if it suits you, but you're makin' it work."
"...thanks." Jessie could feel her face heating. Why? It was just Barret, and it wasn't even much of a compliment. Oh, hell. "You must be feeling a little underdressed," she noted, though she really didn't mean his current lack of shirt. "Any idea what they did with your arm?"
"Dunno," he said. "They took it while I was out."
A quick search of the room didn't turn anything up, unsurprisingly. "Well," she decided, "let's just get you out of here. Can you walk?"
"Think maybe I could. But..." Barret jangled his arm. His left wrist was handcuffed to the bed.
"On it," Jessie said, pulling out her lockpicks.
"Where's everybody else?" he asked her. "It ain't just you springin' us, is it?"
"No. Yuffie and Vincent went up to where they're holding the others. They should meet us back down here any minute now. Lucrecia's helping."
"Guess she's come in handy after all. Never woulda guessed it. Sephiroth's mom and all."
"People can change," said Jessie, "when they put their mind to it."
"True enough," Barret agreed. She got his hand free, and he slowly eased himself up off the bed. He kept his hand on it to steady himself, but he didn't seem to be putting too much weight on it. "Ain't up for runnin' any marathons," he told her, "but I can make it to that damn elevator."
"Let's wait for the others," she said, and he eased himself back down.
"Heidegger was in here before," he said, "askin' me about the City of the Ancients. Holy... It's on its way here, ain't it?"
Jessie nodded, taking a seat beside him. "Shinra brought Jenova back with them. Aeris couldn't say exactly when it's going to hit, but... it can't be long now."
"How is everybody? Marlene... she know what's happened?"
"Everyone's fine," Jessie assured him. "Wedge came to help--we talked to him and Elmyra, they know what's going on. Marlene doesn't know how bad you were hurt, but I'm sure... I'm sure she'll be so glad, when you get back to her..."
"...you all right, Jess?"
"I'm just... so relieved. I was so worried about you. Especially having to trust the Shinra of all people to take care of you. If we'd lost you... I don't know..."
Barret put his arm around her, a firm and comforting weight across her shoulders. "Don't start kissin' me again," he said. "This ain't the time for that."
Did that mean there'd be a time for it later? Jessie glanced up at him, but his eyes were steady on the door. Well, she didn't know the answer right now either. Maybe it was just her emotions getting the better of her, a misplaced impulse on finding a good friend alive. But, she might have to take a page from Tifa's book for once, learn some patience and think things through.
"Hopefully everybody else remembers that," she joked instead. "There's at least a couple lovers' reunions happening up there."
Barret snorted. "Yuffie oughtta keep 'em on track," he reasoned.
"Yeah," Jessie agreed. "It's funny... I'm not really worried about them. Like I just know now we're all gonna get out okay. Wonder what that's about?"
"You're in some kinda mood, is what it means. Kinda get the sense I'm missin' somethin.'"
"Oh! Oh, right."
In her relief, she really hadn't filled him in on much of anything. But he of all people deserved to know about the blow they'd struck against Shinra tonight. To know that Shinra's crime against Corel had finally come to light and maybe, just maybe, Midgar was about to turn its back on them for it.