CHAPTER 11: Everything You Know is Wrong

It was an unusual sight, to say the least.

People had to do a double-take to make sure their eyes did not deceive them.. or in some cases, to steal a last glance at the sight. It was very rare indeed...

Tifa strode down the street, trying to ignore everybody's eyes... though she could feel them on her like lead weights. For once, she had ditched the all-black ninjitsu uniform and was wearing hip-hugger jeans, a white low-cut t-shirt and a small, loose, black and gray windbreaker jacket. She didn't like dressing in such.. common clothing. It was impractical, for one, and also, everybody would just stare at her like she was a Gold Chocobo when she did. No, she didn't like dressing this way, but it served a purpose. People wouldn't listen to protestors if they looked dangerous, so Tifa and her team had to blend into the general populace as much as possible.

Of course, she wasn't the only one dissatisfied with the change.

Johnny was standing in front of the bar, struggling with both a red tie and keeping his almost neon-bright hair slicked back. Tifa walked up to him, grabbed the tie and began to fix it, without request or invitation.

"Thanks..." Johnny replied, busying himself with his hair, "I hate this, I hate this, I hate this..." he mumbled aloud.

"So do I..." Tifa sighed, "But it's part of the job."

"Can't I just go up naked? It'd be a lot more comfortable than this damn collar..." Johnny asked.

"It's called a tie, and no, we don't want to scare people away, remember?" Tifa replied, a hint of a smile forming on her face.

"Hardy har, Teef..." the red-haired man grumbled. They were suddenly interrupted when Dyne stormed out of the bar. His eyes darted left and right, full of anger.

"Wh-what's wrong, Dyne?" Tifa ventured. Dyne hurried down the steps, loading up his gun arm. He did not respond and simply kept looking around.

"...Sir?" Johnny tried. "What..."

"No time. We have a leak," Dyne informed the two.

"What?" Tifa responded angrily. "How do you know?"

"Our man on the inside just contacted me... Shinra HQ received a fax with basic information on today's plan earlier. We don't think the enemy intercepted any copies, but we can't be sure."

"Zack!" Johnny replied adamantly. "It had to be him!"

"What had to be me?"

The trio spun to their right, where the voice came from. Zack was waltzing up to them, flanked by Wedge and Biggs.

"You've gotta lotta nerve!" Johnny yelled out angrily, pointing an accusatory finger at Zack.

Zack looked at Biggs and Wedge, both of whom shrugged. He looked back at Johnny, and raised an eyebrow in response. The Ex-SOLIDER turned to Tifa and Dyne.

"Good morning to you guys, too... What's his problem?" he said, thumbing over to Johnny.

Dyne gave Zack a long, hard look, studying him for any signs of deceit... but nothing presented itself. He looked to Biggs inquisitively, and blinked rapidly. Biggs simply shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

"Uhhh, whuz goin' on?" Zack asked in an oversimplified manner.

Dyne looked back to Zack before answering. "Sorry. It's just that we received word that someone tried letting Shinra in on out plans earlier this morning... Obviously we suspect you, since you just got here."

"Oh sure, blame the newbie!" Zack replied dismissively, giving an exaggerated shrug.

Tifa glared at Zack for a moment, to which he responded to by cowering behind his hands. "Aah, don't hurt me!"

The buxom young ninja turned to her leader. "It couldn't of been him, he's not smart enough."

"Hey!" Zack retorted, "Me ams plenty smarts!" he replied in his dummy voice, thumbing to himself.

Johnny's eyes darted back and forth, anger growing on his face. "Stop that! Playing dumb won't hide the fact that you ratted us out!" he growled, poking Zack in the chest.

Zack blinked, then scratched his head. "Look... I didn't do anything. I swear! I mean, you had Biggs and Wedge and Jessie were watching me most of the night..."

"Huh?!" Biggs and Wedge replied at once.

"Yeah, you two were pretty obvious about it, but Jessie was peeking in through the roof, so it was hard to tell..." Zack admitted. To this, Biggs and Wedge snickered.

"What?"

"Heh. Well, Wedge and me were SUPPOSED to be watching you," Biggs replied, "But Jessie wasn't supposed to be there!"

"Huh... rree-aaalllyy?" Zack replied with amusement.

"Okay everyone, that's enough of that," Dyne said. "I'm pretty sure Zack isn't our mole... and we can wait till later to find out who it was... or is. In the meantime, we have a mission to accomplish. There've been a few changes, so when the others get here, I'll elaborate."

***

Two Shinra commanders stood on the brick platform, roughly twenty feet apart. The first train coming in would be there in a few minutes, and it was their duty to check each car and secure it for its next trip. They could already see the engine's light in the distance, and could hear the repetitive chucka-chucka-chucka of the gears.

Not terribly far away, in the alley of the Sector 8 downtown theater, a sole figure stood, as if in a trance. Green light leaked from a radiator, giving off enough illumination to be able to distinguish the figure from a close distance. She wore a long, pink dress, along with a red mini-jacket. A large pink ribbon kept her light brown hair tied back behind her, and even though it was bound in a large braid, it still flowed freely. Large green eyes looked into the light with clear and concise comprehension. She nodded, as if instructed to do something. She perked up as a truck rolled by down the street, its muffler obviously not working the way it was designed. The young woman closed her eyes and smiled a bit, shaking her head. She picked up a basket of flowers at her feet and braced herself, taking in a deep breath of dirty, mechanical air.

"Here we go again..." she mused to herself as she stepped out into the cobblestone street.

The large steam engine train made its way to the stop where the two commanders were stationed, like it did every day. Every day, the train came in, the commanders checked it, and they found nothing, and they let it go. Every day they would do the same thing for the first 6 hours of the day, and every time they found nothing.

People say there's a first time for everything. There is good reason for this...

The train had stopped, and the commanders began to walk forward towards the doors, when suddenly a shadowy figure leapt off the top of the first car, followed by another. The closest commander let out a slight yell before he was grabbed and thrown to the ground by one of the intruders. The second commander ran towards them, unholstering his gun. Suddenly, a third figure fell from above him, landing a kick to his head, rendering him unconscious as well.

Dyne and Zack jumped off the top of the train when the coast was clear.

"Who says public transportation is inconvenient?" Zack joked.

"I don't know. Zack, we'll clear the way, you clean up back here," Dyne instructed.

"Gotchya," Zack replied. He already had picked up the closest commander and began dragging him to a nearby ditch. Dyne and the others ran of into a passage just next to the train station wall. Before Zack could dispose of the second commander, he heard rapid footsteps coming towards him. The ex-SOLDIER glanced behind himself as two MPs ran up to him.

"They went that-a-way," he spoke in a commandant tone, pointing to the other side of the train.

The two MPs looked at each other. One of them shrugged, and they both went off in the direction Zack had indicated.

Zack smiled to himself. "I wonder if MP means Moronic Peon?" he wondered aloud as he ditched the other commander's body. He then proceeded in the way the AVALANCHE members had really gone. After following a small series of steps, he wound up on a high ledge, which lead to a gate of some kind. Jessie was busying herself with the controls while the others watched her back.

"Zack, what took so long? We shouldn't stay separated for too long, you know," Dyne commented.

"Sorry, I had company," the ex-SOLDIER replied with a shrug. Dyne excepted this, and showed so by nodding.

A moment later, Jessie had picked the computerized lock on the gate, and it slowly slid open, making more noise than Dyne was comfortable with.

"Okay, go! Zack... I'm trusting you here..." Dyne stated coolly. Zack nodded, then looked up at their target: Mako Reactor Number one. It was rather huge... if the bomb was too powerful, the debris could well cover a whole sector. Zack shook these thoughts out of his head and continued on.

The five companions raced through a maze of machinery and equipment, hoping they wouldn't have to stick around too long. As they reached the doorway that would take them to the reactor, a growling noise presented itself. The AVALANCHE members skid to a halt, and looked around, but saw nothing.

"Wh-what was that?" Jessie asked nervously.

"I don't-" Dyne began, but was cut off by Zack.

"A hellhound," The former SOLDIER answered. With that, he dashed forward, away from the group, and made a whistling sound. "HERE BOY!"

"Zack!" Jessie yelled out, but within a moment, Zack had turned down an alley and disappeared.

The beast leapt out of the shadows, mouth agape, straight at the lone warrior. Zack whipped out his gigantic blade, and blocked the beast's attack, causing it to ram its nose into the long metal weapon. With a whine, the creature retreated back for a moment, but spun back around as it regained its bearings. Zack struck out at the dark-blue, dog-like monster, but if the creature had anything going for it, it was a good amount of agility and speed. Zack swung down, but the creature charged Zack and flew past him. Landing on its front paws, it slashed at Zack with its long, pointed tail. Zack had started to turn when the hellhound had done this, and was rewarded with a small gash to the cheek.

The Hellhound growled with delight and went to take a bite into Zack when several bullets ripped into its body, ending its earthly existence. It hit the ground with a thud and lay still.

"Thanks," Zack said with a nod to Dyne, "Those things don't like attacking when they're outnumbered, so I had to draw it away. Thanks for the backup..."

"No problem, just tell me next time you're gonna run off, okay?" Dyne requested in a commandant tone.

Zack and Dyne rejoined the others, and made their way to the reactor.

The only way into a Midgar reactor was by going onto a large bridge which stood between each individual sector, and overlooked the slums. The reactor went all the way down, and up an additional 20 stories, making each reactor in fact as large as the legendary Shinra building. But no one really took the time to observe this, as they were on a mission.

No one spoke as they entered the main hall of the reactor. The floors were made mostly of metal, and exposed piping was present everywhere one looked. There was only enough walling and floors to support the place and the people who worked inside, so everyone had to watch their step. Jessie worked the controls to the first door, and easily deciphered the code. She brushed back her brown hair with her hand, then presented it outwards. "After you!"

Biggs went through first, as he had the code for the second door. He punched in the code on the panel, and waited for a few tense moments before the computer acknowledged the code, causing the door to open. The five ran through into the next room, which possessed an elevator at the end. Dyne came to a halt just before it.

"Hmmm..." He turned to his men. "I know I usually don't do this, but Biggs, Wedge, I need you to stay here... just in case. We don't want security trapping us all down there by retaking the upper floors."

The two young men looked at Dyne, then each other, then back at Dyne again. Biggs shrugged, while Wedge nodded. Dyne and the others then piled into the elevator. It was not very well lit, and possessed no walls, only a series of pipes and electronics, making it rather eerie, especially for an elevator. It looked fragile enough that it would break, sending anyone on it down a forty-story freefall of death.

As the elevator made its way down into the reactor's core, Dyne decided to speak up. "Look, I don't want to scare you guys, but a lot's riding on this mission. We can't afford any mess-ups."

"Gee, thanks for the confidence boost," Zack muttered sarcastically. Dyne decided not to respond, as it would likely only bring more of Zack's so-called wit. Soon, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened. Before the trio stood a large work area on a platform. Stairs went all the way down the platform into the dark, pipe-filled depths below. Zack could already smell the Mako and hear it bubbling in the distance. The only things Dyne and Jessie could smell and hear were the machines which all but ran the place. However, none of them were here for the scenery. They quickly made their way to the edge of the platform, and down the stairs. It was a long jog, but since they were going down, it made the trip a bit easier.

Once they made it to the base of the stairs, they stuck to the shadows, and moved as quietly as they could towards the next door. Robo-Guards lumbered here and there, no real destination, but simply programmed to go to random points as if on patrol. Zack had a good sense for how the guards were programmed, and he was able to lead Dyne and Jessie past them with ease. The group quickly retreated into a doorway into a new area.

Solid granite bricks made up the walls of the area, and the only places to walk were large pipes, catwalks and ladders. It would make a casual observer wonder how the heck engineers were supposed to check up on the place when it was doubtful they could make it in once piece, or without falling into the Mako pits below. Jessie looked down at the glowing blue and green liquid, and while it made her a bit dizzy and hesitant, she did not fear falling. She was more than a computer geek, she was also a world-class gymnast, capable of maneuvering on and around pipes a tenth of the size she was walking on now. Still, being so far up made her nervous, so she closed her eyes as she made her way across, and did everything she could not to look down. Dyne had trouble getting down ladders, having only one good hand, but he didn't let it hinder his progress. Zack was rather nonchalant about the whole thing. Soon, they had reached the main catwalk, which lead straight to the reactor's core.

The reactor core was a gigantic, though rather nondescript device.  It was a bulge of machinery that the casual observer wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of, with pipes, gauges, and pressure valves everywhere.  It seemed rather low-tech, as if the technology for extracting Mako had never been changed or improved upon since its inception decades ago.

Jessie stayed behind as Dyne and Zack walked up to the large machine, when Zack tripped on something. He flattened his face on the partially rusted metal bridge, and let out a yell.

"Are you okay?" Dyne asked. Zack nodded as he picked himself up. He looked down and saw when he tripped on, and a smile came to his face.

It was a small orb, no bigger than a large marble. It had a green tint to it, and a soft, calming glow. To even the untrained eye, one would recognize it as Materia.

"Heh, a Cure one at that..." Zack pointed out as he picked it up. He pocketed it for the moment, and continued to the core.

Suddenly, he stopped again, just in front of where the bridge widened up so one could get to any part of the large core.

"Shhhhit." Zack whispered, looking up.

"What?" Dyne asked, becoming impatient with the constant interruptions.

"This isn't an ordinary reactor..."

Dyne's eyes fell upon where Zack had been looking. Indeed, a large, very strange looking device sat just on top of the core. It looked like some kind of cube, with what looked like sections that could move, much like a door on a car.

"That's a robot..." Zack warned, "The second we touch the core, it'll spring to life and attack. Last I heard, they were only in the theory stage... but I guess a lot changes in five years, doesn't it?"

Dyne thought this over for a second. None of his contacts had said anything about the reactors having built-in robots. "So now what?"

Zack smiled, then turned around. He motioned for Jessie to come over, which she did. "Whassup?"

"You know how to use Materia?" Zack asked.

"Do I?!" Jessie responded, obviously meaning yes. Zack pulled the Restore Materia from his pocket, and a Lightning Materia from his sword, giving both to Jessie.

"Then back us up." He swung around, his sword at the ready, and looked to Dyne. "We can take it... trust me!"

Dyne gave a hint of a smile and readied his own weapon as he took a few steps onto the platform. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen...

Suddenly, the cube above them began to hum and shake.  The sections opened up, making a "chk chk chk chka" sound, revealing what looked like a large, robotic scorpion within, complete with two giant pinchers and a segmented, nasty-looking tail.  It jumped down from its hiding spot, gouging into the metal floor with its sharp, pointy feet.  It recovered from its fall and reared up, ready to attack.

"Aw right, lets... huh?" Zack began, but he was interrupted.

The sound started again, and the cube itself transformed into ANOTHER one of the scorpion-like beasts! It jumped down behind Zack and Dyne, trapping them.

"TWO!? Oh hell..." Zack lamented. He wasted no further time with wisecracks, and went to work. Both machines began to scan their targets using large, harmless beams. "Dyne, MOVE! They can't get a lock on a mobile target!" Zack yelled out as he slashed at the mechanical beast in front of him.

Dyne complied and jumped away from the scan beam. He aimed his gun at the second Scorpion's scanning device and opened fire. The beast had the sense to block the bullets with its claw, causing it to get damaged, but saving what served as its eye. It pointed its other claw at Dyne and began firing with a hidden machine gun. Dyne sprawled out of the way of the clumsy shot, shooting at the beast again.

Jessie was frozen for the first few moments, but quickly recomposed herself. She concentrated on the Lightning materia, and cast a bolt spell at the machine attacking Dyne. It reared up and sputtered as electricity ripped into its hull and damaged its computerized organs. However, it was not enough to put the creature down.  It turned and shot a few rounds in Jessie's direction, prompting her to duck and hope for the best.

Dyne yelled at the creature, shooting it again and garnering its attention.  The mechanical monstrosity responded by swiping at Dyne, knocking him face-down into the grated floor.  By instinct, honed by years of training, Dyne quickly rolled across the floor as the Guard Scorpion thrust its bladed tail right at where Dyne had been a moment before.  Dyne got up quickly, though unsteadily, and held his jaw, which almost got knocked out of place.  Feeling a bit dizzy, he took his hand away from his face and placed it against the railing for balance and continued shooting at the robot.  It turned right towards him and activated its scan beam, while Dyne wildly continued shooting.  But it was no use, for the creature finally got a lock!  It raised both claws, revealing the assault guns within each, and was about to fire...

Dyne felt a bit too weak and dizzy to dodge quick enough, and just as hopelessness sank in, he saw himself getting surrounded by several points of green light. At the same time, his jaw snapped harmlessly back into place, and like he just received a blast with cool air, Dyne was able to make a daring leap out of the way of the spray of bullets that the robot began to fire off.

Zack slashed ferociously at the Scorpion before him, but his blade was only causing surface damage, nothing that would actually do harm to the creature. The machine tried swiping with its claws and tail, but Zack easily evaded the blows. Zack literally hammered away at the robot, denting its hull, but it was still only more surface damage.  Zack knew that he'd have to get at the machine's internals for his attacks to have any real effect.

The mechanical monster plunged down with its tail; however, Zack countered by knocking the appendage aside.  He raised his sword to strike, but then saw the tail coming back around, forcing him to retreat.  The thing still nicked Zack's leg, and so Zack made a small jump and rolled with the hit, getting sent to his back, which was a far better proposition than losing his foot.  He rolled back, and was about to stand when the Guard Scorpion punched him in the face, knocking him back down.  It raised its tail to strike again, but it was again interrupted, this time by a streak of lightning, which caused the robot to convulse for a moment while its systems adapted to the power surge.

This gave Zack the time he needed to stand up and get his bearings together.  He ran at the Guard Scorpion, and managed to plunge his sword straight into the creature, twist it, and with a leap into the air, tore the sword up and out, causing extensive damage. The creature then started to shake...

Dyne concentrated his fire at one point of his opponent, letting each successive bullet breach further and further into the giant robot. Jessie then cast another Bolt spell, practically destroying what passed for its brain. This one too began to shake...

Zack smiled. He ran over to the creature Dyne was fighting and jumped on top of it, then turned to face his own opponent and cast an Ice spell. Shards of cold energy assaulted the mechanical beast, causing just enough damage for it to perform a pre-programmed, last-resort attack. It raised its tail and unleashed a volley of energy in Zack's general direction, all but destroying the second beast as Zack leapt away. In its last moments, the second Scorpion unleashed ITS final attack at the first scorpion, the source of the damage, helping to finish it off.

Both machines broke down almost simultaneously. One suffered a large explosion and was forced over the edge of the catwalk and into the Mako pits below. The other simply came apart at the seams in a series of small explosions.

Zack breathed heavily for a moment, but was smiling. "Ha ha! We did it!" he exclaimed, throwing his fist in the air, all while twirling his sword and re-sheathing it.

"Aah, one last detail," Dyne reminded the younger man. Dyne went up to the reactor core, and placed a small device underneath it, just out of plain view. "Now we just gotta get out of here and meet up with the 'rescue workers'."

Zack still had his reservations, however. "Are you SURE that thing won't destroy half of Midgar?"

"Relax..." Dyne stated, "There probably won't even be any exterior damage to the reactor. At most, a few places nearby might get damaged. Yes, I know that means there may be casualties... and I don't feel good about that. But by the same token, this reactor represents the power of evil, and if we bring down that which gives Shinra power, we bring down Shinra, and the world's problems are solved."

Zack just shrugged and decided not to argue.

The trio made it back without incident, and met up with Biggs and Wedge.

"Now what?" Zack couldn't help but ask as they ran out of the reactor.

"Now we meet up with the others, and when I press this button," Dyne said as he indicated to a bulge in his jacket, "the reactor'll go boom, and then we go to work, helping people out and denouncing the Shinra."

Zack couldn't help but make a witty remark...

But it wasn't heard.

The noise was so loud it made everyone temporarily deaf before it could even actually occurred, as strange as that seems.

A large light poured out of the reactor, totally enveloping it, sending burning debris in every direction for almost a mile, not that anyone could see the debris, as anyone looking in that general direction was rendered practically blind.

It was seen from as far away as Kalm, and no one knew what to make of it, at least, not at first. It looked like a large, growing bubble of energy which only lasted a few moments. But then it became more and more obvious, as reports came in from news stations, people in Midgar calling their loved ones, and finally the sound had reached the small hamlet, loud as an avalanche, it shook all the buildings, even from the relatively safe distance of fifty-odd miles. No one wanted to imagine how loud it was to the people in Midgar, at least, those who survived...

There had been an explosion at a reactor. Not just any explosion, however. It had been long theorized that Mako, as an energy source, could be used to develop highly effective explosive devices. However, so much would have to be gathered that the bomb would not be able to be transported. Also, it would have to be compressed super-fast so that it would not form into Materia, by being irradiated with an exact electromagnetic frequency, then exposed to a large enough amount of heat to set it off. The result: A raw Mako-powered thermonuclear explosion, capable of destroying a whole village and leaving enough Mako in the air to cause Mako poisoning to anyone who survived.

It was common knowledge that the Mako pits in Midgar were a high enough temperature, due mostly to the constant friction they were placed under from being ferried through pumps and pipes, but no extra security precautions were ever taken, because no one would be mad enough to set off the EM pulse, nor smart enough to know the exact frequency needed to create such an explosion.

Or so it was thought.

Until today.

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