Chapter 805 - 804: One Firework That Ruined Shinra’s Life and Delighted the Residents of Midgar."

Running down the long corridor, Alex confidently led Tifa, Claudia, and Barret toward a narrow maintenance passage that would allow them to significantly shorten their route upward to the charging stations.

The one thing Alex was absolutely certain of was that the Whispers would inevitably interfere just enough to make sure his group simply didn't reach the Airbuster before its final activation. Alex couldn't even stop himself from mentally complaining about where the hell his own White Whispers had disappeared to, considering that creating them was essentially the whole reason he'd gotten involved in all of this in the first place.

The closer they got to the maintenance corridor, the more clearly Alex could feel the Whispers pushing events in the direction they wanted like an invisible wall, depriving him of even the slightest opportunity to interfere with the canonical scenario. Reaching the massive doors leading into the maintenance corridor, Alex quickly approached the panel and hacked the terminal, immediately allowing Tifa, Barret, and Claudia to go ahead.

After all, all they had left to do now was climb to the very top level, and they would instantly find themselves in the same corridor through which they had originally reached the Mako Reactor. Continuing to follow the group, Alex pointed out the correct path on the move so that Barret, who was running at the very front, wouldn't accidentally take a wrong turn.

"Kid, how much longer are we gonna keep running around this damn place for nothing?! We've been busting our asses through this corridor for several minutes!" Barret shouted loudly, continuing to sprint forward while turning his head back on the move.

"There should be a maintenance staircase up ahead. We just need to climb it, and we'll immediately end up at the very top," Alex said, pointing toward the far end of the maintenance corridor.

"We need to hurry up. With every passing second, I'm getting a worse and worse feeling about this whole situation," Tifa said heavily, running alongside Barret and turning her head toward Alex as well.

"Yeah, you're definitely not the only one, Tifa..." Claudia said grimly, frowning deeply at the oppressive feeling of anxiety building somewhere deep inside her.

Shaking his head, Alex had absolutely no intention of explaining to his companions that the oppressive sense of anxiety Tifa and Claudia had just mentioned was directly connected to Fate itself attempting to forcibly return the course of history to its original path. And he wasn't surprised in the slightest that Tifa and Claudia had been able to sense it so clearly—after all, just that very night, all of them had personally encountered the hyperactive Whispers that had emerged to destroy the arc reactor he had built for Sector 7's Slums.

Letting out another heavy sigh, Alex continued running silently after the others, firmly deciding to keep all of these revelations to himself until the right moment. After all, he and Aerith had agreed beforehand not to tell the others anything about Fate's distortions until the exact time came to reveal the whole truth.

Finally reaching the very end of the maintenance corridor and seeing the desired metal staircase leading to the upper level, Alex rushed up it first. Reaching the platform, Alex patiently waited for Tifa, Claudia, and Barret to join him before continuing onward as a single group. Once everyone had caught their breath, Alex skillfully hacked another terminal and opened the next set of security doors.

Passing through the newly opened passage, the group rushed into a wide corridor that led directly toward the Mako Reactor. Instantly recognizing the place, Barret immediately broke ahead and ran first, naively hoping to intercept the Airbuster before it was fully activated. However, after running through the entire long corridor, they burst into a huge hangar filled with charging stations and froze in stunned silence: every single platform was empty, and the gigantic mech itself was already gone.

"Damn it! We didn't make it after all!" Barret snorted irritably, slamming his fist into the nearest terminal with all his strength.

"Then there's only one thing left for us to do," Tifa said with a sigh, raising a thoughtful gaze toward the hangar ceiling.

"Head all the way to the top, kick that metal tin can Shinra calls a robot's ass, and strike one hell of a victory pose right in front of their damn cameras!" Barret said with a wide grin, slightly cracking his massive fingers.

"That's definitely going to be without me..." Claudia said, slowly shaking her head as she began walking forward without hurrying.

"Why without you?! Shinra clearly won't expect us to be this damn brazen. I'm absolutely right, aren't I, SOLDIER-boy?" Barret said with a chuckle, looking around in search of Alex.

Looking around, Barret was surprised not to see Alex, who had been standing right beside them only a moment ago. Continuing to look around in confusion, Barret couldn't figure out where the hell the kid had disappeared to. Just as he was about to shout loudly and call for Alex, Barret felt Tifa gently pat him on the shoulder. Turning his head toward her, he saw Tifa silently pointing in a direction. Looking there, he noticed Alex standing beside one of the locked terminals with a thoughtful expression on his face. Showing immediate interest, Barret and Tifa decided to walk over and see what Alex had found this time.

Alex himself was completely occupied with reading secret documents on the freshly hacked terminal. After gaining full access to Shinra's internal system, the first thing Alex began searching for was the Airbuster's blueprints, passionately wanting to find out what kind of machine the corporation had created and why it was so different from its canonical game counterpart.

But all Alex managed to dig up were multiple reports containing the results of the Airbuster's weapons tests. Lighting a thin cigar, Alex continued typing rapidly on the keyboard, attempting to restore recently deleted data from the system. And after a couple of minutes, he actually managed to recover a document directly connected to the Airbuster's energy core.

But even this file contained only a statement that its power source was an unknown artifact that Shinra's research division had discovered somewhere across Gaia during an archaeological excavation. Seeing these lines, which contained absolutely no specific information, Alex took a deep breath and suddenly burst into genuine laughter, gripping the edges of the terminal tightly with both hands.

"Alex, are you okay?" Tifa asked, concerned after noticing Alex had begun laughing loudly and rather ominously.

"Oh, I'm perfectly fine! Now I'm even more curious about what kind of inner world this robot is hiding... I want to look at it. I want to see it with my own eyes. I want to turn it inside out!" Alex began saying, and with every passing moment his grin grew wider while his grip on the terminal became tighter.

"Listen, kid, knock it off. You sound like a damn maniac right now," Barret said dryly, watching as the sturdy metal of the terminal literally began bending beneath Alex's fingers.

"Don't any of you wonder what kind of robot Shinra actually created?" Alex asked with a manic grin, turning his head back and giving Tifa, Claudia, and Barret a quick glance.

"Not particularly. Especially considering that this robot is going to become nothing but scrap metal very soon," Claudia said calmly, giving a slight shake of her head.

Continuing to smile insanely, Alex finally crushed the sturdy metal of the terminal with his bare hands. And as the familiar electric hiss of sparks escaping filled the area, Alex immediately realized that he had slightly lost control of his emotions. After all, he was now even more interested in what unknown artifact Shinra had stuffed inside the Airbuster as its power source.

He understood perfectly well that the only thing Shinra's researchers could have unearthed across Gaia with that kind of power was yet another ancient ruin left behind by the mysterious Cetra race. And to him, that meant only one thing: a rare opportunity to add another unique artifact to his extensive collection. Feeling wildly impatient, Alex was ready to go searching for the Airbuster right now and tear the robot to pieces without delay, ripping its precious energy core out of it.

Noticing the expression on Alex's face—the expression of a child who was about to receive a long-awaited Christmas present—Tifa merely shook her head slightly. She had no idea what exactly he had just read on the terminal, but she was one hundred percent certain of one thing: Alex was definitely going to break the Airbuster now. Noticing Tifa's understanding gesture, Alex narrowed his eyes slightly and gave her a sly wink the instant their gazes met.

Seeing this, Tifa looked at Alex with a sweet, slightly tired smile, wisely deciding not to comment on his sudden bout of obsession with the giant robot. Claudia and Barret, meanwhile, were carefully looking around in search of any possible route to the upper level. However, the only obvious way upward was completely blocked by massive construction scaffolding and a thick metal plate.

"Now that you've stopped acting like a complete maniac, kid, how about we look for a way up? We can't exactly refuse to take the stage Shinra so thoughtfully prepared for us," Barret said with a grin, patting Alex on the shoulder.

"We definitely can't climb back up those pipes. We need a completely different route," Tifa said, pointing toward the thick, slippery conduits they and Barret had previously slid down.

"We can use the grappling guns. The cable should be long enough to latch onto the balcony above," Claudia said, pulling a compact grappling gun from behind her back and pointing directly toward the ceiling.

"I don't think we'll need any of that anymore..." Alex said with a mysterious smile, clearly hearing the deep sound of the maintenance elevator doors opening.

"Why? Do you know another way up?" Tifa asked, turning her head toward Alex in surprise.

In response, Alex shook his head and placed his index finger against his lips, signaling that they needed to be quiet for a moment and listen carefully. In the very same second, an irritating sound resembling a heavy circular saw began echoing throughout the empty hangar, as though something was slowly moving across the floor with a metallic grinding noise. Everyone immediately turned their heads toward the source of the sound. A moment later, a shrill sound of metal being cut came from directly behind the thick metal plate.

In the same instant, the heavy sheet was sliced completely through along with the construction scaffolding, and the entire structure collapsed onto the floor with a deafening crash, filling the area with clouds of dust. When the dust settled somewhat, several Sweeper robots appeared on the other side of the breach, with gigantic circular saws spinning where their usual manipulators would have been. Seeing the two Sweeper robots that had so generously decided to open a path for them, Alex immediately decided to deal with them without any unnecessary fuss.

Turning his head toward Claudia, Alex gave a short nod, making it clear that they needed to act as quickly as possible. Claudia understood without a word and drew the massive Buster Sword from behind her back in a fraction of a second. As though he had evaporated from his previous position, Alex appeared directly on top of one of the Sweeper robots in the very same instant and merely applied slight pressure downward with his foot—the machine immediately crumpled and turned into a flattened tin can.

Seeing how quickly Alex dealt with the first enemy, Claudia suddenly dashed toward the remaining one. Rapidly closing the distance to the robot, Claudia leaped high into the air, easily avoiding the horizontal strike of its spinning circular saw. Spinning in midair, Claudia landed heavily directly on the robot's body and immediately drove the Buster Sword deep into the Sweeper's core. As soon as its power source was destroyed, the robot jerked slightly and finally collapsed onto the floor.

"Damn, excellent work, SOLDIERs! Though it's a little sad to see these metal bastards go—they worked so damn hard to clear the path for us," Barret said with a wide grin, clicking his cybernetic arm back into its normal mode.

"This is Shinra sending us their invitation in the most elegant way possible," Claudia said, pulling the Buster Sword out of the robot's smoking body with a quiet metallic screech.

"And who are we to refuse when they've invited us so insistently?" Alex said with a smirk, casually lighting another thin cigar.

"Couldn't have said it better myself, kid! Let's go and see their famous trap in person," Barret said with an eager grin, easily jumping over the smoking metal debris.

Chuckling at Barret's words, Alex turned toward Tifa and gently nodded with a smile on his face, inviting her to move on. Tifa answered with a brief, sincere smile and quickly followed Barret and Claudia, who had already climbed to the upper level. As he climbed the stairs toward the maintenance elevator, Alex couldn't get the artifact Shinra had used as the Airbuster's power source out of his head. It was now perfectly clear to him why the Airbuster had needed such an enormous number of energy capsules merely to pre-charge its core.

And now Alex was even more intrigued by the show Shinra was determined to put on despite everything. He could clearly feel that things were not going to go nearly as smoothly as planned—especially after the Whispers had once again rudely interfered with the situation and continued ruining his carefully calculated plans. Reaching almost the very top, Alex saw the exact elevator they needed.

Approaching the terminal, Alex casually pressed a couple of keys, and the platform activated. Entering the cabin with the others, Alex pressed the button for the top floor and waited for the ascent to finish. And while the elevator smoothly traveled upward, Barret decided to rehearse in full detail the grandiose victory speech he intended to deliver to all the residents of Midgar immediately after destroying the Airbuster.

And the more Barret talked, the stronger Alex's irresistible urge became to smack himself in the forehead. Barret's speech was so clichéd and predictable that Alex began mentally praying for the monologue to end as soon as possible. And he wasn't the only one feeling that way: Claudia and Tifa were also doing everything they could to ignore Barret's fiery sermon, staring hopefully at the floor indicator.

"Listen, give it a rest with the speech already. As soon as Shinra realizes their precious robot can't handle us, they'll just cut the broadcast at the most interesting part," Alex said tiredly, feeling nothing but increasing irritation at Barret's theatrics.

"Then just turn on that damn broadcasting-hack thing of yours, and problem solved!" Barret said in an exaggeratedly loud voice, giving Alex an utterly blank, innocent look.

"No. I just want to get all of this over with as soon as possible and then get some proper rest," Alex said, shaking his head and having absolutely no intention of helping Barret with his revolutionary propaganda.

"Don't worry. We'll deal with everything Shinra throws at us. And then we'll all go home together, absolutely no exceptions," Tifa said with a warm smile, firmly clenching her fists in front of herself.

"I'm not worried. I'm just fucking starving," Alex said with a chuckle, giving a slight shake of his head.

"Then we have even more reason to make it home in one piece... And that applies to you too, Claudia," Tifa said with a gentle smile, shifting her warm gaze from Alex to Claudia.

"And this time, SOLDIER-girl, do me a favor and at least smile properly for the camera once," Barret said with a grin, pointing a finger at Claudia.

"Only if you pay me enough for it," Claudia said with a faint, barely noticeable smile, raising her eyes toward Barret.

Laughing together at Claudia's words, Alex jokingly held out several gil toward her, only to immediately receive a solid smack on the shoulder. Rolling his eyes at such a harsh response, Alex rubbed the bruised spot slightly, thinking only about how they had practically reached their goal and had only a very short stretch of road left to cover. Stopping his rubbing, Alex raised a thoughtful gaze toward the elevator cabin's ceiling, clearly sensing the invisible presence of the Whispers, who simply refused to leave until they had finished their work.

Letting out another heavy sigh at their persistence, Alex inconspicuously touched the inner pocket of his coat, where two Red Summoning Materia were safely stored. He mentally weighed which of the two Materia he should use against the Airbuster so that the entire future scene would look as epic as possible. At that very moment, the elevator quietly rumbled to the very top.

And when the doors opened, Alex sighed, perfectly understanding that he had only one final step left to take. Stepping out of the cabin, he approached the control panel to open the final passage doors. Quickly hacking the last terminal, Alex didn't immediately open the passage. Instead, he turned his head back toward Tifa, Claudia, and Barret so he could clearly explain the next steps of his plan.

"Did something happen?" Tifa asked with slight concern after noticing Alex's intense and overly serious expression.

"No, everything's fine. As soon as I give you a clear signal, you need to run away from here without looking back," Alex replied, shaking his head slightly and looking openly at Tifa.

"What the hell are we supposed to run for?!" Barret immediately demanded loudly, staring at Alex and genuinely unable to understand the logic behind his words.

"So you don't turn to ash," Alex replied in an absolutely calm tone, giving Barret a lazy and slightly tired look.

"Is this part of your Plan B? What are you actually planning?" Claudia asked, frowning, crossing her arms over her chest and staring intently at Alex.

"Shinra wants to paint us all as terrorists? Fine, I'll give them an excellent reason to do so. It's just that everything will happen strictly on my terms, that's all. So, as soon as fireworks appear in the sky, you run, and I'll take the main impact myself," Alex said with a slight smile, turning his head back toward the terminal and finally preparing to press the button.

"Like hell, kid! We came here together, and we're leaving together. And whatever the hell you've got planned, we're doing it together!" Barret roared, angrily slamming his fist into the terminal right beside Alex's hand.

"I'm afraid it won't work that way this time. What I'm about to use is rather unpleasant," Alex said calmly, gently pushing Barret's hand away so he could activate the mechanism after all.

"Is that the thing you were talking about when you said you'd feel sick afterward?" Tifa asked quietly, placing a caring hand on Alex's shoulder.

"Something like that..." Alex replied thoughtfully, gently patting Tifa's hand resting on his shoulder with his own.

Barret was already about to loudly object and repeat once again that they would tear the Airbuster apart together and then leave this damned place together as well. But Alex completely ignored Barret, continuing to skillfully pretend that he himself hated this whole arrangement. In reality, after the battle, he would have to spend a long time pretending to be utterly exhausted from fighting the Airbuster.

On top of that, Alex was doing everything in his power to avoid any unpredictable complications that this heavily modified robot might potentially cause. And the simplest and safest solution was to send Claudia, Tifa, and Barret as far away from the factory as possible, then calmly meet them at the agreed location on the Sector 6 Plate, where they had already arranged to reunite with the others. Seeing Alex blatantly ignore him, Barret nearly exploded with rage, already preparing to demand comprehensive answers out loud.

But Tifa stopped him in time, gently shaking her head to make it clear that there was absolutely no time to settle this argument right now. Claudia merely narrowed her eyes slightly, silently watching Alex's back and tensely wondering what exactly he had just planned that was so dangerous. Before pressing the coveted door-opening button, Alex turned his head back once more and asked whether everyone was ready to continue. Barret merely snorted irritably and deliberately folded his arms across his chest, making it painfully obvious how much he disliked what was happening.

Claudia and Tifa nodded slightly, confirming that they were fully ready. Seeing the signal, Alex activated the terminal with a press, and the heavy doors slowly began sliding apart. As soon as the doors opened, Alex confidently stepped forward first. Once outside, Alex raised his gaze upward and noticed that the bright sun was already beginning to sink below the horizon. Taking an elegant pocket watch from his pocket, Alex saw that the hands were approaching six in the evening.

He couldn't help thinking about how they had spent practically the entire day merely playing their roles in Shinra's drawn-out spectacle.

"It's already evening... How quickly the day has flown by," Tifa said thoughtfully, gazing at the sky painted in the crimson hues of the setting sun.

"Luckily, we still have time to catch the very last train. So at least we won't have to spend the night sleeping in a freezing station," Alex said with a chuckle, putting the pocket watch back into his inner pocket.

"Heh, nice one, kid! Come on, let's move faster—we're practically at our destination already," Barret said with a chuckle, giving Alex a friendly pat on the shoulder as he continued moving forward.

Chuckling at these words, Alex followed Barret together with Tifa and Claudia. After walking a little farther along the metal walkway, they emerged onto a wide T-shaped balcony that offered a breathtaking view of the gigantic walls separating the Plate's sectors. But what drew the most attention was the enormous Shinra Headquarters tower rising in the very center. Looking at the monumental structure, Alex brought the thin cigar to his lips and lit it in the very same second.

He knew perfectly well that he would soon be paying that building a personal visit—and he had several very good reasons for doing so. Smirking slightly, Alex thought that Shinra had apparently changed its mind about putting on its planned show. But the instant that thought crossed his mind, an increasingly loud humming sound rose from below, immediately drawing the attention of the entire group.

A moment later, combat drone robots flew out of the darkness and immediately began circling at a safe distance. Seeing the flying robots, Alex, Tifa, Claudia, and Barret immediately understood: the show had begun. Just as during Heidegger's previous appearance, the drone robots made a synchronized circle and scattered to the sides, activating a massive hologram. But this time, instead of Heidegger, the President of Shinra himself had decided to appear before them.

Clamping the thin cigar between his teeth, Alex lazily looked over the corporation's supreme ruler. The man had neatly slicked-back gray hair, a well-groomed short mustache, and a strict gray suit of impeccable tailoring. Finding nothing particularly remarkable about the man, Alex merely exhaled cigarette smoke indifferently through his nose. Meanwhile, President Shinra carefully examined the entire group through the drones' cameras, and his piercing gaze lingered on Alex and Claudia—or rather, on their eyes.

"Oh. The eyes of those who've bathed in pure Mako... Though your eye color is completely different, kid, which certainly makes you quite interesting to me. Well, how curious to encounter two SOLDIERs in a place like this and under circumstances like these," President Shinra said with a slightly arrogant smirk, casually resting his cheek against his fist.

"Ex-SOLDIER," Claudia said threateningly, pointing the massive blade of her sword directly at President Shinra's hologram.

"And I was never part of Shinra's organization at all. But I'm still a SOLDIER," Alex replied in an utterly carefree tone, lazily waving his thin cigar through the air.

"There are no such things as ex-SOLDIERs... Although, unfortunately, they all live remarkably short lives. The primary cause of your impending deaths is accelerated cellular degradation. Naturally, this is strictly classified information. But I think both of you already know this unfortunate truth perfectly well," President Shinra said, continuing to smile arrogantly as he folded his hands beneath his chin.

"We know," Claudia replied coldly, narrowing her eyes at the projection.

Listening to President Shinra's monotonous and pompous speech, Alex lazily scratched his ear, doing his absolute best to pretend that he was being extremely serious at the moment. In reality, he wasn't any kind of SOLDIER at all; he had invented the whole story merely to create a believable identity for himself and Dean, avoiding unnecessary questions about their abnormal physical strength.

Stopping his ear-scratching, Alex noticed Tifa's worried, anxious gaze directed at him and Claudia. Meeting her eyes, Alex casually waved his hand, signaling that he was perfectly fine and that for now she needed to focus on more important things. Tifa gave a brief nod and turned back toward the projection. And as always, Barret was the first to finally lose what little patience he had left in this situation: he immediately opened fire on the drones, wanting to shoot down the arrogant pieces of scrap metal.

But the drones swiftly scattered in different directions, easily avoiding every bullet fired at them. At that very moment, President Shinra's arrogant laughter rang out from the speakers, genuinely amused by the rebels' helplessness. Hearing that laughter dripping with superiority, Barret was already ready to activate the EMP module in his cybernetic arm and put an end to the broadcast in one shot. But Alex stopped him in time, placing a gloved hand on his shoulder and shaking his head to show that they shouldn't do it yet.

"Finish up already, old man, and get to the point. If you were planning to give us another press conference, you've clearly got the wrong audience," Alex said, waving his hand slightly and urging President Shinra to hurry up.

"Hmm... Now I understand perfectly well why Heidegger was so furious. I must admit, you are one of the few people who have managed to make Shinra lose a truly significant amount... More than that, you should genuinely be proud that you were able to inflict such colossal damage all by yourself. It is quite commendable and intriguing. You could have become a magnificent addition to Shinra's organization... But alas, your crimes against the corporation are simply too significant," President Shinra said arrogantly, staring intently at Alex through the drones' camera lenses.

"His crimes are significant?! What about you?! We wouldn't have enough time in an entire month just to list every single crime Shinra has committed!" Barret shouted furiously, smashing his fist into a drone that had flown too close.

"What a pathetic excuse for your own crimes... Blaming Shinra for every sin in existence when you're no better yourselves. Rebels have become remarkably hypocritical these days," President Shinra said with deep contempt, looking down at Barret.

"Hypocritical, huh?! Oh, fucking great! Then let's talk about hypocrisy right now! What the hell is Mako?! It's the damn blood of our Planet, and you keep sucking it dry like ugly leeches! What do you think is gonna happen when you drain every last drop of blood from our Planet?!" Barret shouted, grabbing the mangled body of the drone in one hand and raising it directly in front of the hologram while staring straight into the camera.

"Heh... We do indeed continue drinking Mako, as you so eloquently put it. The true nature of Mako is perfectly well known to everyone. And yet absolutely everyone pretends they don't know what the true price of this comfort is. You saw it all yourselves, didn't you?" President Shinra replied calmly, casually resting his cheek against his fist and looking at Barret like the world's biggest idiot.

"Typical human nature... People care only about what happens today and couldn't give a damn if the world collapses tomorrow. As long as you give the residents of Midgar this false sense of comfort, they'll willingly put the chain around their own necks," Alex said lazily, accurately tossing his extinguished cigar directly into the center of the hologram.

In response to Alex's words, President Shinra merely smiled slightly, neither denying nor confirming what had been said. But that restrained smile on his face spoke volumes. To him, every single resident of Midgar was merely a useful little bee or ant working inside the gigantic hive called Midgar, which he had so generously built for them. And all he had to do was continue giving the city's residents the illusion of comfort, and they would gladly do all the dirty work for him themselves.

Seeing that condescending smile, Barret clenched his teeth in mounting rage and threateningly pointed a finger at President Shinra. However, the latter merely turned his gaze away indifferently and narrowed his eyes at Alex, examining him carefully. President Shinra genuinely wanted to dissect Alex and uncover every single one of his secrets so that he could study his anomalous abilities more thoroughly. Noticing that evaluative, almost investigative gaze, Alex felt for a second like a little child who had accidentally encountered a strange old man offering him free candy.

Shuddering at the unpleasant sensation, Alex instinctively stepped backward and hid behind Tifa to shield himself from President Shinra's probing gaze. Alex understood perfectly well that sooner or later someone would want to send him onto a laboratory table, but that didn't mean he had to enjoy being looked at like that. With a snort, President Shinra shifted his gaze away from Alex, already mentally adding the young man to the list of valuable test subjects for Dr. Hojo's laboratories.

"Well, I suppose it's time to bring this to an end, my dear sewer rats!" President Shinra said with a faint snort, casually tapping a finger against the surface of his desk.

"Are you finally going to stop giving your boring speech and fuck off?" Alex asked, cautiously peeking out from behind Tifa's shoulder.

"Such expressions are beneath my lofty dignity. As is communicating with people such as yourselves in general... As for each and every one of you, I sincerely congratulate you," President Shinra said in a slightly ceremonial tone, majestically spreading his arms apart.

"On what?" Tifa asked, frowning slightly at the blatant falseness with which President Shinra had spoken those words.

"From this moment onward, you will all officially become allies of the accursed Wutai—our fiercest and most hated enemy. And I thank you for ensuring that your subsequent actions will ignite the strongest possible patriotic sentiment among my people," President Shinra said with a smirk, narrowing his eyes slightly and leaning forward.

"Us?! How about you?!" Alex asked in surprise, first pointing at himself and then directly at the hologram.

"That will become completely irrelevant. The residents of Midgar will blame you for everything regardless. After all, the truth always belongs to those who are alive to speak it," President Shinra said arrogantly.

Along with his final words, President Shinra ended the call and deactivated the hologram. And just when the group thought that this endless teleconference was finally over, the familiar arrogant, booming laughter could once again be heard from the speakers, followed by the appearance of Heidegger's projection. Looking at all this, Alex let out a heavy sigh, sadly wondering when this circus was finally going to end.

He was already beginning to get the distinct impression that they would have to personally listen to every single one of Shinra's directors give their tedious speeches before anything would actually happen. Alex even felt like sarcastically asking whether Scarlet would appear immediately after Heidegger, followed by Palmer—or, even worse, Professor Hojo with yet another batch of painfully boring monologues.

Once he finished laughing, Heidegger gave Alex, Tifa, Claudia, and Barret a triumphant look and made a broad gesture with his hand toward the side. Controlling the combat drones, he launched another parallel broadcast. At that very second, the group saw on the second screen that the drones were carefully handling the very same black cube Alex had previously left deep inside Mako Reactor No. 5 for its destruction.

"You still haven't figured out your true role in all of this?!" Heidegger shouted with even greater arrogance as soon as he finished laughing.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Barret shouted furiously after noticing the combat drones touching Alex's vacuum bomb on the screen.

"Isn't it still obvious, you idiots?! You were never in control of this situation! Everything has gone according to our script from the very beginning! You are nothing but pathetic, powerless pawns whose only purpose is to sell the people another glorious war! And your own weapon will become the beginning of this great new era right now!" Heidegger declared with a wide, insane smile, demonstratively holding the detonator used to activate the black cube in his hands.

"I don't mean to interrupt you, old man with a face that looks like a dick... But there is no bomb in there," Alex said cheerfully and completely casually, slightly shaking his spread hands and making it obvious that someone had made a catastrophic mistake.

"Don't try to bullshit me, you pathetic rat!" Heidegger shouted furiously, absolutely refusing to believe Alex's words.

"I'm telling you the absolute truth. You see, that thing you think is a deadly bomb... How should I put this gently? It's not a bomb at all, but rather a very bright and cheerful firework. Did you not watch my previous performance at all?" Alex said cheerfully, gently swaying from side to side with his hands resting on his hips.

"Don't lie to me!" Heidegger shouted with even greater fury, squeezing the detonator in his fingers until his knuckles cracked.

"I'm not lying. There really is no bomb in the reactor. But it is right now located somewhere completely different... And as it happens, I simply wanted to celebrate this moment with a beautiful fireworks display. After all, the Mako Reactor No. 5 was never our true target," Alex said with a slight smirk, calmly taking his phone out of his inner pocket.

At that moment, Heidegger's eyes narrowed suspiciously, while the smile on Alex's face only grew wider until it stretched from ear to ear. Tifa, Claudia, and Barret also looked at Alex in confusion, completely unable to understand why he was claiming that the black cube wasn't a bomb at all. After all, as far as they clearly remembered, the black cube had been an incredibly powerful vacuum bomb—using such a cube, Alex, Dean, and Aerith had destroyed the First Mako Reactor, instantly turning the gigantic structure into a compressed metal sphere.

Continuing to smile triumphantly, Alex lazily tapped the screen of his phone, and the black cube deep inside Mako Reactor No. 5 detonated. At that very moment, a brilliant flaming projectile shot out from the factory roof with a deafening whistle, soaring high into the darkening sky and piercing through the clouds themselves. Every resident of Midgar who looked upward saw the blinding projectile rapidly climbing into the heavens.

But what happened a second later caused the eyes of every resident of Midgar to widen in absolute shock. When the projectile exploded at maximum altitude with a resounding boom, the entire evening sky above the metropolis lit up with a magnificent, incredibly detailed fireworks display. The sparks formed a gigantic, glowing image visible across the entire city of Heidegger and President Shinra passionately kissing while tightly embracing one another.

Seeing this compromising fireworks display through the surveillance cameras and the panoramic windows of his luxurious office on the top floor of Shinra Headquarters, Heidegger's eyes bulged wide and his jaw nearly dropped to the floor from sheer shock. At the very same moment, Alex simply burst into loud, uncontrollable laughter, clutching his stomach and genuinely howling with laughter at the expression of indescribable horror on Heidegger's elongated face.

Looking at the insane fireworks in the sky, Barret stood frozen for a moment with his mouth hanging open before erupting into such loud, booming laughter that his voice drowned out the hum of the drones. Tifa blinked in stunned disbelief, simply unable to believe what she had just seen, while Claudia merely shook her head helplessly with a faint smirk. Not a single one of them could have imagined that Alex would pull off such an audacious and spectacular trick in front of all of Midgar.

To be continued...

(Actually, I was about to start the fight against Airbuster today, but I felt so bad I could barely finish the chapter. I don't understand what's happening to me, but I'm incredibly sleepy and my head is spinning so much that I can barely sit up straight without swaying from side to side. I used to feel that way when I was taking depression pills. But I'm not taking any medication at all right now, and that's weird. Anyway, that's my problem. As for the plot, well, there's a battle next, but I won't say what happens next; I'd rather go eat. Peace, love, and a bright fireworks display aren't a surprise for everyone.)

Early access to chapters on my patreon: p*treon.com/GreedHunter