Chapter 121: Collapse

Seeing Aiden so certain, Barret fell into thought. To be honest, if not for his hatred of Shinra, he absolutely wouldn't be this extreme. You should know, before something happened to his family, he actually supported Shinra.

"Since you're so sure you can blow up the entire No. 1 Mako Reactor, then let's do it your way." After thinking it over, Barret nodded and agreed with Aiden's plan.

And Jesse and Cloud to the side naturally didn't say anything either, especially Cloud, he was just a hired hand. How many people died had nothing to do with him.

"Let's leave here quickly now. As for the explosion, it'll be done in an instant." Aiden raised the remote control in his hand. He just needed to press lightly, and the Mako Reactor would immediately turn into ruins.

"Then what are we waiting for, let's go!" Barret recovered his passionate fighting spirit, shouted loudly, and was the first to climb the overpass from the ladder.

Cloud and Jesse closely followed. Only Aiden still stood on the platform, looking up at the surveillance above the central area of the Mako Reactor. He knew that ever since they came in, Shinra had been monitoring them.

In fact, even without Scarlet's help, Barret and the others could have smoothly entered the interior of the Mako Reactor, because Shinra had been waiting for them all along, and had specifically set up a trap for them.

After all, relying solely on the timed bomb Jesse made was simply not enough to completely destroy the Mako Reactor, and naturally couldn't ignite the Mako Reactor's energy to cause a huge explosion.

In the original plot, it was actually Shinra's president who, upon seeing that Avalanche only brought such a small bomb, was afraid the power wouldn't be enough, so he instructed Heidegger to use the reactor's internal defense system to actively destroy the Mako Reactor, which led to the deaths of many civilians.

The real reason was because Shinra was afraid more people would resist them, so they deliberately framed Avalanche in order to consolidate their control.

,However...' Aiden withdrew his gaze, turned around, and climbed up the ladder to return the way they came.

———

"This masked guy alone… seems to know we're monitoring them."

Inside the President's office, Heidegger pressed the controller in his hand, but just as he expected, the Mako Reactor's internal defense system had already gone out of their control.

Shinra's president maintained his original posture, just with a bit more gloom between his brows.

"I'm afraid he not only knows we're monitoring them, but also knows our plan," Shinra's president said in a deep voice.

"That's impossible. Only a few high-ranking members know about this plan... Wait, President sir, could it be that there's a traitor among our high-level members?" Heidegger's expression turned solemn, but sweat had already soaked his back.

"Is there even a need to question that, Heidegger?" Shinra's president stood up from his chair, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window with hands behind his back, and stared intently at the No. 1 Mako Reactor in the distance.

At the same time, on multiple roads leading to the No. 1 Mako Reactor, a large number of Shinra soldiers and battle machines were gathering.

"It's time for an internal purge," the Shinra president said. He recalled Scarlet's suggestion last time and then said to Heidegger, "Starting tomorrow, assign more manpower to cooperate with Scarlet and Hojo's research. I want to see their results in a short time."

"Yes, President sir." Heidegger straightened his feet together and responded with a nod.

———

Obviously, escaping is always faster than sneaking in.

It took less than ten minutes for Aiden and the others to leave the core area of the Mako Reactor and meet up with Biggs and Wedge who were waiting outside.

"Barret, did it succeed? I don't think I heard any commotion." On the way retreating, Biggs asked Barret.

"Consider it a success, but there's no time to explain now, we need to leave here immediately." Barret glanced at Aiden, feeling somewhat uneasy. After all, he wasn't sure if Aiden could really pull it off.

"What do you mean consider it a success?" Biggs was a little confused and wanted to ask more, but since the leader said there was no time, he could only hold the question back.

Very quickly, they escaped from the interior of the Mako Reactor. And at that moment, Aiden pressed the remote control he had been holding.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With a series of muffled explosions, the entire No. 1 Mako Reactor began to shake violently. Then, the ear-piercing sound of metal being torn apart rang in everyone's ears.

"Did it succeed?" Barret and the others turned around and saw the Mako Reactor collapsing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The Mako Reactor itself was a giant steel structure. After its internal supports were damaged, it instantly lost balance. Its own weight became the greatest force in destroying it.

Moreover, because there was no help from Shinra, and no explosion of Mako fluid in the core, there wasn't an even bigger explosion, instead, it seemed kind of "quiet."

"Well done, Aiden!"

Watching the collapsing Mako Reactor, Barret couldn't help but roar loudly. A wish of many years coming true at that moment made him tear up with excitement.

"Oh yeah!"

The other members of the team cheered with Barret too. Only Cloud had no reaction, coldly watching the celebrating Avalanche members.

———

On the streets of Plate 8, Aerith watched the collapsed Mako Reactor, eyes full of shock.

"As expected… it changed." Aerith crossed her arms and muttered to herself.

In fact, ever since Aiden made an excuse to leave that evening, she knew what he was going to do. So as soon as he walked out the door, she came to Plate 8.

Now seeing that the Mako Reactor only collapsed and didn't explode, it felt like a heavy burden was lifted from her heart. She softly said again, "There is no such thing as fate. Everything can be changed."

Then, she turned and walked toward the station. Since everything was over, she would go home and wait for Aiden to return, then make him a late-night snack as a reward.

Thinking of this, Aerith felt happy, her steps became lighter, and a smile appeared on her face that hadn't shown in days.

But she hadn't walked far before seeing a large number of Shinra soldiers appear on the street.

This scene made her worried again. She immediately stopped and turned back, running toward the Mako Reactor.

But she hadn't gone far before stopping again, because she saw someone by the roadside.

'Tseng!'

"Aerith, if you're thinking of going to see the excitement, you'd better drop that thought," Tseng said softly.

"Hmph!" Although Aerith didn't listen to Tseng's words, she knew that with him there, it was impossible to go past. With a cold snort and a face full of anger, she turned around.

———

Although the No. 1 Mako Reactor didn't explode and only collapsed, as a huge structure, the noise it caused wasn't small. The tremors and flying debris still affected the surroundings.

But compared to the original plot, the damage this time was negligible. Because of the Mako Reactor's importance, there were no residents nearby, almost all casualties were Shinra soldiers.

As the dust from the collapse slowly settled, Barret stopped his teammates from cheering, "If you want to keep celebrating, do it after we return to the base. This isn't a safe place."

Their base was Seventh Heaven. After returning, they could drink to their hearts' content.

"Since the mission's complete, where's my reward, Barret?" Cloud called out to Barret, asking for the payment he had long been thinking about.

"Don't rush, Brother Cloud. Not a single gil less for you. But until we return to the base, it's all part of the mission, so once we're back, I'll let Tifa pay you." Barret was in a great mood, even patted Cloud on the shoulder, but Cloud coldly brushed it off.

Barret didn't mind his attitude, waved his mechanical arm, and shouted to Aiden and the others, "Now, our next task is to escape at full speed. We'll split up and regroup at the cargo car at the Sector 8 station."

"Yes!" Jesse and the others replied loudly.

Next, they started heading to Sector 8's station separately. But while they said "separately," they actually moved in pairs.

For example, Barret and Biggs took a small path, while Cloud, originally planning to go alone, was once again approached by Wedge, this simple, chubby guy had been brooding over how Cloud treated him earlier, which made Cloud quite annoyed.

And Aiden was followed by the sunny, ponytailed beauty, Jesse.

After leaving the Mako Reactor from another direction, Aiden and Jesse arrived at a street in Plate 8.

At this time, the street was filled with panicked citizens. Seeing the collapsed Mako Reactor, everyone's eyes were full of fear.

Meanwhile, Shinra's emergency alarms blared in the sky.

[Emergency, emergency, this is Shinra Company's Crisis Response Department. Due to an attack on the No. 1 Mako Reactor and a severe collapse, Sectors 1 and 8 have now been designated as alert zones. Please nearby citizens do not approach, to avoid injury from possible secondary collapses...]

"Luckily, the damage was smaller than I expected. Now I'm relieved." Listening to the sirens, Jesse felt a bit guilty at first, afraid that the mission had caused too many casualties, but seeing only some buildings hit by debris and no visible injuries, she felt a wave of relief.

"Aiden, your blasting technique is amazing. Can you teach me?" Jesse asked Aiden again. As the team's bomb expert, she had some experience in explosives and got excited seeing real results.

"A girl like you shouldn't learn this, especially a girl as pretty as you." Aiden's skills were partly learned from military service, and partly from Balalaika and others in Roanapur. It was all mixed, no system, and he didn't know how to teach Jesse, so he just rejected her.

"Ah! Don't be so stingy!" Hearing Aiden call her pretty made Jesse's eyes curve with joy, but she still said, "I won't learn for free, I'll pay tuition."

"What tuition?" Aiden asked as he walked.

"Of course, this!" Jesse proudly held something in front of him, a glowing green orb, inside which swirled gas like a nebula.

"Recognize this?" Jesse asked with a smile.

"Looks familiar… seems like a Restore Materia." Aiden wasn't unfamiliar, because in the original story, Jesse gave this to Cloud.

"You sure know your stuff, Aiden!" Jesse praised, then grabbed Aiden's hand and shoved the Restore Materia into it. "Take this as tuition, how about it?"

"This thing is useless to me." Aiden tossed the Materia back.

Jesse fumbled to catch it, saw Aiden already walked ahead, paused, then ran up and held his arm, "Then what will it take for you to teach me?"

"I won't teach—" Aiden was about to shake his head again, when Jesse suddenly interrupted him.

She pulled his arm hard against her chest and looked at him, "What if I use this as tuition?"

Aiden paused, thinking that this tuition was indeed high, but feeling the hard pressure from his arm, he looked down at her chest and tsk-tsk'd twice.

Jesse looked down too, realizing she was still wearing her hard chest armor, then disappointedly moved his arm away, but still held it.

"Not now, looks like I'll have to wait for next time," Jesse muttered, then placed the Restore Materia back in his hand.

"Whether you need it or not, take this Restore Materia. Think of it as thanks for your help today." Jesse continued, "Thank you for contributing to saving the planet, big hero."

Since she said so much, Aiden didn't decline again and kept the Restore Materia.

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