While Alex was fully enjoying shopping at someone else's expense, visiting one of the most expensive clothing boutiques to buy a couple of stylish black suits for Dean and Aerith that would be necessary for the upcoming work, a strange, oppressive atmosphere reigned in the elevator of Shinra's main headquarters.
And the reason for this heavy silence was that almost all the money had evaporated from the personal accounts of some members of the elite Turks unit. Being one of the "victims," Reno stared in a stunned gaze at the screen of his PHS, where an almost zero balance was displayed.
At that moment Reno sincerely did not understand what the hell was going on and where, for fuck's sake, his honestly earned funds had gone. All he knew was that the money had simply evaporated in an unknown direction. Rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, Reno checked his virtual account once more, but no miracle occurred: the Gil had indeed disappeared. And yet everything had started so beautifully.
Having received a sound notification signal, Reno had sincerely counted on seeing the long-awaited bonus with which he had planned to thoroughly treat himself in some elite place. However, instead of a top-up, a laconic message about a large-scale write-off popped up on the screen. Clenching his PHS so hard that his fingers turned white, Reno turned to his silent partner. Rude was standing nearby and was just as hypnotized by his gadget. Looking at his partner's screen, Reno saw a similar notification about the write-off of an impressive sum.
"Rude, what the hell is going on?! Did those tightwads decide to deduct our entire salary because we fucked up a little yesterday?" Reno asked in a nervous tone, desperately trying to figure out where his savings had evaporated to.
"No idea… But I doubt that's the reason. If they had decided to fine us, they would have squeezed the money out of us yesterday already," Rude frowned and with a habitual movement adjusted the sunglasses on his nose.
"Then let's go to the boss and ask him what the hell is going on here! The bonus was supposed to come today, and I already spotted an excellent restaurant where I could treat myself to excellent food!" Reno boiled more and more, beginning to furiously pound his finger on the button for the 49th floor.
"Good idea… Even despite the fact that you suggested it. Agreed, Tseng should know where our money went," Rude nodded restrainedly, putting the PHS back into the pocket of his jacket.
While Reno was pounding the button for the needed floor with all his strength, Rude stood calmly in place, slightly loosening his tie. They both did not understand what was happening, and this situation did not please them at all, even if they reacted differently. Watching how the numbers on the elevator display replaced each other, Reno grew angrier and angrier from the fact that the cabin refused to go faster.
And when the elevator finally reached the coveted forty-ninth floor, Reno and Rude prepared to exit. The moment the doors swung open, Elena met them on the threshold. She had neatly styled golden hair, bright brown eyes, and a strict black suit. She was the latest recruit in the Turks unit, and she had only recently been assigned as the third in the group with Reno and Rude.
Seeing Elena, Rude nodded restrainedly, and Reno rushed past, completely ignoring the girl. Elena, who had been about to greet them with a smile on her face, froze in place when Reno simply unceremoniously pushed her out of the way. Slightly rubbing her shoulder, Elena looked in bewilderment after the irritated Reno, after which she shifted her gaze to Rude, who maintained his habitual stone expression.
"Um, Rude… What's with Reno? Why is he so wound up?" Elena asked almost in a whisper, carefully pointing her finger at Reno walking ahead.
"Gil evaporated from our accounts. More precisely, almost all our savings suddenly disappeared," Rude replied in a dry tone, exiting the elevator and looking at Elena.
"Your money disappeared too?!" Elena exclaimed in surprise, hearing the reason for Reno's strange behavior.
"Too? Are you saying that money disappeared from your account as well?" Rude asked again, lowering his gaze to Elena and adjusting the glasses on his nose.
"Ah, no! Nothing disappeared from mine. It's just that the same thing happened to Tseng. He was just conducting a briefing when the notification came, and the expression on his face instantly changed… I accidentally saw the screen of his PHS, and there was a message about the account being annulled," Elena spoke in a quiet voice, looking around as if sharing secret data.
"Hmm… Now this is serious. Thanks for the information, Elena. I need to urgently talk with Tseng," Rude said, frowning, and decisively headed toward the boss's office.
"I'm coming with you! I need to know what's going on, we're one team after all!" Elena exclaimed enthusiastically, decisively clenching her little fists and hurrying after Rude.
Rude said nothing in response to Elena's enthusiasm, only silently nodded and headed toward Tseng's office. None of them had any idea where the Gil from their accounts had evaporated to, and this mystery they still had to solve. Approaching the needed door, Rude and Elena heard the angry shouts of Reno coming from inside, who was fully trying to find out the fate of his savings.
Slightly knocking, Rude and Elena entered the office. The first thing that caught their eye was the irritated Reno, who was sitting in a chair with his arms tightly crossed on his chest and incinerating everything around with his gaze. Tseng, on the other hand, maintained absolute composure: he sat behind his massive desk, fingers clasped under his chin, and unhurriedly studied the data on the terminal screen.
Noticing the appearance of Rude and Elena, Tseng nodded slightly and gestured for them to sit down. Rude and Elena calmly occupied the free chairs and began to wait. Tseng himself continued to keep silence, briefly glancing at the monitor, and no matter how much Reno puffed from anger, the head of the unit did not utter a word. The tense silence lasted only a couple of moments until a sharp ring of the landline phone sounded. Picking up the receiver, Tseng calmly answered and brought it to his ear.
Reno and Elena slightly leaned forward, burning with curiosity. From the barely audible scraps of phrases they managed to catch only separate details concerning the unexpected financial anomaly. Having listened to the interlocutor, Tseng carefully placed the receiver back and again clasped his fingers in front of himself.
"What's there, boss? Where did our savings go?" Reno couldn't hold back, desperately longing to know the fate of his accumulations.
"The Finance Department and the Department of Public Security have no idea where our money went. From what was just reported to me: the funds from our accounts simply evaporated in an unknown direction," Tseng replied in a calm tone, lowering his hands onto the desk and clasping his fingers in front of himself.
"What do you mean — 'have no idea'?! Are they getting their salary for nothing there?! How can money just take and evaporate?!" Reno frowned even more, boiling more and more from the number of useless pants-warmers in Shinra.
"Exactly that, Reno. There is not a single trace indicating where our savings went or who received them. All we have are the notifications about the withdrawal of Gil, exactly the same as the ones that came to you two," Tseng said, still maintaining imperturbability and slightly tapping his finger on the desktop, calmly took his personal PHS from his pocket and turned the screen toward his subordinates.
"And what are we going to do now, boss? We can't just leave everything as is, can we?" Elena asked in a timid tone, slightly raising her hand and trying to get used to the oppressive atmosphere in the office.
"Good question, Elena. For now it is unknown to us who is behind this and exactly how he pulled it off. But we will definitely find it out. We'll just have to work a little overtime," Tseng replied in a calm tone, rising from behind the desk and turning to the panoramic window behind which the Upper City stretched.
"Whoever this bastard is, I'll personally beat every Gil he stole from me out of him! Let this upstart pray that we don't find him!" Reno roared, slamming his fist with full force on the armrest of the chair.
Hearing another outburst of Reno's anger, Tseng slowly turned to his subordinates and nodded restrainedly, confirming that they were obliged to get to the truth. And before Reno managed to go on another round of swearing, Rude simply silently covered his partner's mouth with his broad palm. When Reno finally fell silent, Tseng returned to the work desk and began outlining the plan for searching for the unknown who had cleaned out their accounts.
And while a stormy discussion of catching the thief was going on on the forty-ninth floor of Shinra headquarters, the "thief" himself in the person of Alex was fully enjoying shopping at someone else's expense. Alex was not going to leave such an impressive sum of Gil as dead weight on the virtual balance, and therefore spent them with special enthusiasm, buying literally everything that caught his eye. Having finished with the purchase of two stylish black suits for Dean and Aerith, Alex headed to the neighboring boutique to pick out comfortable shoes for the outfits.
Entering inside, in a couple of minutes he chose suitable sets and moved on, trying not to linger long in one place. Stopping for a small smoke break and reflecting on which store to look into next, Alex felt how his ear suddenly itched. Rubbing it with his finger, he smiled slightly and lit a cigarette.
"Now these idiots definitely won't have time to stick their noses into other people's business. Hope they were pleased by such pleasant notifications about the write-off," Alex muttered with a malicious smirk, leaning against the wall and shaking ash into the urn.
Continuing to chuckle, Alex extinguished the cigarette on the urn, picked up the two sets of suits with the shoe boxes, and headed further. The next point of his route became an electronics store. Alex counted on finding there a couple of useful parts for realizing his ideas, including the possible creation of a normal cyber prosthesis for Barret.
However, finding himself inside, he saw only dull rows of household appliances, absolutely useless for his purposes, with the exception of a few things suitable at best for a hike. Walking along the shelves, Alex thought about the fact that he should prepare a convincing legend for his inventory in advance for the case when he would start pulling Midgar goods right out of the air or his own shadow.
Having made a few more small purchases, Alex decided to stop so as not to attract extra attention to himself with such a generous scale of spending. He was absolutely sure: if he continued in the same spirit to spend Gil from the freshly created account, it would inevitably raise questions from the local residents and the security service, which he planned to avoid for as long as possible.
The last store Alex looked into became a large grocery supermarket. Taking a convenient cart, he began unhurriedly strolling between the rows, reflecting on what to fortify himself with this evening and what tasty dish to please Aerith with. Humming along to the melody playing in his headphones, Alex stopped at the counter with fresh vegetables and for a moment froze.
Scratching his cheek with his finger, he looked with sincere bewilderment at what lay before him. Taking a strange fruit in his hand that suspiciously resembled both a potato and a carrot at the same time, Alex slightly sniffed it, but got even more confused. Trying to figure out what this strange hybrid reeked of, he again brought the fruit to his nose.
On the second try Alex finally caught a familiar sweetish aroma that suspiciously resembled sweet potato. Sighing heavily, Alex set the strange thing aside and thought that on the next grocery trip he definitely needed to take along someone who understood local agronomy at least a little.
"Since with the vegetables it's pure guesswork, better take fish," Alex muttered, deciding this time to do without culinary experiments.
Approaching the fish counters, Alex pursed his lips even more from what he saw. He sincerely could not understand what kind of unknown thing this was, resembling an octopus with crab claws, or what kind of strange sparkling transparent fish was swimming in front of him. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Alex tried to find among this strange variety of seafood something that at least somehow resembled normal sea creatures.
And while Alex was choosing what would become part of dinner today, he did not even look at the prices — he was not the one paying anyway. With difficulty deciding, Alex decided to take something resembling crabs and shrimp, if one closed one's eyes to their wildish appearance. And while the seller was catching the strange blue crabs and purple shrimp from the aquarium, Alex decided to examine the fish as well.
Walking to the neighboring aquarium, he saw a fish that very much resembled tuna. Stroking his chin, Alex lowered his gaze to his cart and stared at the bag of grain that he considered local rice. And then it suddenly dawned on him: one could cook something like sushi and treat everyone at the Seventh Heaven bar in honor of the acquaintance. While Alex was indulging in culinary fantasies, his phone rang in his pocket. Taking out the smartphone, he saw Dean's name on the screen.
"What do you need, Dean? Have you already woken up?" Alex inquired, answering the call and continuing to examine the fish in the aquarium.
"Kinda… Dude, have you seen the time?! It's almost evening! Where the hell did you disappear to? And the Flower Girl wouldn't leave me alone until I called you!" Dean spoke in an irritated tone while Aerith's endless questions sounded in the background.
"I'm currently in the shopping center in the First Sector… Do you want sushi for dinner?" Alex inquired, transferring the purple shrimp and blue crabs into the cart.
"What kind of sushi?! Did you go shopping?!" Dean asked in surprise, hearing where Alex had gotten stuck.
"Sushi?! I don't know what that is, but I want it!" Aerith's cheerful shout sounded in the background when she literally yelled right over Dean's ear.
"So, we're having sushi for dinner… Alright, I'm almost done here. We'll meet at Seventh Heaven," Alex said with a chuckle, hearing Aerith's joyful howl even through his headphones.
"Alright, to hell with it, sushi it is… And hurry up, I'm damn hungry!" Dean grumbled and ended the call before Aerith could again let out a deafening howl.
Slightly chuckling at Dean's impatient tone, Alex turned to the seller and asked him to catch the tuna from the aquarium. While the latter was extracting the suspicious fish, Alex lowered his gaze into the cart, checking the shopping list. Examining the products, he noted with satisfaction that he had collected absolutely everything necessary for preparing sushi. Taking the packed fish from the seller, Alex headed to the cash register to pay.
Having finished with all the affairs in the Shopping Center, Alex went outside and hailed a local taxi to the railway station. In such moments he sincerely wanted to enjoy an ordinary ride and the views of the new world instead of instantly teleporting back. Listening to the radio coming from the taxi speakers, Alex lightly tapped his finger on his knee to the rhythm of the music.
When the next advertising break began, he was already prepared to sigh irritably, but unexpectedly heard a mention of the famous resort Costa del Sol and the upcoming cruise trip on a liner to that island. Remembering the canonical events, Alex decided that they definitely needed to purchase tickets for this cruise — and strictly first class at that.
Indeed, if there was a pile of other people's money on the accounts, why bother with covert boarding of the ship. Making a quick note in the notebook, Alex hid it in the inner pocket and continued examining the futuristic landscapes of the Upper City outside the window. Arriving at the station and generously paying for the ride, Alex exited the car with all his purchases.
Passing through the turnstile, he instantly changed clothes so that none of the passersby even noticed: his expensive black suit instantly changed into habitual black jeans, a dark T-shirt, and a blue coat. And the numerous bags with products turned into one convenient sports bag thrown over the shoulder. Approaching the platform while waiting for the train, Alex held in his hands only the sports bag, three covers with suits, and the boxes with shoes.
Waiting for the train, Alex calmly entered inside and settled in the very corner of the car so as not to attract extra attention to himself. Closing his eyes, Alex immersed himself in listening to music. He opened his eyes only during short stops to make sure where exactly the train was passing, and immediately closed them again the moment the composition moved on further.
Fortunately, Midgar was not that gigantic, so the train rather quickly reached the final station in the Slums of the Seventh Sector. When the composition stopped, Alex, grabbing his things, calmly exited the car and with a lazy step trudged toward the settlement. Not yet reaching the residential quarters, he could not help but note how gloomy and dark it was in the Lower City, even despite the fact that the sun above had not yet properly set.
Sighing heavily once again at the sight of such a life under the iron plate, Alex reached the settlement where evening lights were already beginning to glow on the streets and in the windows of the houses. Looking around a little, Alex headed toward the Seventh Heaven bar where Dean and Aerith were supposed to be waiting for him.
Already on the very threshold of the establishment Alex heard the lively hum of voices coming from inside. Among the general noise he distinctly recognized Aerith, capable of making friends with literally anyone, as well as three more rather familiar voices. One of them was female, the second sounded with intentional theatrical pathos, and the third seemed slightly foolish and naive.
"Seems the trio of under-terrorists is also assembled. Well, that's even better!" Alex smirked to himself, instantly recognizing the voices of Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge.
When Alex swung open the doors of the bar, silence immediately reigned inside — all those present instantly turned their attention to him. Alex's gaze immediately latched onto Dean: the latter was lazily sitting at a table with a bottle of beer in his hands and slightly raised it in a greeting gesture when they met eyes. Smirking, Alex shifted his gaze to the trio of under-terrorists from AVALANCHE who were carefully examining him.
Alex's gaze slid over Jessie — she was in her habitual gear with plate metal armor on her chest and shoulders, and her light-brown hair was gathered in a high ponytail. The next one Alex looked at was Biggs, sitting nearby and trying with all his strength to look like a cool guy with pistols on his hips and magazine pouches over his shoulder. And the last one Alex glanced at was the chubby Wedge, whose face literally screamed that he was too kind and foolish for a real terrorist.
Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge also did not take their eyes off Alex — from Aerith they had already managed to hear that he was an ex-SOLDIER, like Dean. And the moment they saw his unusual rainbow eyes, they had no doubts left. Claudia, sitting at the bar counter, only briefly hummed and immediately turned away, not intending to examine Alex once again. Aerith, on the other hand, literally beamed at his appearance and immediately jumped closer, burning with curiosity to find out what he had brought.
"Oi. Looks like the company has expanded," Alex said with a smile, dumping the bags and things onto a free table.
"Kinda. This is Jessie, this cool guy is Biggs, and this good guy is Wedge," Tifa said with a smile, introducing those whom Alex had not yet seen.
"Well, nice to meet you… Yeah, I'm exactly that guy who dragged important documents on you under-terrorists," Alex said in a carefree tone, lightly clapping his hands.
"We're not under-terrorists!.." Wedge spoke in a nervous tone and tried to justify their activity.
"I believe-believe. Honestly. If only your faces hadn't been shining in all the news yesterday when you stole a Shinra armored vehicle. And you even thought of not covering your faces! Miracles of conspiracy and great struggle against the regime. I give it ten out of ten!" Alex delivered with a wide smirk, raising two thumbs up.
When Alex's words sounded, Dean, who had just taken a sip of beer, immediately choked and heartily burst out laughing. At the first meeting this trio had seemed familiar to him, and only now he finally understood where he knew them from. Aerith instantly turned away, quietly chuckling and trying not to give away her amusement.
Tifa only smiled strainedly, completely not knowing how to comment on this — after all, Alex was absolutely right. These words clearly irritated Barret, but he also preferred to remain silent, perfectly realizing the depth of such stupidity and its possible consequences.
Claudia, sitting with her back to everyone, quietly hummed with a barely noticeable smirk, clearly amused by this situation. As for the trio of under-terrorists from AVALANCHE themselves, they honestly tried to find at least some reasonable justification, but not a single thought that came into their heads could refute the obvious.
Shrugging, Alex raised the sports bag with products, approached the bar counter behind which Tifa was standing, and calmly sat down next to Claudia. The moment he settled nearby, Claudia measured him with a frowning gaze and immediately turned away. She did not move to another seat, demonstrating with her whole appearance dull irritation at his presence.
"Listen, Tifa, do you mind if I use your kitchen? There's nowhere proper to cook in our rooms, and I wanted to treat you all," Alex asked with a smile, completely ignoring Claudia's dissatisfaction.
"Why do you need to treat everyone? What will that give you?" Claudia interrupted gloomily, not even letting Tifa open her mouth.
"To get to know each other better. This is the most proven way to show friendliness. After all, one way or another we're going to have to work together," Alex replied with a smile, turning to Claudia.
"Yeah, a simply gorgeous way to get acquainted — insult everyone right from the threshold. Just perfect," Claudia said sarcastically, giving Alex a mocking gaze.
"This is called a reality check, Chick. Because if you don't hide your face during such work, a target will grow on your back very quickly. And who knows who'll be the first to get the idea to turn you in for a couple of Gil," Alex replied in a calm tone, propping his cheek with his palm.
"I'm not Chick…" Claudia hissed through her teeth when Alex once again pinned that nickname on her.
"Alright, you two, enough! You only met today and you're already snapping at each other over nothing… And of course you can use my kitchen, Alex! I think the others will only be for it if you feed us all," Tifa intervened, decisively putting her hand between Alex and Claudia before their bickering grew into something bigger.
Hearing Tifa's permission, Alex immediately unzipped the sports bag and began unloading the fresh products right onto the bar counter. The moment such abundance appeared before everyone's eyes, those present literally lost the gift of speech. Such fresh delicacies — and especially seafood — in the Slums were considered such a rare luxury that seeing them here was more difficult than obtaining real sweets. The more food Alex took out of the bag, the more the eyes of those present rounded.
Aerith, being a cute little ball of sincere joy, instantly jumped closer and began "helping" Alex set out the purchases. In reality she was examining the purple shrimp, blue crabs, and fish with childlike delight, even trying to stick her little finger right into a claw to check what would happen. Tifa and Barret were no less surprised than the others, although they understood: with that pile of Gil that Alex and Dean had scooped out of Corneo's safe, such a scale of spending did not cause surprise.
Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie also pulled closer, looking with lively interest over the shoulders of Alex and Claudia. Having finished with the unloading, Alex rose from the stool and walked around the bar counter to begin cooking. The moment he approached, Tifa with a smile held out to him an apron with a Moogle print and offered her help.
Alex had not even managed to agree when Aerith appeared nearby, clapping her hands and volunteering to help too. Refusing Aerith, who was looking at him with her shining, expectant eyes, was simply impossible, so Alex nodded with a smile. Taking a kitchen knife, he began deftly butchering the carcass, clearly showing Tifa and Aerith how to properly process the fish while the others watched the process with interest.
"And what are you going to cook from all these expensive products?" Jessie inquired, almost climbing over the bar counter to get a better look at everything.
"Sushi. They're best made from fresh products, and besides, they go excellently with strong alcohol," Alex replied with a smile, slightly turning his head.
"Sushi?… And what is that even? Never heard of such a thing… What kind of dish is it?" Wedge asked embarrassedly, slightly scratching the back of his head at the sound of the unfamiliar word.
"Sushi is cut from fresh seafood…" Alex began explaining, carefully slicing the suspicious tuna and laying the slices out on a plate.
"Stop! So you want to force my daughter to eat raw food?!" Barret intervened, frowning, convinced that such food was harmful for his daughter's stomach.
"It's not harmful, but very useful. A growing organism needs to eat fish… Father of the year, damn," Alex replied, rolling his eyes and beginning to grumble under his breath about Barret's shortsightedness.
"I've seen something similar in Wutai. There in the local restaurants they prepare such dishes, use fresh fish and the root of some plant that tastes rather sharp," Claudia suddenly spoke, as if remembering where she had encountered something similar.
"You're right… And they also use a special sort of seaweed to cook soup from them, but unfortunately I didn't find them in Midgar," Alex nodded his head slightly, adding even more details from himself.
"Seaweed in food?! Why?… And are they at least tasty?" Wedge couldn't hold back the question, showing sincere interest in such a dish.
"The soup from them turns out excellent. Especially if you drink it after a heavy hangover — it literally works wonders," Dean's voice sounded with a smirk, making him even hungrier from all these conversations about food.
Continuing to carefully slice the fish and beautifully arrange it on the plate, Alex calmly answered all the questions that were asked of him. Seeing how elegantly he managed it, Aerith decided that she would manage too and began diligently arranging the slices. As soon as the water in the large pot boiled, Alex took out the box of bought spices and began generously adding them to the boiling water to boil the purple shrimp and blue crabs.
The moment the seafood ended up in the pot, already after a couple of minutes an amazing aroma began spreading through the bar, causing an acute desire in all those present to try this dish as soon as possible. Even Claudia slightly twitched her nose, catching this alluring smell. Marlene, sitting next to her father, even started drooling. Seeing his daughter's reaction, Barret good-naturedly laughed and carefully wiped her lips with his finger.
Dean, catching the smell, lazily rose from the chair and approached closer to the stoves, wanting to assess the readiness of the food. Peering at the unusual color of the crabs and shrimp, he decided that everything was going according to plan and covered the pot with a lid. Not knowing what else to occupy himself with while waiting for dinner, Dean brazenly grabbed a piece of fresh fish right from the plate and shifted his gaze to the covers with clothes brought by Alex.
"Dude, what's in the covers? Did you decide to update the wardrobe?" Dean inquired, leaning on the bar counter and pointing toward the clothes lying on the table.
"This is clothes for tonight. I picked the suit size exactly, but you should try on the shoes," Alex replied, wiping his hands on the Moogle apron.
"And for me too?" Aerith asked with a bright smile, pointing her finger at herself.
"Yes, and for you. If you want, you can go look," Alex said with a smile and nodded his head toward the table to which Dean had already headed.
Aerith immediately smiled and, without taking off the apron, jumped up to the table. She began unfastening the covers with clothes, burning with curiosity to find out what Alex had brought there. However, her smile immediately faltered when inside she saw a strict women's suit with a white shirt and a black tie. Depicting complete bewilderment, Aerith turned to Alex and pointed her finger at the new outfit, clarifying whether this was definitely intended for her.
Alex calmly nodded, confirming her guess. Dean, on the other hand, irritably clicked his tongue upon seeing before him such hated "office armor" that already made him sick. Knowing in advance what he would find in the box, Dean yanked off the lid and beheld black classic shoes. Almost speaking out at the top of his voice, he felt a wild desire to launch this footwear right into Alex's face.
The others also looked with bewilderment at the strange choice of clothes — they had only had to see similar outfits on Shinra's Turks. Aerith meanwhile opened the second cover and discovered there the same suit as Dean's, but with a black shirt and a red tie. She sincerely did not understand Alex's idea, and the others were in complete confusion.
"Why do you even need such clothes for this evening? Are you planning to infiltrate a high-society reception or are you going to pass yourselves off as Turks?" Jessie inquired, examining the suits on the table.
"Not exactly. I'm simply planning to spoil Shinra's life, and the suits are just camouflage. So that none of us gets exposed like you three," Alex responded in a cheerful tone, not missing the chance to remind Jessie and her friends of their blunder.
"And how exactly are you planning to do that? How are you planning to spoil Shinra's life at all?" Barret inquired gloomily, wanting to find out the details.
"I'll go and shut down the Mako Reactor in the First Sector. I've already registered the ID, so we'll penetrate there without problems. Everything else is trifles," Alex delivered with a smile, bringing a piece of fresh fish to Tifa's lips and offering her to treat herself.
"Cough-cough!… What are you planning to do?!" Tifa coughed, choking on the fish from such news.
"Shut down the Mako Reactor. It's elementary… Wait, or was that your 'brilliant secret plan'?" Alex asked again with feigned surprise, as if he had no idea about AVALANCHE's intentions.
"Yes… We were just planning to do that tonight. And we've already prepared everything," Jessie nodded, seeing no sense in hiding the cards.
"What a coincidence… Well, alright, we'll discuss everything after the food. I think we'll be able to adjust our plans," Alex said thoughtfully, stroking his chin.
To be continued...
(Well, we've met the rest of AVALANCHE, time to move on to the Mako Reactor explosion. Well, as for the explosion, Alex is such a kind person that he won't put anyone in danger. And so he'll do everything cool and classy. As for the theft of money, well, it's their own fault, let you clean up that mess. Hehehe. And any other questions, ask my secretary. But apparently no one has any questions about the plot, and that makes me happy. I'll go get something to eat. Peace, love, and what do you mean you want to blow up the Mako Reactor?)
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